BCN wishes IM Matthew Wadsworth Happy Birthday this day (June 27th).
Previously we reported:
IM Matthew Wadsworth, one of England’s most promising young players, has earned his first Grandmaster norm from his excellent performance in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Matthew, who is twenty, has a current FIDE standard play rating of 2413 and is ranked 34th amongst the active players in England (by FIDE rating) earning his FM title in 2016 and IM title in 2019.
Matthew could leapfrog to Grandmaster status with further norms and by increasing his live rating to 2500. The IM title was ratified at the FIDE Congress, 2nd quarter PB 2019, 27-30 June, Baku, Azerbaijan when his live rating had topped 2400.
Matthew with father Jim at the 2012 Surrey Congress
Matthew’s first ECF grade was 66A in 2007 (aged 7) and he played for Maidenhead in local leagues, St. Pirans’s School and then Reading School.
Matthew at the 2013 British Championships in Torquay
Matthew is reading Economics at Queen’s College, Cambridge and rows for the college team.
Matthew joined 4NCL at an early age and played for AMCA (Andrew Martin Chess Academy) soon rising the ranks to the AMCA first team and he currently represents the Guildford 2 team in Division One of the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL). Matthew’s 4NCL results for the 2018-19 season were :
1. Fodor, Tamas Jr, draw
2. Ashton, Adam G, win
3. Gonda, Laszlo, draw
4. Kulon, Klaudia, win
5. Holland, James P, win
6. Stewart, Ashley, win
7. Ledger, Andrew J, win
8. Plat, Vojtech, loss
9. no game
10. Jackson, James P, win
11. no game
giving a performance of 7/9
Matthew at the 2014 British Championships in Aberystwyth
One of the undoubted highlights of Matthews 2018 chess year was his draw with Oxford domiciled GM Hou Yifan, three times Women’s World Champion from China during the annual Varsity match, Matthew representing Cambridge.
In 2021 Matthew supported Guildford Chess Club in its 125th Anniversary event by being part of the simultaneous display team:
IM Matthew Wadsworth at the Guildford Chess Club 125th Anniversary event on September 11th, 2021. Courtesy of John Upham PhotographyIM Matthew Wadsworth at the Guildford Chess Club 125th Anniversary event on September 11th, 2021. Courtesy of John Upham Photography
BCN wishes FIDE Master Bernard Cafferty best wishes on his 91st birthday, June 27th in 1934.
Bernard Cafferty, location, date and photographer unknownOn 14th December, 1968, Bernard gave a simultaneous exhibition held at Anglesey School, Burton. He played 17, won 16 and lost 1 to Trevor Bould who was already Burton Champion, photograph from http://www.derbyshirechess.btck.co.uk/History/Exhibitions, photographer unknown
Bernard was born in Blackburn, Lancashire (his mother’s maiden name was Croft) migrating to Birmingham and now resides in Hastings, East Sussex and is a member of Hastings & St. Leonards Chess Club.
FM Bernard Cafferty (seated, rhs)
Sunnucks notes that he was British Junior Champion in 1952, British Correspondence Champion in 1959 and British Lighting Champion in 1966. He wrote a thesis on Chess in Schools for his University Education Diploma and is now a schoolmaster. His contribution to Anne’s Encyclopedia was on Education and Chess.
He was editor of British Chess Magazine from 1981 to 1991 and continued as Associate Editor until 2011 when FM Steve Giddins took over.
Bernard Cafferty, location, date and photographer unknown
Here is the 1981 announcement (written by Harry Golombek, Chairman of Directors) of his appointment in the British Chess Magazine, Volume CI (101), Number 3, March, page 82 :
British Chess Magazine, Volume 101, Number 3, Page 82
Bernard won the BCF President’s Award in 1991. Here follows the entry in the October 1991 issue of Chess Moves:
“Bernard Cafferty, who has been associated with the British Chess Magazine since 1981, was born in Blackburn in 1934 and after attending Birmingham University in 1951, became closely involved with Midlands chess until moving to Hastings. After graduating in 1954, Bernard served two years of National Service in the Army, then worked in industry and for 9 years taught mathematics and Russian in a Birmingham grammar school. From 1970 until 1981 he was a freelance writer and translator. In 1981 he succeeded Brian Reilly as Editor of the British Chess Magazine and since that time has done an outstanding job in that capacity.
