Birthday of WIM Teresa Needham (30-xi-1965)
2020-11-30
Birthday of WIM Teresa M Needham (30-xi-1965)
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Birthday of GM Simon Williams (30-xi-1979)
2020-11-30
GM Simon Williams
Best wishes to GM Simon Williams on his fortieth birthday, this day (November 30th) in 1979.
Simon was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion in the 2001-02 (shared with Simon Knott) and the 2006-07 season.
His Wikipedia entry is here
GM Simon Williams
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Birthday of IM John Hawksworth (06-xii-1963)
2020-12-06
We wish happy birthday to IM John Hawksworth born on Friday, December 6th, 1963.
John Crofton Hawksworth was “born in Brighton, England, in December 1963 to Robert Marshall Hawksworth and Norah Connor Hawksworth née Crofton. He was baptised at St Saviour’s Church of England church in Pimlico, London, in 1964.[1]”
This was written about John who was 15 just prior to the Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display in 1979 :
“Bradford Grammar and Bradford. Rating 194. Yorkshire under-18 champion.”
He was awarded the IM title in 1986.
According to ChessBase his highest FIDE rating was 2370 in January, 1990 aged 27 which was the last year of serious competition at the 77th British Championships in Eastbourne.
He then pursued a highly successful career in the financial sector and is currently the Chief Economist for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
IM John Crofton Hawksworth (standing,far left)

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IM John Crofton Hawksworth (standing, second from right)
At the Lloyds Bank Masters : Front (l-r) : Joel Benjamin, Ian Wells, Rear : Peter Morrish, Stewart Reuben, Richard Beville, Gary Senior, Richard Webb, John Hawksworth, Andrew King, Nigel Short, Mark Ginsburg, Daniel King, David Cummings, Erik Teichmann, John Brandford and Micheal Pagden
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Birthday of WGM Dr. Jana Bellin (09-xii-1947)
2020-12-09
Happy birthday WGM Dr. Jana Bellin on this day (December 9th) in 1947.
Jana Malypetrova
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Robert Hale, 1970 & 1976), Anne Sunnucks :
“International Woman Master (1969), Czech Woman Champion in 1965 and 1967 and British Woman Champion since 1970.
Jana Malypetrova
Jana was born in Prague on the 9th December 1947 and learned to play chess at the age of eleven. She made her first appearance in the international field when she played 2nd board for Czechoslovakia in Women’s Chess Olympiad in Oberhausen in 1966. In the same year she represented Czechoslovakia in the Zonal tournament at Varna and came 11th.
Jana Malypetrova
She is now married to the British International Master, William Hartston, and played 1st board for England in the Women’s Chess Olympiad in Skopje in 1972 and represented England in the Zonal tournament in Wijk aan Zee in 1973 in which she tied for 1st place. In the same year she came =6th in the Interzonal Tournament. She is a doctor.”
Jana & Bill Hartston celebrate a family double at the British Championships in 1973 at Eastbourne
From The Encyclopedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977), Harry Golombek OBE :
“Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, but moved to England in 1970 after her marriage to WR Hartston. Czechoslovak Woman champion in 1965 and 1967 (under her maiden name of Malypetrova) and British Ladies champion in the five years 1970 to 1974. International Woman master since 1969.”
Bill and Jana Hartston are shown with some of their many chess sets. CHESS, August 1973, page 323
From British Chess (Pergamon Press, 1983) Botterill, Levy, Rice and Richardson :
Hastings International Chess Congress 21 year old Jana Malypetrova From Czechoslovakia And Vassily Smyslov From Russia. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Michael Fresco/ANL/Shutterstock (1876232a)
“Jana Miles was born 9 December 1947 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She moved to England when she married Bill Hartston. Divorced from Hartston in 1978, she subsequently married Tony Miles.
Hastings International Chess Congress 21 year old Jana Malypetrova From Czechoslovakia And Vassily Smyslov From Russia. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Michael Fresco/ANL/Shutterstock (1876232a)
She was Czech woman champion in 1965 and 1967 and has regularly been the British Ladies Champion since moving to this country. She is a doctor of medicine.”
Bill and Dr, Jana Hartston (née Malypetrova)

