We send best wishes to GM Michael Stean on his birthday,

Michael Francis Stean was born Michael Francis (some say Frank) Stein on Friday, September 4th, 1953 in Pancras, London. His mother’s maiden name is / was Jean Feldman. Michael has a brother, Howard.

He attended Latymer Upper School and Cambridge University and his early chess days were spent at Richmond and Twickenham Chess Club.

He became an International Master in 1975 and England’s third (OTB) Grandmaster in 1977 winning £2,500 from the Jim Slater Foundation.

He was the chess correspondent of The Observer.

Some notable opponents that he has a plus score against include:

John Nunn: 3.5/5
Jonathan Speelman: 2.5/4
Gert Ligterink: 2.5/3
Robert Bellin: 2.5/3
Brian Eley: 2.5/3
Vladimir Liberzon: 2/3
and others.

With the white pieces Michael played 1.e4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3 but rarely 1.d4 preferring the Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation.

With the black pieces he played the Sicilian Najdorf (and was a leading expert), the Nimzo-Indian and the Queen’s Indian defences.

He has the dubious honour of being the first Grandmaster to lose a blitz game to a computer (Chess 4.6) in London, 1977. Stean exclaimed, “This computer is a genius!”

His peak FIDE rating was 2540 in January 1979.

His mother (Jean) presented a trophy to the Marlow Congress (now the Berks and Bucks Congress) which became the Mrs. Jean Stean Cup.

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

“Stean was educated at Cambridge University, He was equal first in the British Championship, Clacton, 1974, although only 4th in the playoff. He has been an important member of Korchnoi’s team for the last 5 years, and this perhaps has been responsible more than anything for the rounding out and maturing of his style from the sharp tactical play of the early 1970s to the solid positional GM (especially with the White pieces) of today.

Stean is a fine author; Simple Chess and the Sicilian Najdorf are both excellent books.

Temperamentally he is generally pleasant, good humoured and self confident, although he suffers from intermittent poor health which might help to explain his at times erratic results.”

[pgn]
[Event “Birmingham”]
[Site “Birmingham”]
[Date “1976.??.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Stean, Michael F”]
[Black “Nunn, John DM”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “A71”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “70”]
[EventDate “1976.??.??”]
[EventType “game”]
[EventRounds “1”]
[EventCountry “ENG”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2010”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2010.11.25”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2010.11.25”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,65,29,25,24,4,29,42,45,64,84,82,72,74,131,106,97,91,78,67,70,82,79,61,
73,42,25,27,25,30,62,39,46,47,46,36,36,36,42,24,16,58,64,9,14,-43,30,20,73,108,
216,207,445,501,613,402,574,485,679,650,915,785,800,997,1007,1007,1027,1029]}
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. e4 Bg7 (7… a6
{is the most accurate move order in recent times.} 8. a4 Bg4 9. Be2 Bxf3 10.
Bxf3 (10. gxf3) 10… Nbd7 11. O-O Bg7 12. Bf4 Qe7 13. Re1 O-O) 8. Bg5 {
This has gone out of fashion.} ({The Modern Main Line is} 8. h3 O-O 9. Bd3 a6 (
9… b5)) 8… h6 (8… Qa5 9. Nd2 Qxa2) 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh5 11. Bb5+ Kf8 (
11… Bd7 $2 12. Bxd7+ (12. Bxd6 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Bxb5) 12… Qxd7 13. Ne5 $1 {
[%cal Gd1h5,Ge5d7]} Bxe5 14. Qxh5 $16 (14. Bxe5 dxe5 15. Qxh5)) 12. e5 $1 {
This was big novelty at the time.} (12. Ne5 Nxg3) 12… Nxg3 13. fxg3 $1 dxe5
14. O-O a6 15. Be2 Ra7 {[%cal Ga7f7]} (15… f5) 16. a4 b6 17. Qb3 f5 18. Nd2
$2 (18. Rad1 $16) 18… e4 $14 19. g4 (19. Bg4 $142) (19. Ndxe4 Bd4+ 20. Kh1
Kg7 21. Nd2 Re7) 19… Bd4+ 20. Kh1 e3 21. Nc4 f4 22. Nxb6 Rb7 23. a5 h5 $1 24.
gxh5 Nd7 25. Bxa6 Nf6 (25… Rxh5 $1 {Nunn} 26. Bxb7 Kg7 (26… Bxb7) 27. h3 (
27. Bxc8 Rxh2+ 28. Kxh2 Qh8+ 29. Kg1 e2+ 30. Rf2 Qh4 31. Ne4 Nf6 32. Qh3 Nxe4
33. Qxh4 gxh4 34. a6 Nxf2) 27… Qh8 (27… Bxb7 28. a6) 28. Qc2 Rxh3+ 29. gxh3
Qxh3+ 30. Qh2) 26. Bxb7 $18 Nxh5 27. Ne2 $1 (27. Ra2 $4 Ng3+ 28. Kg1 e2+ 29.
Rf2 e1=R#) 27… Bg4 28. Nxd4 Ng3+ 29. Kg1 Rxh2 (29… cxd4) 30. Kxh2 Qe8 31.
Ne6+ Bxe6 32. Qxe3 $1 Qh5+ 33. Kg1 {and Black resigned.} Qh1+ 34. Kf2 fxe3+ 35.
Kxg3+ Qxf1 1-0[/pgn]