Bernard is well known as a translator from Russian; his work included Kotov’s Think Like a Grandmaster and Botvinnik’s Achieving the Aim: he is also the author of books on Tal and Spassky. He is well known as the contributor of chess puzzles to Oracle teletext and a chess columnist of the Sunday Times.
Bernard has been a highly successful player too. He was joint British Boys (Under-18) Champion in 1952. British Junior Champion in 1954, British Correspondence Champion in 1960 and won the British Lightning (10 seconds a move) five times in the 1960s. He played regularly in the British Championship from 1957 to 1981, his best result being joint second in 1964. Hew won the Midlands Championship and Central Counties Championship many times.
Bernard Cafferty has made a unique contribution to British chess over these years.”
In the December 2010 issue (Volume CXXX (130), Number 12, pages 622 – 625 of British Chess Magazine there was a tribute to Bernard’s 30 years at BCM from editor FM Steve Giddins that was interview based :
British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXX (103), Number 12, December, Page 622British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXX (103), Number 12, December, Page 623British Chess Magazine, Volume CXXX (103), Number 12, December, Page 625Associate Editor Bernard Cafferty,at work on the magazine in the BCM office, BCM, Volume 130, Number 8, p. 428
In 2009 Bernard was interviewed by the privately published Chess Parrot whose editor was / is Basingstoke based James Pratt (who became BCMs editor from 2011 – 2015). Here is that previously unseen interview :
The Chess Parrot, XXVI, Winter/Spring 2009, page 26-5The Chess Parrot, XXVI, Winter/Spring 2009, page 26-5The Chess Parrot, XXVI, Winter/Spring 2009, page 26-5The Chess Parrot, XXVI, Winter/Spring 2009, page 26-5FM Bernard Cafferty at the 2014-15 Hastings Congress, courtesy of John Upham PhotographyVideo Chess Event (See caption below)Video Chess CaptionA Complete Defence to 1P-K4: A Study of Petroff’s Defence (2nd ed.), Pergammon Press, ISBN 0-08-024088-7, 1967Spassky’s 100 Best Games, Bernard Cafferty, BT Batsford, 1972, ISBN 0-7134-0362-4.Tal’s 100 Best Games. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-2765-5.Chess with the Masters. Chess Player. ISBN 0-900928-95-6.English Opening, The Chess Player, 1977, ISBN 0-900928-92-1A Complete Defence to 1d4: A Study of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, Pergammon Press, ISBN 0-08-024102-6Play for Mate (1990), DV Hooper and Bernard Cafferty, ISBN-13: 978-0713464740Play The Evans Gambit (co-author Tim Harding). Cadogan. ISBN 1-85744-119-2.The Soviet Chess Championships. Batsford. ISBN 1-85744-201-6.B.C.M. Classic Reprints, number 22: 1923 – 1932 An Anthology, Cafferty, Bernard, 1986. ISBN 978-0-900846-45-8.FM Bernard Cafferty (27-vi-1934)
“Alan Phillips, joint British Champion in 1954, was born in England in 1923. He was the author of Chess: 60 Years on with Caissa and Friends (Caissa Editions, 2003) and The Chess Teacher (Cadogan, 1995).”
Here is an item from the Shropshire Chess web site
Here is Alan Phillips autobiography from his own book, Chess: Sixty years on with Caissa & Friends
“Born in Stockport in 1923,I was playing pontoon in an air-raid shelter in the autumn of 1940 with a friend from our school, Stockport Grammar, when he suddenly announced that he knew a better game, being the school chess champion. Ostensibly studying for a Cambridge Scholarship with a view to reading Classics, I played about 200 games with Norman Stephens, emerging the victor perhaps because I studied Alekhine’s and Euwe’s games, obtained from the Public Library, whence I had been borrowing difficult piano works for the previous two years. When I got up to Magdalene in 1941, I found standing next to me in the University Chess Club Wykehamist James Lighthill, destined to become, arguably, our greatest applied mathematician of the second half of the last century; I played chess with him one evening a week and piano duets another, and as Match Captain and Hon.Sec. in my second year – shared top board, while now supposedly reading Italian, as a War Office scheme, and French, languages I unfortunately then considered beneath contempt, compared with the glory that was Greek.
