Happy Birthday CGM Christopher James Austin Jones (06-iv-1952)
Here is an excellent biography from Chess Scotland
Here is an article about Helpmates from CJAJ published by Chessbase
Happy Birthday CGM Christopher Jones (06-iv-1952)
Tag Archives: Birthdays
Happy Birthday GM Murray Chandler MNZM (04-iv-1960)
Happy Birthday GM Murray Graham Chandler MNZM (04-iv-1960)
From The Oxford Companion to Chess by Hooper & Whyld :
“International Grandmaster (1983), a New Zealander who settled in England at the age of 15. subsequently playing for his adopted country in the Lucerne Olympiad, 1982. He scored +4=6 to share first prize at New York 1980, came second (+5=5 — 1) equal with Hort at Dortmund 1983, and scored +5 = 6 (a GM norm) to share first prize at Amsterdam 1983, a Swiss systemtournament. Chandler has edited the magazine Tournament Chess since its inception in 1982.”
Here is his Wikipedia entry
From Chessgames.com :
“Murray Graham Chandler was born in Wellington, New Zealand. He was awarded the IM title in 1977 and the GM title in 1982. He was joint New Zealand Champion in 1975-76 (shared with Lev Isaakovich Aptekar and Ortvin Sarapu) and joint Commonwealth Champion in 1984. His best tournament results were 2nds at London 1984, London 1986 and Amsterdam 1987 and he has played both for New Zealand (1976-1980) and England (1982-86) in the Olympiads. He edited Tournament Chess for a time from 1981 onwards and as well as writing he became the managing director of Gambit Publications.
He was the organiser and winner of a large tournament, the Queenstown Classic in New Zealand in January 2006 and this tournament also incorporated the 113th New Zealand Championship making Chandler the New Zealand Champion for the second time. He won his third New Zealand title at the 115th New Zealand Championship (2008) which was held in Auckland where he currently resides.”
Happy Birthday IM Geoffrey Lawton (04-iv-1960)
Happy Birthday IM Geoffrey W Lawton (04-iv-1960)
Geoff became an International Master in 1984. His peak rating according to Felice was 2407 in July 2003 at the age of 43.
He won the Maidenhead Open in 1995 with 5/5 and TPR of 2685.
Here are his games from chessgames.com
He has plus scores with the following notable players : Stuart Conquest, Mark Condie, John Nicholson, Jon Cox, Colin McNab, Julian Hodgon, Paul Littlewood, David Cummins and Vaidyanathan Ravikumar amongst others.
Happy Birthday IM Miroslav Houska (02-iv-1978)
Happy Birthday IM Miroslav Houska (02-iv-1978)
Miroslav gained his International Master title in 1998 and his peak rating according to Felice was 2385 in January of 1998, aged 20.
Here are his games on chessgames.com
Happy Birthday FM Peter John Sowray (29-iii-1959)
Happy Birthday FM Peter John Sowray (29-iii-1959)
Born in London, Peter obtained his FM title in 1984. He has been a regular member of the very strong Wood Green team. His peak rating (according to Chessbase) was 2384 aged 59 in March 2018. He currently plays for Barbican in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL).
Here are Peter’s games from chessgames.com
Happy Birthday IM Craig Hanley (23-iii-1984)
Happy Birthday IM Craig Alexander Hanley (23-iii-1984)
Craig was born in Pontefract in West Yorkshire.
He became a Candidate Master in 2001, a FIDE Master in 2002 and an IM in 2007. His peak rating was 2447 in April 2007.
Craig plays for Spirit of Atticus in 4NCL (Four Nations Chess League) and has a current ECF standard play grading of 242.
Here is his FIDE player card
Happy Birthday IM Peter Roberson (22-iii-1989)
Birthday of IM Peter Thomas Roberson (22-iii-1989)
Peter is IM Squirlolz on chess.com
Peter’s games from chessgames.com
Happy Birthday GM Justin Tan (19-iii-1997)
Birthday of GM Justin Hsien Y Tan (19-iii-1997)
From Chessgames.com :
“Grandmaster (2018).
FM (2013); IM (2015).
Justin Tan is one of Australia’s promising juniors, and is one of two juniors amongst Australia’s top ten players.
International Master Norms
Tan won his first IM norm during the 2013-14 NCL. His 2nd IM norm came at the Caissa GM tournament held in Kecskemet in Hungary in February 2014, and he secured his 3rd IM norm , and the IM title, at the Bunratty Classic 2015 in Ireland on 22 February 2015.
Championships
Tan scored his first positive result against an accredited Master when he drew with WIM Narelle Szuveges in the Noble Park Club Championship in February 2008. Six months later he scored his first win against a master at the Noble Park Grade A Championship when he defeated FM Al-Rashid Abdul Wahab of Iraq. At the age of 12, he competed in the World U16 Championship 2009 that was held in Antalya in Turkey, scoring a solid rating-enhancing 5.5/11. He scored 5.5/9 in the 2011 U14 World Championship, beating the eventual winner FM (and now GM) Kirill Alekseenko in their individual encounter. He first played in the Oceania Zonal 3.6 in 2011 and scored 6.5/9 in the Zonal 3.6 tournament in 2013, earning his FM title under the 50% rule. He placed second to Alastair Cameron in the 2012 Australian U18 Open with 7.5/9 and did well in scoring 6/11 in the 2012 Australian Championship. He was equal second at the Victorian Championship in 2013. In September 2015, he was equal first at the Illinois Open State Chess Championship.