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Sir Philip Stuart Milner-Barry OBE presents Dr. Jana Hartston with the ? prize
From Wikipedia :
“Jana Bellin (née Malypetrová; born 9 December 1947) is a British, formerly Czechoslovak chess player. She was awarded the Woman International Master chess title in 1969 and the Woman Grandmaster title in 1982.
Moment of concentration for reigning women’s champion of Great Britain Jana Hartston and some of the 30 Post Officer players – all men who challenged her at postal headquarters London on September 6. Jana beat seven, drew with sixteen and lost to seven.
Bellin was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. She was the Czech Women’s Champion in 1965 and 1967 under her maiden name of Malypetrová. After her marriage to William Hartston she moved to England in 1970 and won the British Women’s Championship in 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977 (after a play-off), and 1979.
Moment of concentration for reigning women’s champion of Great Britain Jana Hartston and some of the 30 Post Officer players – all men who challenged her at postal headquarters London on September 6. Jana beat seven, drew with sixteen and lost to seven.
She has fifteen appearances in the Women’s Chess Olympiads, representing Czechoslovakia in 1966 and 1969 and England thirteen times from 1972 through 2006, seven times on first board.
Moment of concentration for reigning women’s champion of Great Britain Jana Hartston and some of the 30 Post Officer players – all men who challenged her at postal headquarters London on September 6. Jana beat seven, drew with sixteen and lost to seven.
At the Olympiad she earned individual silver medals in 1966 and 1976, a team bronze medal in 1968 with the Czechoslovakian team, and a team silver in 1976 with England.
British Speed Chess Championship Grandmaster Nigel Short Playing Chess In The Park With L-r Susan Arkell Sheila Jackson And Dr Jana Miles. Courtesy of Shutterstock

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“Bellin is a medical doctor specialising in anaesthetics, and works in intensive care at Sandwell General Hospital, West Bromwich, England.
Jana with Sheila Jackson to her left
She is also Chairman of the FIDE Medical Commission, which supervises drug testing of chess players.
British Speed Chess Championship Grandmaster Nigel Short Playing Chess In The Street With Woman Grandmaster Dr Jana Miles : Credit : Shutterstock
Bellin was married first to International Master William Hartston, then to Grandmaster Tony Miles, and after that to International Master Robert Bellin. She and Bellin have two sons: Robert (born 1988) and Christopher (born 1991).[citation needed]
Dr. Jana Bellin
She is the granddaughter of thrice Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Jan Malypetr. and cousin of author and human rights campaigner Jiří Stránský.
WGM Dr. Jana Bellin, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
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Birthday of FM Peter Batchelor (10-xii-1996)
2020-12-10
Best wishes to FM Peter Batchelor on his birthday.
Peter J Batchelor was born on Tuesday, December 10th, 1996. “Breath” by The Prodigy was the UK Number One Single. His father is the player Guy Batchelor.
Peter’s first recorded rapidplay event was on the 17th of July 2005 in the Barnet Knights Under-9 tournament where he scored 4/6 and his first (!) standard play event was on August 20th 2005 being the British Land UK Terafinal which was not such a happy result.
His first published ECF grading was 56E in July 2006 at the age of ten with a rapidplay grading of 57A.
Peter played league chess in the Middlesex and London Leagues playing initially for Willesden & Brent and then with Wanstead & Woodford both with his father Guy.
Peter attended the Capital City Academy which is a “specialist sports and arts Academy in Willesden, North West London, in the borough of Brent.” He has returned there post-graduation to teach chess and run the school chess club.
Peter studied mathematics at the University of Warwick and now lives in London.
According to Ben Purton : “I captain Peter in the 4NCL chess league, he is one of the most professional and talented players on my squad. He is extremely smart and nice to be around. Peter would be an asset to any organisation in the future and any graduate scheme would be foolish not to take such a person on.
I have seen him grow in to one of the best U21 chess players in the UK and hope to see him gain his IM title soon.”
Peter became a FIDE Master in 2015 and, according to Felice and Megabase 2020 his peak FIDE rating was 2365 in December 2016.
FIDE rating profile for Peter Batchelor according to Megabase 2020
Peter plays for Grantham Sharks in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL).
With the white pieces Peter plays the Queen’s Gambit and the Trompowsky Attack.
As the second player Peter plays the Classical variation of the Caro-Kann and the Alartortsev Variation.
On chess.com Peter plays under the nom de plume of Pbatch.
Peter Batchelor, 4NCL Final weekend, 2014, Courtesy of John Upham Photography