Alan Phillips plays David Hooper on August 20th 1954 in round five of the British Championships in Nottingham, photographer unknown
Enrolled but not commissioned – the War Office having ratted on its promise to a large bunch of first-class linguists – in the Army Intelligence Corps from August 1943 to October 1946,I spent nearly three years abroad in Sicily and Palestine, riding a motor-bike – our American equivalents in the CIC were mostly majors or colonels and rode in Cadillacs – and playing, when stationary, much music with singers and violinists, especially in Palestine, and chess with the Captain of the Harbour in Sicily, a charming moustached Neapolitan who got about three draws in 300 games, and then in Haifa, Hadera and Jerusalem chess clubs, beating the youth champion of Palestine and Aloni when he played simultaneously, but losing to Porath, and enjoying ‘skittles’ in cafes with many other players of near-master rank. Demobilised and put, like the Goons, on the Z-reserve in autumn 1946, I went back to Cambridge to read Classics Pt II and found Peter Swinnerton-Dyer, as far as I know our best number theorist of the past fifty years, waiting for me – we tied for the University Championship having begun a series of trips to Hastings with Alan Truscott, and later continued to Birmingham for the Midland Championship, which I won in 1951.
From the 1952 Ilford Congress (30 May – 2 June) and originally published in BCM, July 1952, page 187. (l-r) : Harold Israel, Alan Phillips, Bob Wade, Otto Friedman, Abe Yanofsky, Alfred William Bowen and Harold Meek. Thanks to John Saunders and Leonard Barden
I usually won prizes in increasingly strong sections at Hastings except in two Premiers, 1950-1 and 1954-5, when my emotions were otherwise engaged, as happened in the British Championship in 1952, when, after I had beaten all the best players and scored 7/8 with three rounds to go, a girl-friend turned up and I lost my last three games, refusing a draw in round nine in a not superior position, not out of arrogance, but in order to clinch the title.
Alan Phillips and Leonard Barden are joint British Champions of 1954 in Nottingham, photographer unknown
Otherwise, with one or two exceptions, I only lost to the strongest players in the British Championships I played in, i.e. 1949-55 and 1961, tying for first place at Nottingham 1954 and coming third equal in a very strong Championship at Aberystwyth 1955, which earned me a place as Board 6 on the English team at the Moscow Olympiad in 1956, where I only drew against Luxembourg, and lost to Geller, but drew in two cases from bad positions with Johner, Sanguinetti and Ghitescu.
David Hooper (left) in conversation with Alan Phillips. Location and photographer unknown.
In l96l I moved up to Derbyshire, where – though playing top board for Manchester as well as the county – having switched to Maths teaching after several years part-time study at Birkbeck and acquired offspring as well as promotion, I also started annual visits to Dartington Summer School of Music, now totalling 38 out of a possible 40, all of which made it virtually impossible for me to play in tournaments, apart from the odd visit to Hastings or fairly strong week-end tournaments, e.g. Ilford, which I won for the second time in 1973, beating Basman. My responsibilities on my return to London as Head of Charlton School in 1967, where I got Bob Wade to teach chess as part of mathematics in the Lower School, and then of Forest Hill School, where we organised many tournaments, although I played generally as top board for Kent, whom I led twice to victory in the County Championship in 1975 and 1976, meant that I had even less time for tournament chess, except at Islington and in the Challengers, so that my real heyday ended there, with a final move to a ‘quiet’ county, Shropshire – as far as chess was concerned – as Adviser for Secondary Education and Area Adviser, 1976-82, in which capacity I avoided as much paper-work as I could and taught chess in the lunch-hour to all the primary and handicapped pupils I visited. I should say most of my successes at chess have been at County Level, where I played top board for Cambridgeshire and London University, as well as the counties mentioned, and in the very strong London League, as far as I can estimate I had a success rate of some 70% in those contests. In general the games in this book, with one or two exceptions for historical or anecdotal reasons, were played at high levels, and won by the right player, not suddenly lost by a blunder, like some games published nowadays because the blunder is perpetrated by a famous player.
Photograph taken in Hastings on 28 December 1950. Lord Dunsany (standing on the right) is watching the first-round game between Alan Phillips and Weaver Adams, source : http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/
With regard to the general assessment of players and tournaments, I have only one comment “Look at the games!” When even, or especially, David Bronstein wails “They give me a number”, I think it time to end a spuriously precise system and revert to the earlier English practice or the traditional Soviet one of putting players in classes, preferably according to a sufficiently large number of results in tournaments or strong club or county matches. And when players are inhibited, when the match is won, from offering an opponent, who has played well, a draw, that is a diminution of sportsmanship, so a draw, even with Kasparov, should not count in grading. Finally the use of seconds or computers once a game is started should be
regarded as totally unsporting, and players should be put on their honour, as bridge-players are in matters of cheating, not to use them.
