Vladimir Andreevich Makogonov (August 27, 1904 – January 2, 1993) was a chess player from Azerbaijan. He was born in Nakhchivan but spent a considerable part of his life in Baku. He became an International Master in 1950, and in 1987 he got an honorary Grandmaster title.

Makogonov never became truly well-known outside the Soviet Union but he was highly respected in his country as a player and as a trainer. In the ’40s he became one of the strongest players in the world: according to Chessmetrics historical rating his highest score was 2735 in October 1945, his best result on the world ranking list was fifth place in 1945.

He won the Azerbaijan Championship five times, and from 1947 to 1952 he continuously received the championship title. He participated in the Soviet Championship on eight occasions between 1927 and 1947. In 1937, he finished fourth, and in 1939 as well. His notable achievements included when he tied for third place at Leningrad-Moscow 1939, behind Salo Flohr and Samuel Reshevsky. Then, he placed second at Sverdlovsk 1943, behind Mikhail Botvinnik and ahead such players as Vasily Smyslov and Isaac Boleslavsky. In 1942, he lost a match against Salo Flohr by 7½–4½ in Baku. He played on Board 9 in the 1945 USSR–USA radio match and beat Abraham Kupchik by 1½–½. He retired from competitive chess in the 1950s.

Makogonov was a well-known chess coach. He helped to prepare Vasily Smyslov for his 1957 world championship title match against Mikhail Botvinnik. He trained Vladimir Bagirov and Genrikh Chepukaitis and became the first coach of the young talent, Garry Kasparov on the recommendation of Botvinnik.

His brother, Mikhail Makogonov was also a chess player and they tied for first place in the first Baku Chess Championship in 1923.

He was known about his positional playing style. Many chess opening theories are named after him, for example the Makogonov Variation in the King's Indian Defence and in the Grünfeld Defence. He helped develop Tartakower’s system in the Queen's Gambit Declined, which is also noted as the Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevsky System or TMB System in Russia.

Makogonov died on January 2, 1993 at the age of 88.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org; http://www.chessmetrics.com