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
Lessons from Haarlem 2016 – Kortchnoi’s outpost on c6
My second tournament outing of 2016 was the ROC Nova College Open in Haarlem. It was the first weekend tournament I competed in after returning to chess in 2010 and has become a permanent fixture in my calendar due to the beautiful town, the lovely venue (the best conditions I’ve played in) and last but read more…
Chess in the Jardin du Luxembourg
On my way back from a family visit in France, I spent a couple of days in Paris. Mainly for museums, but also for my yearly visit to the “Jardin de Luxembourg”. The “Jardin de Luxembourg” is one of Paris’ many beautiful parks in which a variety of activities take place: There’s tennis… read more…
King, Rook and Pawn vs King and Rook – Part III
In the last part of our examination of the theory of King, Rook and Pawn against King and Rook, we look at endings involving a rook’s pawn (a/h). We shall examine 3 basic scenarios for rook’s pawns The White king supports the pawn with the aim of shepherding it to a queen. The White rook stands read more…
King, Rook and Pawn vs King and Rook – Part II
In this article, we will examine endings in which White’s pawn has not yet moved past the 4th rank, but Black’s king is cut off from the pawn (and is thus unable to move over and blockade the pawn) on the long side (thus interfering with any attempts from Black to check from the side). 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
