We offer best wishes to GM Daniel King on his birthday

Daniel John King was born on Wednesday, August 28th 1963 (the same day as the Martin Luther King “I have a dream” speech) in Beckenham, Kent.

He attended Langley Park School whose motto is “Mores et Studia” meaning “good character and learning” or “morals and study”.

Daniel has a brother Andrew (AJ King) who is also a strong player.

Daniel became an International Master in 1982 and a Grandmaster in 1989.

His peak FIDE rating (Felice) was 2560 in July 1990 at the age of 27.

Daniel plays for Guildford in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) and has played for Guildford in local leagues.

This was written (by Leonard Barden) about Daniel who was 15 just prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display :

“Langley Park School, Shortlands and Bromley. Rating 201. British under-14 co-champion, 1977. 2nd Lloyds Bank junior international, 1979.”

Danny was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 1983-84 and 1985-86 seasons.

According to Test Your Chess With Daniel King, Batsford, 2004 :

“Grandmaster Daniel King has been a professional chess player for 20 years. During that time he has represented his country on many occasions including an historic match victory over the Soviet Union in Reykyavik, 1990. Besides his chess career, Daniel has built up a reputation as a commentator on TV and radio,

and has reported on four World Championship matches and several Man vs Machine events, including the controversial Kasparov vs Deep Blue encounter in New York, 1997. He is an award-winning author of 15 books, including Winning with the Najdorf, Mastering the Spanish, and Kasparov vs Deep Blue for Batsford. ”

On April 8th, 2020 New in Chess released Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire which is Daniel’s most recent book.

According to British Chess (Pergamon, 1983) by Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :

1977 British Under 14 Champion
1979 Lloyds Bank 6/9 (aged only 16)
1980 First Ilford Open
1981 Represented England in Glorney Cup scoring 4.5/5
1981 Fourteenth equal British Championship
1981 IM norm Manchester 5.5/9
1981 Second equal Ramsgate Regency Masters 6.5/9 IM norm with a round to spare
1982 First Equal Guernsey 6/7
1982 First Hamar IM norm and title
1982 Second equal Molde
1982 Second equal Hallsberg Junior
1982 Third equal Phillips and Drew Knights
1982/3 Tenth equal Ohra, Amsterdam 5/9
1982/3 Fifth European Junior
1983 Fourth equal Gausdal
1983 First Portsmouth Open

In the same article Daniel gave the following game as his favourite up to 1983:

[pgn]

[Event “Lloyds Bank op 06th”]
[Site “London”]
[Date “1982.08.31”]
[Round “7”]
[White “King, Daniel J”]
[Black “Barua, Dibyendu”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C42”]
[WhiteElo “2365”]
[BlackElo “2375”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “67”]
[EventDate “1982.08.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2008”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2007.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2007.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,67,19,31,34,19,13,4,35,24,29,0,14,41,47,29,45,36,39,19,46,42,46,23,49,
37,86,21,49,59,66,46,28,82,106,118,171,127,140,100,150,121,133,141,166,161,181,
84,103,101,113,100,123,33,116,61,104,95,125,102,213,207,285,342,351,328,502,
395,401,574]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 Be7 6. Bd3 Nf6
7. h3 (7. O-O) 7… O-O 8. O-O Nc6 (8… Re8) 9. c3 h6 (9… Re8) 10. Re1 Re8
11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. Nf1 d5 $146 (12… Rxe1) 13. Ne5 Bd6 14. Bf4 Bxe5 $2 15. dxe5
$16 Nd7 16. Qh5 Nc5 17. Bc2 Re6 18. Rad1 Ne7 19. Bc1 Nd7 20. f4 Qf8 21. Ne3 c6
22. c4 $1 Nb6 23. cxd5 (23. Ng4 $18 Nxc4 24. f5) 23… Nexd5 24. Nxd5 Nxd5 25.
Kh1 Qc5 26. Bb1 Qe7 27. Re2 Qe8 28. Rde1 Re7 29. Qf3 b5 $2 (29… Qf8) 30. f5
$18 Bb7 31. f6 Re6 {[#]} 32. Bxh6 $1 c5 (32… gxh6 33. Qg4+ Kh8 34. Qg7#) 33.
Qg3 g6 34. Bg7 1-0
[/pgn]

