Chess has been part of my life since my grandfather taught me the moves when I was 7. I made my first IM norm at the age of 13 (beating an IM in 17 moves in the last round; I haven’t forgotten that experience!) and became an IM at the age of 14. I had to wait until 1993 to secure the GM title at the age of 19, however.
I won the British Championship twice and established myself as the England No.3 behind Michael Adams and Nigel Short. Looking back on my career, I’m most proud of my performances for the England team; I won the Gold Medal on Board 4 with 10.5/13 in the 1996 Yerevan Chess Olympiad and a Silver Medal on Board 4 at the 1997 European Championships in Pula which helped England to victory.
I retired in 1999, and moved to Holland to work for Hewlett Packard. I now live and work in the UK as an IT Consultant. In 2010, I got the urge to start playing again, and I won my first tournament – a strong rapid tournament in Wageningen – with 7/7. From that point on, chess has taken more and more of my free time. I played for the England team at the 2014 Tromso Olympiad, scoring 7/10 (the 4th best score on Board 5). My ELO rating on the January 2019 list was 2693 (46th in the world).
I have written extensively throughout my career; I have reviewed books for New in Chess for many years, recorded a series of chess videos for Chess24.com, and written 8 books, the most recent of which – The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement – was published in October 2021.
Matthew Sadler GM
Chess has been part of my life since my grandfather taught me the moves when I was 7. I made my first IM norm at the age of 13 (beating an IM in 17 moves in the last round; I haven’t forgotten that experience!) and became an IM at the age of 14. I had to wait until 1993 to secure the GM title at the age of 19, however.
I won the British Championship twice and established myself as the England No.3 behind Michael Adams and Nigel Short. Looking back on my career, I’m most proud of my performances for the England team; I won the Gold Medal on Board 4 with 10.5/13 in the 1996 Yerevan Chess Olympiad and a Silver Medal on Board 4 at the 1997 European Championships in Pula which helped England to victory.
I retired in 1999, and moved to Holland to work for Hewlett Packard. I now live and work in the UK as an IT Consultant. In 2010, I got the urge to start playing again, and I won my first tournament – a strong rapid tournament in Wageningen – with 7/7. From that point on, chess has taken more and more of my free time. I played for the England team at the 2014 Tromso Olympiad, scoring 7/10 (the 4th best score on Board 5). My ELO rating on the July 2017 list was 2693 (46th in the world).
I have written extensively throughout my career; I have reviewed books for New in Chess for many years, recorded a series of chess videos for Chess24.com, and written 8 books, the most recent of which - The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement - was published in October 2021.