According to Chessgames.com :

“Michael Francis Stean was born on the 4th of September 1953 in London, England. He finished 3rd at the 1973 World Junior Chess Championships behind Alexander Beliavsky and Tony Miles. Awarded the IM title in 1975 and the GM title in 1977 (The third Englishman to attain the title after Miles and Keene).

He finished 1st= in the 1974 British Championship but lost the play-off. He played on 5 English Olympiad teams from 1974 – 1983 and has won 1st prizes at Vrsac 1979, Smederevska Palanka 1980 and Beer Sheba 1982.

A specialist in Opening Theory he served as one of Viktor Korchnoi’s seconds in the 1977 – 1981 period. He is the author of Simple Chess, an introduction to chess strategy.”

[pgn][Event “Olympiad-22”]
[Site “Haifa”]
[Date “1976.11.06”]
[Round “11.4”]
[White “Stean, Michael F”]
[Black “Schneider, Lars Ake”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B89”]
[BlackElo “2365”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “55”]
[EventDate “1976.10.25”]
[EventType “team-swiss”]
[EventRounds “13”]
[EventCountry “ISR”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “England”]
[BlackTeam “Sweden”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “SWE”]

{[%evp 0,47,39,31,58,32,48,14,38,32,37,43,42,31,62,40,43,19,45,11,26,18,12,-1,
-13,-2,-13,1,-6,-22,-15,-87,-81,-200,-81,-103,-85,-85,-85,-112,-10,-42,-30,-93,
-93,11,113,1559,1385,1956]} 1. e4 {[%mdl 512]} c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4
Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 {The Sozin (or indeed Fischer-Sozin) Variation : White
develops his f1 bishop actively, to put pressure on Black’s king side and to
inhibit the latter’s thematic freeing move …d5. Another point is the
kingside castling is made possible, although this is sometimes deferred or
completely rejected in favour of other operations. depending upon Black’s
response Veniamin Sozin (1896 – 1956)} (6. Bg5 {is most popular}) 6… e6 {
Black, in his turn, can hope to exploit the position of the bishop,
temporarily unguarded and on an exposed square, to accelerate his Queenside
counterplay or by seeking the advantage of the two bishops. The positions that
can result are some of the keenest in chess, yet it is only in the last ten
years or so that the interest of players and theoreticians alike has come to
focus on 6.Bc4.} (6… g6 $2 7. Nxc6 $1 bxc6 8. e5 {The Magnus Smith Variation}
dxe5 $4 (8… Ng4 9. Bf4 d5 10. Nxd5 $1) 9. Bxf7+) 7. Be3 Be7 (7… Qc7 8. Qe2
a6 9. Bb3 Na5 $11) 8. Qe2 {[%cal Ge1c1,Ga1d1] The Velimirovic Attack} a6 (8…
O-O 9. O-O-O Nxd4 (9… a6 {is most common}) 10. Bxd4 Qa5 11. e5 dxe5 12. Bxe5
