We offer birthday greetings to GM John Shaw this day, October 16th in 1968
From Wikipedia :
John K. Shaw (born 16 October 1968) is a Scottish chess player. He won the Scottish Championship in 1995 (tied), 1998 and 2000 (tied). He is an uncommon example of great progress in an adult chess player. In 1988, at age 19, his rating was 1700, which is the strength of a slightly above average Scottish chess player. He was awarded the International Master title in 1999, and the International Grandmaster title in 2006.
To qualify for the GM title, he gained three norms at Gibraltar 2003, Calvia Olympiad 2004 and 4NCL Season 2005/6.
A writer of chess books, Shaw is also the Chief Editor of the publishing house Quality Chess.
starting out : the ruy lopezstarting out : the queen’s gambitQuality Chess Puzzle BookThe King’s GambitPlaying 1.e4
We send best wishes to IM Michael Thomas Hennigan, born this day (October 8th) in 1970 in Hammersmith, London.
Michael became World Under-18 Youth Champion in 1988 in Aguadilla (Puerto Rico). He gained the International Master title in 1991 and in the same year was British Under-21 Champion at Eastbourne and was British Champion in 1993 in Dundee beating Dharshan Kumaran in the play-off. He played for North West Eagles in the Four Nations Chess League.
Stuart Conquest vs Michael Hennigan at 4NCL,, photo by Meri Grigoryan
We send best wishes to Dr. Jonathan Penrose OBE on his birthday, this day (October 7th) in 1933.
From Wikipedia :
Jonathan Penrose, OBE (born 7 October 1933, in Colchester) is an English chess Grandmaster and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1983) who won the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 and 1969. He is the son of Lionel Penrose, a world-famous professor of genetics, the grandson of the physiologist John Beresford Leathes, and brother of Roger Penrose and Oliver Penrose. He is a psychologist and university lecturer by profession, with a PhD.
Jonathan Penrose
Learning the game at age four, he was a member of Hampstead Chess Club at twelve and British Boys (Under 18) Champion at just fourteen years of age. Chess was played by the entire Penrose family. His father was a composer of endgame studies and a strong player, as was his older brother Oliver.
By the age of seventeen, he was already acknowledged as a top prospect for British chess. Playing Hastings for the first time in 1950/51, he beat the French champion Nicolas Rossolimo and at Southsea in 1950, defeated both Efim Bogoljubov and Savielly Tartakower. In 1952/1953 he shared the first place at Hastings with Harry Golombek, Antonio Medina García and Daniel Yanofsky.
Jonathan Penrose
Penrose earned the International Master title in 1961 and was the leading British player for several years in the 1960s and early 1970s, surpassing the achievement of Henry Ernest Atkins by winning the British Championship a record number of times. He was widely considered to be of grandmaster strength, but did not achieve the grandmaster title during his active playing career, despite some notable victories. This was mainly due to his choosing to remain amateur and placing his lecturing as a first priority. In effect, it meant that he played few international tournaments and frequently turned down invitations to prestigious tournaments such as Hastings. In 1993 he was awarded the grandmaster title by FIDE.[1][2]
He competed in eight Chess Olympiads between 1952 and 1962, then at the Olympiads of 1968 and 1970, frequently posting excellent scores, including +9−1=7 in 1962 (Varna), and +10−0=5 in 1968 (Lugano). On both of these occasions, he won an individual silver medal on first board; in 1968, his score was bettered only by the World Champion, Tigran Petrosian.
Penrose-Tal, Leipzig (1960): final position
At the Leipzig 1960 Olympiad, he defeated then-World Champion Mikhail Tal with the white pieces in a Modern Benoni:
This victory made Penrose the first British player to beat a reigning world champion since Joseph Henry Blackburne defeated Emanuel Lasker in 1899.[4]
Jonathan Penrose
Penrose suffered from nerves, and he collapsed at the 1970 Olympiad in the midst of a tense game. Consequently, he moved on to correspondence chess, where he was successful, earning the International Master (IMC) title in 1980 and the grandmaster (GMC) title in 1983. He led his country to victory in the 9th Correspondence Olympiad (1982 – 1987).[5]
We wish David Robert Norwood all the best on his birthday, this day (October 3rd) in 1968.
From Wikipedia :
David Robert Norwood (born 3 October 1968) is an English businessman who runs an investment fund that finances spin-off companies from Oxford University science departments. He is also a chess grandmaster, chess writer, former captain of the English chess team and now represents Andorra at chess.
GM David Robert Norwood
The son of an electrician, Norwood graduated with a history degree from Keble College, Oxford University in 1988 before joining city investment bank Banker’s Trust in 1991.