I should like to dedicate this book to the memory of my good friends, David Hooper, Stuart Milner-Barry, and A.R.B.Thomas, men of integrity, humour, and many other talents, who brought to their chess the same qualities of courage and sportsmanship they showed in the rest of their lives.
Alan Phillips (28-x-1923 24-vi-2009) : Source : https://www.shropshirechess.org/History/1970s.htm
Alan Phillips
British Master, Joint British Champion 1954
Thorn Cottage, Appleton Thorn, Warrington, Cheshire
September 2003″
Obituary of Alan Phillips by John Saunders from British Chess Magazine, 2009. Part OneObituary of Alan Phillips by John Saunders from British Chess Magazine, 2009. Part Two
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to WIM Natasha K Regan (12-vi-1971)
From Amazon :
“Natasha Regan was born in 1971 in London, the elder daughter of two Australian doctors. She studied Maths at Cambridge University, earned a half blue for chess, and edited the chess magazine “Dragon”. She debuted in the English Women’s chess Olympiad team in Manila, 1992.”
From Gambit Publications :
“Natasha Regan is a Women’s International Master from England who achieved a degree in mathematics from Cambridge University. While pursuing a successful career as an actuary in the insurance industry, she has raised a family and maintained a strong interest in chess and other board games, including Go.”
WIM Natasha Regan, photographer unknownWIM Natasha Regan, courtesy of John Upham Photography, King’s Place Rapidplay, 2013
Natasha Regan, Lloyds bank Open, Unknown photographerChess For Life. Gambit. ISBN 978-1910093832.Game Changer. New In Chess. ISBN 978-9056918187.WIM Natasha Regan, courtesy of John Upham Photography at the Keith Richardson Memorial, 2017
BCN wishes many Happy Returns to IM Jovanka Houska (10-vi-1980)
From Wikipedia:
Jovanka Houska is an English chess player with the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is an eight-time winner of the British Women’s Chess Championship.
Jovanka Houska, photographer unknown
From Chessgames.com:
“Jovanka Houska is an English IM and WGM. She is currently the highest-rated woman in England. British women’s champion in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Her brother is IM Miroslav Houska. She is the author of several books on the Caro-Kann Defense and Scandinavian Defense, and the co-author (with James Essinger) of the novel “The Mating Game.””
Jovanka was born in London and became a Women’s International Master in 1999, a Woman’s Grandmaster in 2000 and an International Master in 2005. Her peak rating was 2443 in July 2010 at the of 30.
Jovanka Houska, photographer unknown
She plays for 4NCL Wood Green and her brother is IM Miroslav Houska. Her father Mario plays for Slough.
Jovanka Houska and family membersIM Jovanka Houska, courtesy of John Upham Photography
Dangerous Weapons : Caro-KannStarting Out : The ScandinavianPlay the Caro-KannOpening Repertoire : The Caro-KannThe Mating Game
IM Jovanka Houska, courtesy of John Upham Photography
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to GM Dharshan Kumaran (07-vi-1975)
His highest Elo rating was 2505 in January 1995 at the age of 20.
Lawrence Cooper, Demis Hassabis, Cathy Haslinger and Dharshan Kumaran in around 1986. Possibly at a Lloyds Bank event.
From Wikipedia :
Dharshan Kumaran (born 7 June 1975) is an English chess grandmaster.[1] He won the World Under-12 Championship in 1986, the World Under-16 Championship in 1991, and finished 3rd equal in the World Under-20 Championship in 1994. He currently works as a neuroscience research scientist at DeepMind.[2]
BCN remembers FM Neil Leslie Carr (10-iii-1968 25-v-2015)
This was written about Neil aged 10 prior to the Spassky vs the BCF Junior Squad simultaneous display in 1979 :
“Manor Junior and Barking. Rating 152. World’s best 10 year old. Standard under-10 champion, 1977 and 1978. British under-11 champion, 1978. Defeated Russian grandmaster Kotov in clock match, 1978.”
Eight year old Neil Carr of Barking, soon to become England’s youngest ever chess international. 26th August 1976. (Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Neil played for East Ham, Ilford and then London Central YMCA (CentYMCA) chess clubs.
Neil Carr and Julian Hodgson at the 1976 Lloyds Bank Match by Telex, London – New York. From BCM, volume XCVI (96) Number 11 (August), Page 494. The venue was the Bloomsbury Hotel, London. Photo courtesy of Lloyds Bank.