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FM Peter Batchelor at the 2013 British Championships, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
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Birthday of GM Matthew Turner (11-xii-1975)
2020-12-11
Birthday of GM Matthew James Turner (11-xii-1975)
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Birthday of GM Gawain Jones (11-xii-1987)
2020-12-11
Birthday of GM Gawain Christopher B Jones (11-xii-1987)
Gawain was Southern Counties (SCCU) champion for the 2012-13 season.
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Birthday of FM Christopher Wood (11-xii-1940)
2020-12-11
Birthday of FM Christopher Baruch Wood (11-xii-1940)
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Birthday of David Shire (13-xii-1947)
2020-12-13
Happy Birthday to David Shire.
David John Shire was born on Saturday, December 13th 1947. On the same day “Ballerina” by Vaughn Monroe and His Orchestra hit #1 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores record chart.
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Birthday of Colin Sydenham (13-xii-1937)
2020-12-13
Birthday of Colin Peter Sydenham (13-xii-1937)
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Birthday of IM Brandon Clarke (14-xii-1995)
2020-12-14
Happy Birthday Wishes to IM Brandon George I Clarke born on this day (December 14th), 1995. “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson was the UK Number One single.
In the 2003 London Junior Championships he was =13 with 4/7
In July 2004 he secured his first published standard play grading of 84D and 62D for rapid play. His first recorded rapid play tournament was on the 4th of October 2003 being the Mini Squad Under 8s. In this event he beat a certain Jamie Horton who had a grading of 45D at the time.
In 2006 Brandon won outright the London Under 12 title with 7.5/9. Marcus Harvey was a runner-up. This situation was repeated one year later.
In 2009 Brandon won the LJCC Under-16 title this time with Akash Jain as runner-up. His TPR for a score of 5/6 was 199.
Brandon was a chess scholar at Wellington College, Berkshire and was part of the strongest school / college team to play in the National Schools competition for many years that included James Holland, Felix Jose Ynojosa-Aponte, Alexander Galliano, Latefah Meesam-Sparkes, Akash Jain, Adrian Archer-Lock and latterly William Foo and Richard Zhu. Despite being easily the strongest team they were denied the title by the antiquated age handicapping rules.
FIDE rating profile for Brandon Clarke according to MegaBase 2020
He became an International Master in early 2019 and plays much chess in Australia, New Zealand and England having lived in the USA for some time after leaving Wellington College.
Aged 24 Brandon has achieved his highest FIDE rating of 2445 and it shows every sign of increasing.
IM Brandon Clarke, British Championships (Major Open), Torquay 2019, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
With the White pieces Brandon is almost exclusively an e4 player with occasional forays with the Queen’s pawn. Against the Najdorf he prefers 6.Bg5 and allows the Marshall against the Ruy Lopez.
As the second player he plays the Najdorf and the King’s Indian Defence most of the time.
Brandon has his own YouTube Channel.
On Chess.com he plays under the handle of Biranidun with a blitz rating of 2847.