$14) 9. O-O-O Qc7 10. Bb3 O-O {[#] and we reach the Tabiya position for the
Velimirovic Attack.} 11. Rhg1 $1 ({The marginaly more popular} 11. g4 {was the
favourite of Velimirovic and Fischer} Nxd4 12. Rxd4 $14 e5 13. Rdd1) (11. Nxc6)
{Perhaps still more precise is} 11… Na5 (11… b5 $142 $1 12. g4 b4 $15) 12.
g4 b5 {transposing} 13. g5 Nxb3+ 14. axb3 Nd7 {[%csl Gc2,Gc7,Ge4,Ge7][%cal
Ga1a5] Paoli and Ribli’s provocative set-up, designed to highlight White’s
potential weaknesses : e4, c2 and in some cases, the a-file. Great
complications arise as White can sacrifice everything he has in the attempt to
mate, but it is quite possible that Black already stands better.} 15. Rg3 {
Nunn’s new idea in this book line, for which see the Batsford book, The
Sicilian Sozin.} ({An immediate} 15. Qh5 {allows the defence} g6 (15… Bb7 16.
Rg3 Rfc8 (16… Rfe8) 17. Rh3 Nf8 {is a road to nowhere for White.}) 16. Qh6
Re8 {followed by Bf8 and then Bg7.}) 15… b4 {[#]} (15… Bb7 $142 ) ({Safer is} 15… Re8 16. Nf5 $2 exf5 17. Nd5 Qc6 $19) 16. Nf5 $1 {
The old Tal technique : Black can only take one piece at a time. In fact, this
is the only way to continue for White otherwise Black is better.} {Best is}
exf5 (16… Re8 $142 17. Nxe7+ Rxe7 18. Na4 $16 a5 {[%cal Gc8a6]}) (16… Qd8
17. Nxe7+ Qxe7 18. Na4 a5 19. Qd3 $16) ({If} 16… Nc5 17. Qh5 $1 g6 18. Qh6 $1
(18. Bd4 $1 e5 19. Qh6 Bxf5 20. Nd5 Nxe4 21. Nxc7 $18) (18. Qxg6+) (18. Qxh7+
Kxh7 19. Rh3+ Kg8 20. Nh6+) 18… gxf5 19. Rh3 {mating}) 17. Nd5 Qd8 18. exf5 {
[%cal Gf5f6]} Re8 {[%csl Gf8]} 19. Qf3 (19. f6 Bf8 20. fxg7 Bxg7 21. Nf6+ Nxf6
22. gxf6 Qxf6 {[%cal Gf6b2]} 23. Rdg1 Qxb2+ 24. Kd2 Qc3+ 25. Kd1 Qa1+ 26. Kd2
$11) (19. Qh5 g6 20. Qh4 {is a dead end.}) (19. Nxe7+) 19… Bf8 $15 (19… Ne5
20. Nxe7+ {(seguido de 21. Qxa8)}) (19… Rb8 $142) 20. Nf6+ $1 Nxf6 (20…
gxf6 21. gxf6+ (21. Rdg1) 21… Kh8 22. Qg2 $18 (22. Rdg1 h6 23. Bd4) 22…
Nxf6 23. Rg1 Bh6 24. Bxh6 Nh5 25. Qf3 Nxg3 26. Qxg3 Rg8 27. Bg7+ Rxg7 28. Qxg7#
) 21. gxf6 Bd7 $2 ({Imperative is} 21… Rb8 {with defensive chances based
around the Rb5 rook lift.} 22. fxg7 Be7 23. Rh3 Rb5 $1 $19 {[%cal Gb5f5]} 24.
Rxh7 Bxf5 $1 {Only move to survive} 25. Rh8+ Kxg7 $19 26. Bd4+ f6 27. Rh5 Bg6
28. Rg1 {which the post-mortem showed to be drawish.}) 22. Bd4 $1 (22. Rxd6
$142) 22… Qa5 $2 {totally losing} (22… g6 23. Qd5 {and White is clearly
better}) 23. Rxg7+ $1 Kh8 (23… Bxg7 24. Qg2) 24. Qg4 {and Black resigned.
Comentarios: Franco Luis Di Luca (h)} (24. Qg4 h6 25. Rg8+ Kh7 26. Qg6+ fxg6
27. fxg6+ Kxg8 28. f7#) {Resignation spoilt THE checkmate of the Olympiad :}
24… h6 25. Rg8+ Kh7 26. Qg6+ fxg6 27. fxg6+ Kxg8 28. f7# 1-0
[/pgn]

