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 power of a queenside pawn mass
Most of my chess activities nowadays take place in the train on the way to work. A recent spate of engineering works has lengthened my journey considerably with the happy result that I’ve been studying chess for an extra half hour a day! I’ve spent that time playing through lots of Efim Bogolyubow’s games read more…
Alekhine’s Themes – more opening sharpness
A little while after posting about Alekhine’s inventiveness in the early opening stages (Alekhine’s Themes – at you right from the opening!) I came across another lovely little example which I just have to share with you. It comes from the game Alekhine – Vidmar Hastings 1936. After 13 moves of a quiet QGD, read more…
Lessons from Haarlem 2016 – dealing with complexity
I’m often asked how much I see during a game. It’s a difficult question to answer because the implicit assumption behind the question is that if you see something, you see it precisely and accurately and with a high degree of completeness. In my experience that’s not true for most of the variations you spot read more…
The only way is forwards
In 1928, Bogolyubow played 2 matches against Euwe in Holland for the title “Champion of FIDE” (see http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fide.html for Edward Winter’s excellent Chess Notes entry on the story behind this title) Bogolyubow won both 10 game matches 5,5-4,5 after very tough fights. In the first match, Bogolyubow only managed to nose ahead after winning the 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