Here is a game courtesy of Kingpin (Jon Manley) & the Ilford Recorder
Neil Carr (far right) at Paul Buswell’s house
Here is a tribute from long time friend and London Central YMCA fellow club member, IM Andrew Martin :
Neil Carr (front right)Neil Carr (right) with Neil Fox, Stuart Conquest, Paul Buswell and ?Neil Carr (rear right) at a BCF National Club Final (1992)Neil Carr, (foreground, right) at London’s South Bank, Peter Sowray in the background.. Photo by Clive Field, London Chess AssociationFM Neil Carr, London Chess Classic 2013, courtesy pf John Upham Photography
Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire
Sultan Khan : The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire : Daniel King
GM Daniel King
“Daniel King (1963) is an English grandmaster, coach, journalist and broadcaster. He has written 16 chess books on topics ranging from opening preparation to the self-tutoring How Good is your Chess? and Test Your Chess.”
From the rear cover :
“Sultan Khan arrived in London in 1929. A humble servant from a village in the Punjab, he created a sensation by becoming the British Empire champion. Sultan Khan competed in Europe with the leading chess players of the era. His unorthodox style often stunned his opponents, as Daniel King explains in his examination of the key tournaments in Khan’s career. King has uncovered a wealth of new facts about Khan, as well as dozens of previously unknown games. Now for the first time the full story can be told of how Khan was received in Europe, of his successes in the chess world and his return to obscurity after his departure for India in 1933.”
Daniel King, well known as a writer and broadcaster, here turns his hand to chess history, and one of the most fascinating stories our game has produced.
It would be remiss of me not to mention at the start that Sultan Khan’s family, whom the author chose not to consult, are very unhappy about the book. You can read a review by Dr Atiyab Sultan, Sultan Khan’s granddaughter, here.
Dr Sultan and her father also write about Sultan Khan here.
I’ll leave that with you: you can decide for yourself whether or not it will deter you from buying the book. I have my views but prefer to concentrate on the chess.
Malik Mir Sultan Khan
What we have is a collection of Sultan Khan’s most interesting games (in some cases only the opening or conclusion) with excellent annotations. It’s not a ‘Best Games’ collection: there are plenty of draws and losses. As you would expect from such an experienced commentator, King knows exactly what, and how much, to tell you. You’ll get clear and concise verbal explanations, with variations only when necessary: an approach entirely suited to Khan’s style of play.
Sultan Khan’s openings were sometimes very poor, even by the standards of the day, on occasion running into trouble by neglecting the essentials of development and king safety, and not always learning from his mistakes. You won’t find a lot of brilliant tactics and sacrifices in his games, either. But he excelled at manoeuvring, and was an outstanding endgame player, winning many points through sheer determination. It was these skills that enabled him to beat Capablanca, draw with Alekhine, and reach, according to Jeff Sonas, the world’s top ten.
Here’s his most famous game, which is treated to six pages of annotations in the book.
King offers a lot more than just the games, though. The descriptions of the events in which Sultan Khan participated are enlivened by contemporary reports from newspapers and magazines which portray a vivid picture of the chess world 90 years ago, and of how Khan was perceived within the chess community. Then as now, newspapers would sometimes send non-playing journalists to write a ‘let’s laugh at the weird chess players’ article. Here, for example, is a Daily Herald reporter visiting Hastings for the 1930-31 congress. “DRAWING THE LONG BROW AT HASTINGS”, chortled the headline. “Moving (sometimes) scenes at chess congress.” Yes, very droll.
Although Sultan Khan was a very popular member of the British chess community, much respected for his quiet and modest demeanour, remarks which would today be considered racist sometimes appeared in the press. The London Evening News on Hastings 1932-33: “Sultan Khan, the British Champion, of course, did well; but he is not English by birth, which makes a difference.”
Malik Mir Sultan Khan (right)
King also sketches in the political background behind Sultan Khan’s time in England: the discussions concerning the future of the Indian subcontinent which would eventually lead to independence and the partition in 1947. Writing as someone with embarrassingly little knowledge of the subject, I thought these sections of the book were written with sensitivity and impartiality, but, as the partition is still highly emotive today, I quite understand why others might take a different view.
My main problem with the book is the lack of indexing. There’s an index of names, but I’d also expect indexes of games and openings: something I’d consider essential for a book of this nature. While it was interesting to read something of the history of Western chess in India, a section on John Cochrane would have been useful. I noticed a couple of errors in tournament crosstables (pp 22 and 309), and on p322, EM Jackson mysteriously becomes EM Mackenzie (his middle name).
