my latest books
"Re-Engineering the Chess Classics"
Nominated for the 2023 Chess.com Book of the Year
"The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement"
"Game Changer" won the ECF Book of the Year 2019 and the FIDE Book of the Year 2019
Evening blitz at the 19th Sam Black Memorial!
This week, I made some more good use of my return to the UK by playing some Tuesday evening blitz after work in the Sam Black Memorial Open Blitz in Wanstead, London. Professor Sam Black is a former chairman of the North London League and this tournament was set up in his memory when he read more…
Sir George Thomas – Part IV
The top British players F.D. Yates and Sir George Thomas played many games against each other during their careers. Chessbase gives a total score of 12 wins, 12 draws and 9 losses for Sir George Thomas out of a total of 33 games, starting in 1918 and finishing in 1932, the year of Yates’ death. read more…
Attacking with Tal – Part 2
This interesting game doesn’t even make it into Tibor Karolyi’s 3-volume biography of Mikhail Tal, or even in Mikhail Tal’s own collection of Best Games! I found it in “The Complete Manual of Positional Chess, Opening and Middlegame” by Sakaev and Landa, in a chapter entitled “Do not leave the king in the centre”. Good read more…
Sir George Thomas – Part III
I came across the following game in the Illustrated London News of April 26th, 1930 under the heading “USA Naval SS Baffled” and the concluding sentence “This should ‘larn’ the Americans to steal our naval secrets”! Intrigued, I looked at the game which was indeed spectacular. It was played in the London – Washington Cable read more…
"The secret of my success: with every move I force the opponent to think for themselves!"
- Alexander Alekhine
about
I am a Chess Grandmaster and writer, and one of England's top players. When I am not doing my job as an IT Consultant, I fill my free time with as much chess as possible
my work
Writing and discussing chess has always been one of my passions. I review chess books in a regular column for New in Chess magazine and have written 8 books myself. I also contribute to chess videos regularly.
contact me
I hope that you enjoy the site. I will enrich its content over time and would love to hear what you think. Let me know whether there are any topics you would like me to cover in my blog.
"How many moves do I consider when analysing? Only one, but it's always the best one!"
- Emanuel Lasker