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In January 2019 Brandon scored a very impressive victory in the 126th (!) New Zealand Open. “The 2019 126th New Zealand Open is part of the 126th New Zealand Congress and is a 9-round Swiss event being held at the Waipuna Conference Centre in Auckland from 14-22 January 2019.”
Cross table from the 126h New Zealand Open
Brandon made a welcome return to the UK and comfortably won the 2019 Major Open in Torquay with 8.5/9 as an IM.
Brandon plays for Australia Kangaroos in the Pro Chess League.
The ECF grading web site shows his only club to be Littlethorpe (in Leicestershire) although Brandon played for Warwickshire Select in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL).
IM Brandon Clarke, British Championships (Major Open), Torquay 2019, Courtesy of John Upham Photography
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Birthday of IM Ian Thomas (14-xii-1967)
2020-12-14
Birthday of IM Ian Thomas (14-xii-1967)
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Birthday of IM Karl CC Mah (14-xii-1980)
2020-12-14
Birthday of IM Karl CC Mah (14-xii-1980)
IM Karl CC Mah
IM Karl CC Mah
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Birthday of IM Shaun Taulbut (11-i-1958)
2023-01-11
We send best wishes to IM Shaun Mark Taulbut born on this day (January 11th) in 1958.
IM Shaun Mark Taulbut
Here is his Wikipedia article from the Polish (!) version :
In 1974. I shared m. In the championship of Great Britain juniors to 16 years [1] , whereas in 1977. Won the Brighton title of vice-champion of Great Britain (won the George Botterill ). He achieved the greatest success in his career at the turn of 1977 and 1978 in Groningen , where he won the title of European champion up to 20 years [2] . In 1978 in Mexico he won the title of team world champion in the category up to 26 years [3] . He achieved another success in 1981 in Copenhagen , sharing the first town (together with Petyr Welikow and Tom Wedberg ) inopen tournament Politiken Cup . In the same year, he divided II-IV in New York , while in 1982 he repeated this achievement in London (after William Watson , together with Jonathan Tisdall and Mark Hebden ). In 1983 he ended his chess career.
IM Shaun Mark Taulbut
He reached the highest ranking in his career on July 1, 1982, sharing 9-10 points with 2465 points. place among English chess players [4] .
He is the author of many books on chess, primarily devoted to the theory of debuts .
IM Shaun Mark Taulbut (right) playing Adrian Mikhalchishin
and here is the game from the above photograph :

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(from l-r) Jonathan Kinlay, Shaun Taulbut, Jonathan Speelman, David Goodman and Jonathan Mestel accepting 1st prize at the 1978 World U26 Student Olympiad in Mexico City
Shaun Taulbut (upper right) and David Goodman (lower right) from the 1978 U26 Olympiad
Shaun coached strong juniors especially Michael Adams. In MAs case it was by means of correspondence and this was funded by the Friends of Chess.
Shaun largely gave up competitive chess in 1983 to pursue a financial services career. He reached a senior position in ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group) reporting to Ian Snape. In ANZ Shaun met Stephen Lowe and on September 19th 2005 they became Directors and owners of British Chess Magazine Ltd. Shaun lives in Wokingham with his wife, Christine and several pets including a wormery.
(second from right standing ) Shaun Taulbut
Shaun occasionally plays for Crowthorne in the Berkshire League and the Surrey Border League and has played for the BCM Dragons 4NCL team managed by John Upham.
Positional Chess by Shaun Taulbut
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Birthday of GM Neil McDonald (21-i-1967)
2023-01-21
We send birthday wishes to GM Neil McDonald born on this day (January 21st) in 1967.
Neil McDonald
Neil McDonald
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 “Coach Yourself”
Coach Yourself : A Complete Guide to Self Improvement at Chess
but also thirty eight titles for Chess Press, BT Batsford Ltd. and Everyman Chess Books.

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Modern Defence. Everyman, 2000
GM Neil McDonald
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Birthday of IM David Cummings (24-i-1961)
2021-01-24
Birthday of IM David H Cummings (24-i-1961)
David Cummings (front, second from right) at a Lloyds Bank event
This was written about David who was 18 just prior to the 1979 Spassky vs the BCF Junior squad simultaneous display :
“Varndean and Brighton. Rating 207. British men’s championship finalist, 1977. First Danish junior international championship, 1978.”
At the Lloyds Bank Masters : Front (l-r) : Joel Benjamin, Ian Wells, Rear : Peter Morrish, Stewart Reuben, Richard Beville, Gary Senior, Richard Webb, John Hawksworth, Andrew King, Nigel Short, Mark Ginsburg, Daniel King, David Cummings, Erik Teichmann, John Brandford and Micheal Pagden
David was joint (with PG Large) Southern Counties (SCCU) champion in the 1979-80 season.
IM David H Cummings
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Birthday of IM James Cobb (08-iii-1977)
2021-03-08
Birthday of IM James E Cobb (08-iii-1977)

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