What you don’t get is a definitive and complete biography and games collection such as McFarland might publish, but Daniel King knows his audience well, and, from the chess perspective, does a thoroughly professional job. If you don’t feel strongly about Sultan Khan’s family’s criticisms, then this book is highly recommended, telling a story full of chess, human and historical interest.
You can see some sample pages on the publisher’s website.
Some more links for anyone interested in finding out more about Sultan Khan:
An article by chess.com blogger simaginfan (Neil Blackburn)
“Probably the best home reared player to come out of the county, John Cox started to play at age 6 with his father Jeff (see above) joining Shrewsbury Chess Club at age 7. At age10 he became joint Shropshire lightning champion. He was 16 when he won the 1979 county championship though much of his early success was outside the county. He gained his first FM norm at the 1980 Lloyds Bank Masters where he became the first Shropshire player to beat a GM (see below), also drawing with IM’s Ligterink and Pytel. In 1981 he gained his third norm and the FM title at Ramsgate together with his first IM norm. Though now based in London, he is still a regular visitor to the local Wrekin Congress.”
John Cox (first from left) at a Lloyds Bank event.John Cox (left, rear)John Cox (left, rear) at a Lloyds Bank Varsity matchIM John Cox, courtesy John Upham PhotographyStarting out 1.d4 ! by John CoxDangerous Weapons : The Ruy LopezStarting Out : Alekhine’s DefenceDealing with d4 DeviationsStarting Out : Sicilian SveshnikovThe Berlin Wall
BCN wishes IM Andrew Martin many happy returns on his birthday (18-v-1957)
From ChessBase :
Andrew David Martin (born 18th May 1957 in West Ham, London) is an English chess player with the title of international master. Martin has won various national and international tournaments. He has been playing for years in the Four Nations Chess League, at present (July 2009) for Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher, previously for the Camberley Chess Club. Martin received his title as international master in 1984. He earned his first grandmaster norm in the British Championship of 1997 in Brighton. Martin was a commentator on the chess world championship between Kasparov and Kramnik in 2000.
On the 21st February 2004 Martin set a new world record for simultaneous chess.
He faced 321 chess players at the same time. His result was: 294 wins, 26 draws and only one loss. Martin is known as a professional chess teacher and head trainer of the English youth team. He trains eight schools (Yateley Manor, Aldro, Millfield, Sunningdale, Waverley School, St Michael’s Sandhurst, Wellington College, Salesian College). Martin is a chess columnist, an author of chess books and the author of various instructional videos. He was the publisher of the series Trends Publications. Martin lives in Sandhurst, England, is married and the father of two daughters and two sons. His present Elo rating is 2423 (as of July 2009).
Andrew coaching students
The above is somewhat inaccurate and out of date. Andrew came from East Ham rather than West Ham. He was the editor rather than the publisher of Trends Publications and he lives in Bramley, Surrey with his partner Naomi.
Andrew and friends at the NatWest Bank Young Masters
On July 23rd 1981 a world record attempt of continuous blitz games was undertaken at the National Film Theatre in London with much support of the membership of London Central YMCA.
Yours Truly (John Upham) plays Andrew Martin at the NFT
Andrew now plays for Camberley and Guildford clubs in the Berkshire and Surrey Border Leagues and is former member of East Ham, Ilford, London Central YMCA (CentYMCA), Wood Green and Barbican clubs.
Andrew plays JJ Ady whilst Simon LeBlanq observes at the London Central YMCA
Andrew has written many books starting as Editor of the “Trends Series” for Tournament Chess owned by Richard W. O’Brien (Not of The Crystal Maze). He has authored numerous DVDs for Foxy Videos and ChessBase and has a YouTube Channel focused on young and improving players called “Andrew Martin – Chess Explorations“.
Below Andrew annotates his game (with black) versus GM Stephen Gordon from 4NCL in 2005 :
Andrew’s first book as author was this one:
Winning With the King’s Indian, Caissa Publishing, Andrew Martin, 1989
Here is one his favourite games:
Trends in the Slav Defence, Tournament Chess, Andrew Martin, 1990The Contemporary Anti-Dutch, 1990
Chess Hacker, Andrew Martin, Thinkers Press, 2019Play the Budapest Gambit, Andrew Martin, Everyman Chess, May 2021, ISBN-13 : 978-1781945889
We focus on the British Chess Scene Past & Present !
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