Harry Golombek wrote this about Michael in a 1980 Dataday chess diary :

“The fact that he has sprung up into second place among English players as regards Elo ratings demonstrates the considerable advance Michael Stean has made in the course of a year.

In the 1978 diary I wrote that it would not be long before he gained the grandmaster title since he already possessed one norm of the title. The forecast proved to be correct as he duly acquired the title a few months after I wrote the prophecy.

He had though to take two more bites at the cherry before he managed to gain the required norms since the tournaments in which he played were not long events. They were Montilla in August 1977 where he came third below Gligoric and Kavalek and the Lord John Cup Tournament in London in September 1977 where he was equal 2nd with Quinteros and Mestel, first place being occupied by the Czechoslovak grandmaster, Hort.

Before that he had assisted Keene in seconding Korchnoi in his candidates match versus Polugayevsky and had done this to such effect that Korchnoi asked him and Keene to act as his seconds at his final match in the Candidates at Belgrade and later on still at the World Championship match against Karpov in the Philippines.

He also played successfully in Yugoslavia in 1977 (equal 2nd at Virovitica and equal 2nd at Bar). In 1978 he was 3rd at Beersheba below Korchnoi but head of Keene. Five points out of nine at the very strong Swiss System tournament at Lone Pine was followed by an excellent equal 4th with Miles at the tournament at Las Palmas. He has shown that he not only possesses the title of grandmaster but also plays like one.

A good example in the following game (Stean-Sax) against one of the joint first prize winners at the Las Palmas event. It was awarded the prize for the best game :”

[pgn]
[Event “Las Palmas-07”]
[Site “Las Palmas”]
[Date “1978.??.??”]
[Round “10”]
[White “Stean, Michael F”]
[Black “Sax, Gyula”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B33”]
[BlackElo “2550”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “55”]
[EventDate “1978.04.??”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “15”]
[EventCountry “ESP”]
[EventCategory “10”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

{[%evp 0,55,19,38,40,41,51,40,25,22,32,46,60,45,53,-3,-5,-21,3,-12,21,21,50,16,
14,14,5,-4,31,39,33,14,49,50,0,0,51,24,72,72,28,10,102,102,89,89,111,108,119,
102,123,150,126,119,116,145,197,241]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4
Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bd3
Be6 12. Qh5 Bg7 13. O-O f4 14. c4 bxc4 15. Bxc4 O-O 16. Rac1 Rb8 17. b3 Bxd5
18. Bxd5 Nb4 19. Rfd1 Nxa2 20. Rc6 Rb6 21. Rxb6 Qxb6 22. Nc4 Qc7 23. Nxd6 Nc3
24. Nf5 Kh8 25. Rd3 Nxd5 26. Rxd5 f6 27. h3 Rg8 28. Qd1 1-0
[/pgn]

From The Oxford Companion to Chess (OUP, 1984) by Hooper & Whyld :

“English player, International Grandmaster (1977). At Nice 1974, in the first of his several Olympiads, he won the brilliancy prize for his game against Browne.

