Jan is 55 years old and lives in Prague, his beloved hometown, to which he has always remained loyal. Since his youth, his life has revolved around tennis, which he played competitively and coached until a few years ago. It was no coincidence that he met his future wife through tennis, as she also played competitively. He gave up coaching when he had to take care of his deceased parents' estate and their real estate.

Jan has been devoted to chess, and correspondence chess in particular, around 1994. He took part in ICCF competitions for the first time in the early 2000s and immediately won the IM title in a quarter-final group at the 25th Correspondence Chess World Championship (WC25/SF06).

In 2006, he once again impressed in the Champions League, figuratively speaking, with a strong serve and achieved a GM norm. His team, the Brevnov Knights, celebrated the silver medal, and he himself celebrated the gold medal on board 2. In 2011, he secured the GM title by coming first in the anniversary tournament of the correspondence chess team Chessfriends Rochade 5171, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Six more GM norms followed by 2022

In 2016, he did not miss the opportunity to represent Czechia at the 19th and last postal Correspondence Chess Olympiad on 1st December. The tournament did not end until 2021, when the next final had already begun. He finished fourth, as did the team as a whole.
In the final of the 20th Olympiad (2020-2022), he again played on board 1 and, like all the other participants, had the sobering experience of all 78 games ending in a draw.

For about ten years (2013-2023), Jan's rating has fluctuated slightly around 2600, with tournament activity of about 200 rated games during this period.

Jan is also one of the most successful Chess 960 players in the ICCF. He took second place at the Diamond Jubilee 1st Chess 960 World Cup Final in 2015 (WC/960-01/F, ICCF) and repeated his success in 2022 at the 70th ICCF Jubilee Chess 960 World Elite (ICCF70-960Elite). With a rating of 2562, he topped the ICCF world rankings in April 2023, albeit with only 33 games counted. (Originally, the ratings were taken from standard chess.) Currently, other players are in the top spots, some of whom have played a large number of games. There is no GM among them.

‘In addition to tennis and chess, I have other hobbies, in particular hunting (my father was a passionate hunter and angler), sport shooting, and, last but not least, I really enjoy drinking beer (especially Pilsner Urquell). :-)’¹

Jan Židů has been president of the Czech Correspondence Chess Federation since 2012.

1   If the reader comes across the nickname ‘Biertrinker’ on a chess server, there is a certain probability that it refers to the person presented here ;-)