In October and November 2015, Tan contested the World U18 Championship staged in Greece, and placed =4th with 8/11.
Tournaments
<2007-2009> Tan’s first FIDE-rated event was the Arthur Tan Malaysian Open Championship in 2007. His first significant result at the sharp end of the leader board was equal first at the Noble Park Chess Club Open in Melbourne in May 2009.
<2010-2012> In May 2010, he scored his first win against an International Master when he defeated Mirko Rujevic at the City of Melbourne Open. He was equal first at the MCC ANZAC Day Weekender in 2010 alongside Erik O M C Teichmann and Mirko Rujevic, and won the same event in 2012 in Melbourne with 6.5/7. He won the Noble Park Grade A event in 2011, was equal first (second on tiebreak) at the 2011 Noble Park Club Championship, placed fourth in the Noble Park Club Championship 2012, and was equal first at the Noble Park Masters 2012. He finished 2012 by winning the Bob Brooking Round Robin ahead of IMs James Morris and Rujevic.
<2013-2015> 2013 started with equal first at the Noble Park Club Championship. He was equal first at the Canterbury Summer Swiss 2013 held in December 2013 in Melbourne. He chanced his arm at the powerful Isle of Man Masters (2015) held in October 2015, and scored a rating-neutral 4.5/9.
Team Events
6/10 on board 2 at the 2012 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiad, helping the Australia “A” team to 8th place. Tan played board 2 for Oxford 1 in the 2013-14 4NCL, winning his first IM norm during that event.
Rating and Ranking
Tan’s initial rating was 1802 in April 2008. His highest rating and ranking to date is 2446 and Australian #6 in November 2015.”
Happy Birthday GM Jim Plaskett (18-iii-1960)
Happy Birthday GM Harold James Plaskett born on this day (March 18th) in 1960
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here are his games
Jim obtained his FM norm in 1980 according to Gino de Felice.
From Chessgames.com :
“Harold James (Jim) Plaskett was born in Dkeliha, Cyprus. He was awarded the IM title in 1981 and became a GM in 1985. Plaskett’s tournament results include first place at Plovdiv 1984 and a tie for second at Hastings 1984-85. He was British champion in 1990.”
In December of 2021 Camberley Chess Club (ECF Club of the Year for 2021) had Jim as an invited guest to one of their Tuesday evening Zoom calls. Here is a taster of the full video:
James Plaskett almost became a millionaire
Happy Birthday Stewart Reuben (14-iii-1939)
Happy Birthday to Stewart Reuben born this day, March 14th in 1939.
Stewart was born in Stepney, London. His father (SR referred to him as “daddy” in Poker 24/7) was Israel Reuben and his mother was Ann Epstein. Both of his parents was born in England from parents from Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
Stewart resided in Twickenham, Middlesex in recent times and more recently has moved to sheltered housing.
Stewart first joined Islington Chess Club in 1951 at the age of 12.
Stewart’s first holiday by himself aged 17 was in 1956 to play in the British Boy’s Championship in Blackpool when he took up Poker.
Stewart studied chemistry at King’s College, London which he did not enjoy likening it to cooking. (It is usual to refer to refer to organic chemistry as “wet” chemistry).
After graduating Stewart worked for British Oxygen as an industrial chemist and rejoined Islington Chess Club in 1961. At that time Islington was the liveliest club in London. There he knew brothers Ron & Ken Harman and Danny wright. He was also to become great friends with Ron Banwell who left a considerable legacy to English chess.
According to the 1982 tournament book of the Phillips & Drew Kings:
“Stewart was a prime mover in the setting up of the organisation in 1972 which was to grow into the London Chess Association. This was formed in order to reintroduce international chess to London, where there has been no tournament of note since 1948. Since then we have had the Guardian Royal Exchange Masters in the Evening Standard Congress on 1973. Evening Standard Chess Fortnight in 1975, Lloyds Bank Masters since 1977, Lord John Cup 1977, Aaronson Masters 1978 and 1979, the bi-annual Robert Silk, Phillips & Drew 1980, Lewisham since 1981 and the King’s Head International in 1982. ”
His personal catchphrase is “If only I had been consulted earlier”
Here is his Wikipedia entry
Here are words written about himself from the rear cover of The Chess Organiser’s Handbook :
“Stewart Reuben is internationally recognised as one of the world’s foremost chess organisers and arbiters. He is currently (1997) Chairman of the FIDE Organisers Committee, Secretary of the Rules and Tournament Regulations Committee, member of the Title and Ratings Committee and the Qualification Commission. He is also past Chairman (1996-1999) of the British Chess Federation. He has officiated at and/or organised numerous top-level events, including the World Championship. He holds three FIDE titles : Arbiter, Organiser and Candidate Master”
