Soviet and Russian chess player Ratmir (Dimitrievich) Kholmov was born on 13 May 1925 in Shenkursk.  Kholmov learnt to play chess at the age of twelve and reached near master level in only three years. His peak World Ranking was 8th (in 8 different months between August 1960 and March 1961). According to Chessmetrics his highest rating is 2736. He was one of the best ten chess players of the world between 1960 and 1961.

He tied with Taimanov, Klovans and Chernikov for the World Senior Champion title in 2000 in Rowy.

He participated in one Chess Olympiad in 1970 competing for the Soviet Union. He won both individual and team gold medal.

Interesting facts:

He played and scored wins against several World Champions such as Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer and Kasparov.

He died on 18 February 2006 in Moscow at the age of 80.