Echesspedia

The Argentina’s first chess club was founded in about 1860. In 1921, Damian Reca won the first championship. In 1924 at Paris, his representative Roberto Grau founded FIDE with 14 other delegates and the country became a full member of the world organization in 1925. The Argentina Chess Federation  has participated in all Olympiads since 1927 (except 1930, 1933 and 1933). Its best achievements were three times second and twice third with a team which included the best South American players like Miguel Najdorf, Herman Pilnik,  Julio Bolbochan and Oscar Panno. Other major successes include the first Pan-American Team Tournament in 1971, the World Team Student’s Championship in 1985, 1993 and 1998.
The Argentina Chess Federation organized the Olympiads in 1939 and 1978, the World Championship match between Raul Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine in 1927, the Tigran Petrosian vs Bobby Fischer Candidates Match in 1971 and the World Chess Championship Tournament in 2005. The best known players are Miguel Najdorf (who won seven championships), Erich Eliskases, Oscar Panno, Carlos Bielicki, Miguel Quinteros and Daniel Campora.
In 2009 Argentina was ranked 32^nd among the countries (2521) with 12 IGMs, 37 IMs, 1 WGM and a total of 112 titled players.

The national champions were:

1921 Reca Damian, 1922 Villegas Benito, 1923 Reca Damian, 1924 Reca Damian, 1925 Reca Damian, 1926 Grau Roberto, 1927 Grau Roberto, 1928 Grau Roberto, 1929 Pleci Isaias; 1930 Pleci Isaias, 1931 Bolbochan Jacobo, 1932 Bolbochan Jacobo, 1933 Piazzini Luis,1934 Grau Roberto, 1935 Grau Roberto, 1936 Grau Roberto; 1937 Guimard Carlos; 1938 Grau Roberto, 1939 Piazzini Luis, 1940 Maderna Carlos; 1941 Guimard Carlos, 1942 Rossetto Hector, 1943 Iliesco Juan, 1944 Rossetto Hector, 1945 Pilnik Herman, 1946 Bolbochan Julio, 1947 Rossetto Hector, 1948 Bolbochan Julio, 1949 Najdorf Miguel, 1950 Maderna Carlos, 1951 Najdorf Miguel, 1952 Najdorf Miguel, 1953 Panno Oscar; 1955 Najdorf Miguel, 1956 Sanguinetti Raul; 1957 Sanguinetti Raul, 1958 Pilnik Herman, 1959 Wexler Bernardo, 1960 Najdorf Miguel, 1961 Rossetto Hector, 1962 Sanguinetti Raul, 1963 Garcia Raimundo, 1964 Najdorf Miguel, 1965 Sanguinetti Raul, 1966 Quinteros Miguel; 1967 Najdorf Miguel, 1968 Sanguinetti Raul, 1969 Juarez Carlos E; 1971 Rubinetti Jorge, 1972 Rossetto Hector, 1973 Sanguinetti Raul, 1974 Sanguinetti Raul, 1975 Najdorf Miguel, 1976 Szmetan Jorge, 1978 Emma Jaime, 1980 Quinteros Miguel, 1982 Rubinetti Jorge, 1983 Gomez Baillo Jorge, 1984 Barbero Gerardo, 1985 Panno Oscar, 1986 Campora Daniel, 1987 Tempone Marcelo, 1988 Rubinetti Jorge, 1989 Campora Daniel, 1990 Soppe Guillermo, 1991 Rubinetti Jorge, 1992 Panno, Oscar, 1993 Spangenberg, Hugo, 1994 Ricardi, Pablo, 1995 Ricardi, Pablo; 1996 Ricardi, Pablo, 1997 Malbrán, Guillermo, 1998 Ricardi Pablo,1999 Ricardi Pablo, 2000 Sorin Ariel, 2001 Felgaer Ruben, 2002 Llabolita Matin, 2003 Soppe Guillermo, 2004 Sorin Ariel, 2005 Diego Flores, 2006 Peralta Fernando, 2007 Felgaer Ruben, 2008 Felgaer Ruben, 2009 Flores Diego, 2010 Felgaer Ruben.

The participants in the national championship in 2009