Wells, Lane, Emms and Norwood
Norwood cofounded Oxford Sciences Innovation, a £600m investment company dedicated to funding deep science from Oxford University, and was its CEO from 2015 to 2019. Formerly he was founder of IP Group plc, a fund that invested in spinoffs from Oxford University’s Chemistry department, in exchange for 50% of the revenues from the licensing of the department’s intellectual property.[1]
In 2017, Norwood donated £1.9M to Keble College’s future hub for innovation at Oxford University.[2]
We send best wishes to WFM Sarah Longson (née Hegarty) on her birthday this day, (October 2nd)
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.
We wish GM Jonathan Simon Speelman all the best on his birthday, this day (October 2nd) in 1956
From Wikipedia :
A winner of the British Chess Championship in 1978, 1985 and 1986, Speelman has been a regular member of the English team for the Chess Olympiad, an international biennial chess tournament organised by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.
He qualified for two Candidates Tournaments:
In the 1989–1990 cycle, Speelman qualified by placing third in the 1987 interzonal tournament held in Subotica, Yugoslavia. After beating Yasser Seirawan in his first round 4–1, and Nigel Short in the second round 3½–1½, he lost to Jan Timman at the semi-final stage 4½–3½.
In the following 1990–93 championship cycle, he lost 5½–4½ in the first round to Short, the eventual challenger for Garry Kasparov’s crown.
Speelman’s highest ranking in the FIDE Elo rating list was fourth in the world, in January 1989.[2]
GM Jonathan Speelman
In 1989, he beat Kasparov in a televised speed tournament, and then went on to win the event.
In the April 2007 FIDE list, Speelman had an Elo rating of 2518, making him England’s twelfth-highest-rated active player.
Writing
He has written a number of books on chess, including several on the endgame, among them Analysing the Endgame (1981), Endgame Preparation (1981) and Batsford Chess Endings (co-author, 1993).
Among his other books are Best Games 1970–1980 (1982), an analysis of nearly fifty of the best games by top players from that decade, and Jon Speelman’s Best Games (1997). Today he is primarily a chess journalist and commentator, being the chess correspondent for The Observer and The Independent and sometimes providing commentary for games on the Internet Chess Club.[citation needed]
Best wishes to IM Tom Rendle in his birthday, this day (September 29th) in 1986.
From Wikipedia :
Thomas Edward Rendle (born 29 September 1986) is a British FIDE International Master chess player and coach. Rendle became an International Master in June 2006 and is part way towards becoming a Grandmaster, with one GM Norm.
He gained an interest in chess at an early age, and soon entered chess tournaments, gaining success in his age categories (such as becoming Mini Squad Under 7s Champion, England Under 11 Champion).[citation needed] He was put on top board for the England under 11 team and won the Sussex Under 18 Championships, whilst still under 12.
In 1998 Rendle played Garry Kasparov in the BT Wireplay Challenge 1998. In 2005 he was a coach for England’s team at the 1st FIDE World Schools Championship in Halkidiki, Greece and in 2006 he coached with the England Team at the European Youth Chess Championships in Montenegro.
Rendle currently works as a chess coach, both online and face-to-face. He is a regular coach of England Juniors.
We remember WIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer who passed away on September 26th, 1983.
From Wikipedia :
Eileen Betsy Tranmer (5 May 1910 – 26 September 1983) was an English musician and chess player who held the title of Woman International Master (WIM, 1950). She was a four-time winner of the British Women’s Chess Championship (1947, 1949, 1953, 1961).
From the end of the 1940s to the start of the 1960s, she was one of England’s leading women chess players. Eileen Betsy Tranmer four times won the British Women’s Chess Championships: 1947, 1949, 1953 and 1961[1]. In 1950, Eileen Betsy Tranmer participated at Women’s World Chess Championship in Moscow where shared 5th-7th place[2]. In 1952, she participated at Women’s World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament in Moscow and ranked 7th place[3]. In 1950, she was awarded the FIDE International Women Master (WIM) title.
On 20 June 1946 Tranmer played (and lost) a “radio chess” match against the Russian woman chess player Valentina Byelova. Tranmer was one of two women who were part of a twelve-member British team who played in a four-day radio chess tournament. The British team played their moves in London while the Soviet team played their moves in Moscow.[4][5]
Eileen Betsy Tranmer played for England in the Women’s Chess Olympiad:[6]
In 1957, at second board in the 1st Chess Olympiad (women) in Emmen (+3, =8, -3).
In addition to participating in chess tournaments, Eileen Betsy Tranmer also was prominent clarinettist. In March 1940, she gave concerts with Scottish Orchestra. From 1950 she working with Sadler’s Wells Orchestra along with another British clarinetist, Thea King[7].
WIM Eileen Betsy Tranmer & WIM Rowena Mary Bruce
We focus on the British Chess Scene Past & Present !
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