When you think of chess in Brazil, first of all, you think of Henrique Mecking.
The first Brazilian to become a Grandmaster (1972), one of the world's top players in the mid-1970s, winner of Petropolis-1973 and Manila-1976 Interzonals, he turned 69 on January 23.
His chess career was untimely interrupted by a serious neuromuscular disease that had him withdrawn from Rio de Janeiro-1979 Interzonal. He could return to chess only in the 1990s but continues to play to the present day.
