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
Alekhine’s Themes – Winter is coming
In an earlier post, I examined Alekhine’s predilection for centre-clearing gambits by analysing 2 of his games against Reshevsky and Rabinovich. I also mentioned Alekhine’s game against Winter at Hastings 1936/7 which featured a speculative Gambit against the solid Caro-Kann: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 de 4.Ne4 Nf6 5.Bd3. I hadn’t realised it at the read more…
Chess as a hobby
When work gets tough, I always look to chess – now just a hobby for me – for some joy and relief. So it was a nice boost to get a mail from my Dad at the beginning of April, pointing out that I’d just achieved my highest ELO rating ever – 2670 – beating read more…
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…
"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