Since then he has had several good results: Montilia 1976, equal second with Kavalek and Ricardo Calvo (1943— ) after Karpov; Montilia 1977, third (-1-3 = 6)after Gligoric and Kavalek ahead of R. Byrne, Taimanov, and Andersson; London 1977. second (+4=4—1) equal with Mestel and Quinteros after Hort ; Vrsac 1979, first (+ 8=5—1); Smederevska Palanka 1980, first (+7-6); Beersheba 1982, first, Stean was one of Korchnoi’s seconds in the world championship cycles of 1977-8 and 1980-1, and the two became close friends.

In particular Stean provided help with the openings, a subject on which he specialises. He published a book on the Najdorf variation of the Sicilian defence in 1976, and Simple Chess, a guide to the understanding of positional ideas, in 1978.”

From Wikipedia :

“Michael Francis Stean (born 4 September 1953) is an English chess grandmaster, an author of chess books and a tax accountant.

The game below (Stean-Browne) was the first winner of the World Brilliancy Prize established in 1974 by Isador Samuel Turover. The value of the prize was $1,000.”

[pgn]
[Event “Olympiad-21 Preliminaries B”]
[Site “Nice”]
[Date “1974.06.15”]
[Round “9”]
[White “Stean, Michael Francis”]
[Black “Browne, Walter Shawn”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B94”]
[Annotator “British Chess News”]
[PlyCount “63”]
[EventDate “1974.06.07”]
[EventType “team-tourn”]
[EventRounds “9”]
[EventCountry “FRA”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2000”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]
[WhiteTeam “England”]
[BlackTeam “US of America”]
[WhiteTeamCountry “ENG”]
[BlackTeamCountry “USA”]

{[%evp 0,63,19,38,40,41,66,77,66,55,55,20,79,39,64,47,62,62,46,12,5,-27,40,6,
-3,-7,12,-20,-29,-29,7,180,177,177,204,204,194,194,363,246,253,253,258,324,324,
324,328,328,331,331,911,1032,1094,1208,1238,1272,1279,1317,2579,3022,29981,
29984,29987,1511,1562,1568]} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3
a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Bc4 e6 8. O-O h6 9. Bxf6 $146 Nxf6 10. Bb3 b6 11. f4 Bb7 12.
Qd3 Be7 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Bxe6 b5 15. e5 Qb6+ 16. Kh1 dxe5 17. Qg6+ Kd8 18. Qf7
Qc5 19. fxe5 Bxg2+ 20. Kxg2 Rf8 21. Rad1+ Kc7 22. Qxg7 Rg8 23. exf6 Rxg7+ 24.
fxg7 Bd6 25. Rf7+ Kc6 26. Bd5+ Kb6 27. Bxa8 Qg5+ 28. Kh1 Be5 29. b4 a5 30. Rb7+
Kc6 31. g8=Q Qxg8 32. Rb8+ 1-0
[/pgn]

See Michael Stean’s Wikipedia entry for more

In 1983 at the height of his powers Michael left the chess work and became a tax accountant. He is now a senior partner at RSM UK.

Apparently :

“A cross disciplinary tax partner, Michael’s experience spans both corporate and non-corporate taxation for clients spanning a wide range of companies (listed and private) as well as high net worth individuals. Areas of activity include advice on transactions and structures, dealing with enquiries conducted by the tax authorities and forensic tax services in tax disputes.

As a member of the large business and international tax sub-committee of the tax faculty of the Institute of ICAEW, Michael was an active contributor to the consultation and development of the so-called ‘GAAR’ (general anti-abuse rule) law enacted in 2013.

Formerly a professional chess grandmaster, Michael brings an analytical approach to the field of tax.”