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
Chess for Life – On tour!
In the next couple of months, Natasha and I are on a “Chess for Life” tour, giving lectures at chess clubs and tournaments in England and Holland! During the lectures we’ll be explaining themes and techniques in the book and we’ll be showing how club players can apply them in their own games. We’ll be read more…
Alekhine’s Themes – Gambits!
I’ve spent a bit of time recently taking a look at Alekhine’s opening repertoire. 3 things struck me in particular. First of all, Alekhine played gambits until the end of his life, even against the strongest players in the world. Some examples: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 was a regular guest in read more…
Tony Miles – unforgettable
My “Chess for Life” co-author Natasha pointed out to me that one of our role models and one of the greats of British Chess, GM Tony Miles, was born 61 years ago on this day. It seems incredible to think that Tony has already been dead for 15 years: you still see so many references read more…
Rook Endings – Terry Chapman’s Theme
During our interview with Terry Chapman for “Chess for Life”, Terry mentioned one of the most memorable moves of his career played in a rook ending during his victory over the Russian Grandmaster Alexander Cherniaev. We didn’t have the space to include the game in the book, so we published it instead in a video 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
