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
The London Classic 2017 Dinner
The London Classic 2017 was rounded off according to tradition with a lavish closing dinner at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand. As well as beautiful food and wine, guests can take part in a raffle and – more importantly – a silent auction for chess memorabilia (for example a board signed by all participants of the Classic) and events read more…
King, Rook and 2 Pawns vs King, Rook and Pawn – Part 1
I’ve been spending some time looking through Muller and Konoval’s “Understanding Rook Endgames” presents findings about King, Rook & 2 Pawns versus King, Rook & Pawn endings using the latest 7-man tablebases. One fact that amazed me was that the superior side wins 46% of King, Rook, a & b / g & h read more…
Lessons from Haarlem 2016 – it ain’t necessarily so
Looking through some old analysis, I came across these fragments from a tournament I played just over a year ago. They seemed interesting to me so I hope you like them too! One of them at least is pretty spectacular! From round 1: Sadler,Matthew D – De Roode,Martijn Haarlem 2016 We had read more…
Wedging with Alexei Shirov
While casually browsing through a compilation of positions, I came across this unusual position from the game Shirov-Topalov Bosnia 2000. The game was given as an example of a pawn wedge in the enemy camp which is quite understandable when you see the rest of the game! It’s worth playing it through without comments just 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
