Vitaly Alexandrovich Chekhover (1908–1965) was a Soviet chess player and chess

composer. He was also a pianist.

In the beginning of his career as an endgame study composer, Chekhover often

revised traditional studies of other authors. Later he found his own style and composed a

number of original, independent chess studies and problems. Starting 1936, Chekhover

published more than 160 endgame studies. He is considered a prominent specialist on

knight endgames, and has written several books on the subject.

Between 1947 and 1965 he participated in the Soviet Championship for Chess

Composition. In 1956 he was awarded the title International Judge of Chess Compositions

by FIDE, and received FIDE title International Master of Chess Compositions in 1961.

Chekover was also a very successful chess player. A variation of the Sicilian Defence

is named after him: 1. e4 c5 2. ¤f3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. £xd4. It is called the Chekhover

variation.