Here is his Wikipedia entry

[pgn]
[Event “Oviedo rapid45”]
[Site “Oviedo”]
[Date “1992.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Adams, Michael”]
[Black “King, Daniel J”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “B93”]
[WhiteElo “2620”]
[BlackElo “2505”]
[Annotator “King,D”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “1992.??.??”]
[EventType “swiss (rapid)”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “ESP”]
[SourceTitle “TD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1994.03.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1994.03.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,53,21,48,35,50,98,72,62,41,41,38,67,8,50,26,44,24,32,21,-1,20,-16,-18,
-12,-29,-39,-26,-17,-16,40,-18,46,49,49,49,49,29,135,38,100,91,101,25,74,2,104,
104,75,47,53,24,0,0,80,102]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
a6 6. f4 Qc7 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. a4 g6 9. Bd3 Bg7 10. O-O b6 11. Qe1 Bb7 12. Kh1 {
White has to temporize for a move; instead:} (12. Qh4 Nc5 $1 13. f5 gxf5 14. e5
Nxd3 15. cxd3 dxe5 16. Qg5 Rg8 17. Qxf5 Qc5+ 18. Kh1 e4 $17 {Ebeling-King,
Helsinki 1991.}) 12… O-O 13. f5 e6 14. Qh4 Rae8 {Black’s formation is rock
solid. The knight on f6, defending h7, is crucial to Black’s defence and here
it is well supported, not only by the other knight on d7, but indirectly by
the rook on f8 (if White were to exchange on g6 or e6, then it would come into
play). Looking more positively, Black is well placed to counter-attack: he
might exchange on f5, opening up the e-file for the rook and the long diagonal
for the bishop.} 15. Bh6 {- must be the best move.} ({Alternatively:} 15. Bg5 {
(not actually threatening anything)} Qc5 $5 16. Rad1 Qb4 {looking at b2, but
also along the 4th rank; and now White went for a tricky option, trapping
Black’s queen, a most straightforward move is} 17. Bd2 (17. Rb1 {though I
believe Black has two good options available:} gxf5 {(the risky move)} (17…
exf5 {(the safe move)} 18. exf5 Qxh4 19. Bxh4 Ng4 $36 (19… Nc5 $5)) 18. Bh6 {
I think White has to go for it as} (18. exf5 Qxh4 19. Bxh4 e5 {is already
better for Black}) 18… Bxh6 (18… fxe4 19. Qg5 Nh5 20. Qxh5 exf3 (20… exd3
$4 21. Qg5) 21. Bxh7+ (21. gxf3 Nf6 22. Qg5 Qg4) 21… Kxh7 22. Bxg7+ Kxg7 23.
Qg5+ $11 {A very Fritzy variation.}) 19. Qxh6 fxe4 20. Ng5 exd3 21. cxd3 Qd4 {
and I don’t see a way through for White; it is nice that g2 is ‘en prise’.})
17… Qxb2 18. e5 Bxf3 19. Ra1 Nxe5 20. Rfb1 Qxa1 21. Rxa1 Bb7 {Black has rook,
minor piece, two pawns and, most importantly a compact position. He is already
clearly better.} 22. Rb1 Ned7 23. fxe6 fxe6 24. Qc4 Nd5 25. Nxd5 Bxd5 26. Qh4
Nc5 27. Be3 Nxd3 28. cxd3 b5 29. Kg1 Rc8 30. Rc1 Rxc1+ 31. Bxc1 Bf6 32. Qb4 a5
33. Qg4 b4 34. h4 Rc8 35. Bg5 Bxg5 36. Qxg5 b3 37. Qf6 Rb8 38. Qb2 e5 {0-1
Bangiev-Rashkovsky/USSR 1975, this is the game that I had noticed.}) (15. fxg6
$6 {releases the tension too early. Black has few difficulties defending and
can use the f-file to attack:} fxg6 16. Bh6 Qc5 17. Ng5 Qe5 18. Rf3 Nh5 19.
Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Raf1 Rxf3 21. Rxf3 Ndf6 22. g4 Nf4 23. Rf1 h6 24. Nf3 Nxe4 25.
Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Bxa6 Rf8 27. c3 Qd5 28. Qg3 Nd3 29. Bxd3 Qxd3 30. Kg2 Qxf1+ 31.
Kxf1 Rxf3+ {0-1 Kolas,T-Hagesaether,P/Jarleslaget op 1997}) 15… Qc5 {There
you go, I told you I just copied Rashkovsky. The manoeuvre is still good,
though not quite as effective as in the original game.} (15… Nc5 {Careful!
That knight on f6 needs protecting; that’s why I would be reluctant to play
this move;} 16. Ng5 exf5 17. exf5 Qc6 18. Rg1 (18. Rf3 $5) 18… Nxd3 19. cxd3
Nh5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Raf1 f6 22. Ne6+ Rxe6 23. fxe6 Re8 24. Rc1 Rxe6 25. Nb5
Qe8 26. Nc7 {1-0 Arakhamia,K-Magar,T/World op 1995}) (15… d5 {is perhaps the
most sensible:} 16. fxe6 fxe6 17. exd5 exd5 {. Black can hope to land a knight
on e4.}) 16. Ng5 Qb4 (16… exf5 $5 {is an interesting thought, now that the
knight has moved from f3 Black can gain a tempo on g2:} 17. exf5 Qc6 18. Rg1
Ne5 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Nce4 Neg4 21. Raf1 h6 22. Nxf6 Nxf6 23. Nf3 Qc5 24. fxg6
fxg6 25. Qd4 {1/2-1/2 Van der Poel,H-Bezemer,A/NLD-chT9495 1994, though Black
might have the edge, e.g. 25…Qxd4 26 Nxd4 Ng4.}) 17. fxe6 fxe6 18. Rab1 d5
19. Rf4 e5 20. Rf3 dxe4 21. Ncxe4 Bxe4 22. Bxe4 Qe7 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Bd5 Qd6
25. Rd3 Nc5 26. Rdd1 Rd8 $2 (26… Qe7 $11 27. b4 $6 h6 28. bxc5 hxg5 $15) 27.
Bf3 $2 {The draw was not agreed here! This was rapid-play, so the game score
has disappeared, or perhaps never existed, but after complications most of the
pieces were hoovered off the board.} (27. b4 $1 h6 28. bxc5 hxg5 29. cxd6 gxh4)
1/2-1/2
[/pgn]