We send birthday wishes to IM Dr. Harriet Vaughan Hunt born this day (February 4th) in 1978.
Here is her wikipedia entry
In 2021 Harriet made a welcome return to competitive chess and won the 2021 British Women’s Championship in Kingston-upon-Hull twenty-two years after her fourth win. In the same Dr. Hunt was runner-up in the English Women’s Rapidplay Championship to Lan Yao.
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We send birthday wishes to GM Nick Pert born this day (January 22nd) in 1981.
Nick won the Southern Counties (SCCU) championship for the 2016-17 season sharing with Richard Bates.
Here is Nick’s Wikipedia entry
In 2021 Nick took first place for the first time at the Covid affected British Championships in Hull with 6.5/9 with a TPR of 2414 reducing his rating by 4.2 Elo points. His highest rated opponent was 2480 (Danny Gormally).
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We send birthday wishes to GM Neil McDonald born on this day (January 21st) in 1967.
From Wikipedia :
Neil McDonald (born 21 January 1967) is an English chess grandmaster and a player on the international chess circuit. He is an English Chess Federation coach,[1] who has trained many of the country’s strongest junior players. McDonald is a regular coach of the English junior team and was Head Coach of the English Chess Federation team at the Greece World Schools Championship in 2013.[2] He regularly escorts blind and partially sighted chess players to international World Championship events and is also a chess writer.
McDonald authored the French Defence monthly updates on chesspublishing.com from October 1999 until March 2009,[3] 1 e4 … updates from November 2009 until January 2010,[4] 1 e4 … from June 2014 until February 2015[5] and returned to 1 e4 … in March 2017 until January 2018.[6]
Neil shared first place in the 1986 GLC Masters with Jonathan Levitt, was outright first at the Elekes Memorial, 1995, first at The Leinster IM Tournament in Dublin, 1997, and other tournaments since. Neil plays for Wood Green in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL).
He became an International Master in 1986 and was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1996.
McDonald obtained his FIDE Trainer qualification in 2016.[7]
Neil is a prolific and successful author, most recently with
and prior to that “Coach Yourself”
but also thirty eight titles for Chess Press, BT Batsford Ltd. and Everyman Chess Books.
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We send best wishes to IM Ali Mortazavi on his birthday, this day (January 20th) in 1971
Ali is a British IM who was a successful trader in the financial markets.
In the FIDE directory he is listed as a Councillor in the Global Strategy Commission (GSC).
He was a professional player and became the CEO of Silence Therapeutics (SLN) :
Ali reached his hightest FIDE rating of 2410 in July 1994 aged 23.
He has played for Beeson Gregory in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). He played at the Isle of Man Open in 2018 but sadly, little since.
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Happy Birthday IM Dagne Ciukšyte born on this day (January 1st) in 1977.
Here is her Wikipedia entry
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We offer best wishes to IM Simon John Bradley Knott on his birthday
Simon was born on Sunday, October 19th 1958 in Lambeth, London to Simon Harold John Arthur Knott and Josephine Whowell.
Simon attended Trinity College, Cambridge.
He became a FIDE Master in 1990 and an International Master in 2001. According to Felice and Megabase 2020 his peak FIDE rating was 2401 in October 2002 at the age of 43.
Simon was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion in the 1995-96 and 2001-02 seasons.
Simon plays for Hertford and Barbican in the Four Nations Chess League.
As white Simon plays the Queen’s Gambit via a 1.Nf3 or 1.c4 move order. There are zero 1.e4 games!
As the second player he plays the French Winawer and the Grünfeld Defence.
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We send best wishes to WFM Sarah Natasha Longson (née Hegarty) on her birthday this day, (October 2nd) in 1988.
From Sarah’s web site :
“I have played competitive chess since the age of 7 when I became UK U7 Girls Chess Champion and appeared on Blue Peter where I met the then world champion Garry Kasparov. Since then I have represented England in many international competitions and in 2013 won the British Ladies Championship.”
In 2016 Sarah and partner FM Alex Longson made a successful bid for ownership of the UK Chess Challenge which was auctioned by the bankruptcy receiver of IM Mike Basman, the previous owner.
Sarah and Alex have modernised the UKCC considerably especially in the areas of communications an usage of IT.
According to the ECF Sarah’s nominal club is Marple but she also plays for Stockport and 4NCL 3Cs.
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