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.
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 :
(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 CityShaun 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.
Best Birthday wishes to IM Richard Adam Bates born on this day (January 27th) in 1979.
Richard has won the Southern Counties (SCCU) championship in the 2015-16, 2016-17 (with Nick Pert) and 2017-18 seasons.
IM Richard Adam Bates
Richard BatesIM Richard BatesSheen Mount Under Eleven Chess Champion Richard Bates and Robin Laisby enjoying a game during time out from the Teachers Assurance National Primary Schools Chess Championships. Malaysian Elephant Leyang Leyang and her keeper Duncan McGinnie help them not to forget their chess moves.
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