MALAGA. Spain. July 6: Miguel Najdorf. an Argentine chess grandmaster who was considered one of the great players of this century, has died of complications from surgery. He was 87, reports AP.

Najdorf had been staying at a hotel at the southern Spanish resort of Marbella before undergoing surgery on Friday, said Elena Gonzalez, a spokeswoman at Malaga University Hospital where Najdorf died late Friday.

She declined to provide further details, but Argentine news media said Najdorf died of heart disease.

Najdorf won 52 international tournaments and was known for creating what became known as the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian Defence.

The International Chess Federation champion. Anatoli Karpov, described Najdorf as "one of the greatest of all time. There will never be one like him again,” the Russian told the state news agency.

Najdorf, who was born in Poland on April 15, 1910, came to Argentina in 1939 to play for his national team and escaped the Holocaust tw not returning to his homeland.