- BornJune 27, 1951, Västerås
- CountrySweden
- TitleGrandmaster 1972
- Highest rating2655 (January 1997)
FIDE's official lists (from July 1971)
The road to the top
Andersson was born in Västerås in 1951. In 1969 he won the Swedish championship, and in 1972 he became a grandmaster. In Milan in 1975 he beat the world champion, Anatoly Karpov, who thus lost his first game as world champion. His tournament wins include Dortmund 1978 and Wijk aan Zee 1983.
Main results
| Year | Event | Result | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Chess Olympiad | Bronze on board 1 | Buenos Aires |
Among the world's best
In January 1983 he was No. 4 on FIDE's world list, behind Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov, and Ljubomir Ljubojević. He played first board for Sweden at the Chess Olympiads he took part in from 1970 to 2002, and in Buenos Aires in 1978 he won bronze for his result there.
How he played
Andersson preferred positional play and seldom took risks, and many of his games ended in draws. But when the position simplified, it was often his opponent who had to suffer. He is known for winning long endgames that looked like draws.
By correspondence
In the 1990s Andersson took up correspondence chess, where games last for months. He became a grandmaster there too and reached the top of the world list in correspondence chess.
Sources
- Wikipedia (Swedish): Ulf Andersson
- Wikipedia: Ulf Andersson
- Store norske leksikon: Ulf Andersson
- Chess.com: Ulf Andersson
- TeleSchach: Dortmunder Schachtage 1973 and 1978
- OlimpBase: FIDE's lists of 1983 and Andersson's Chess Olympiads
- FIDE: Andersson's profile and rating history
The facts on this page come from the sources above, checked against each other. Where the sources disagree, only what they agree on is given.
Updated November 8, 2026