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
Online chess novelties
From time to time, I get the urge to play online blitz chess. I’ve played on the Internet Chess Club for years but a few weeks ago my “Chess for Life” co-author Natasha Regan tipped me off about Chess24 blitz tournaments to which she was currently addicted! And indeed, I can say that I also spent much read more…
Lessons from the Limburg Open 2017 – Part I
A rare tournament outing at the 2017 Limburg Open, a 7-round international open, was a reasonable success, ending in shared first place on 6/7 with GM Roeland Pruijssers (winner on tie-break) and GM Christian Bauer. I played with a lot of spirit, but I lacked some accuracy and calculation speed. That’s fortunate in a way read more…
Lessons from the 4NCL – May 2017 Part III
My first game of the last 4NCL weekend was a fraught draw against Matthew Turner which fitted in well with the pattern of the match in which we scraped past the Barbican amateurs with a 4,5-3,5 win. The game ended quickly, but after a quick swim to get rid of the frustration and tension, read more…
Lessons from the 4NCL – May 2017, Part II
Perhaps my most interesting game was the long struggle against 3C’s Adam Ashton on the second day of the last weekend. During and after the game, I had a number of thoughts about the practical side of converting a slight advantage, and after writing them down, I thought it was worth sharing them with you! 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