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DAVID HOWELL GM 2614 - He completed his A Levels in 2008, a year early,
and has been playing chess professionally ever since. Modern chess
favours players who always seek to win, even if sometimes at the cost of
losing, and David has shown a tremendous will to win.
STUART CONQUEST GM 2572
- British Champion and English co-Champion.
Stuart currently lives in Spain and also speaks French fluently. It is
impossible to prepare against Stuart as he such a very broad opening
repertoire. His form can vary enormously.
GAWAIN JONES GM 2554
- Gawain, for one so young has lived in an
astonishing variety of countries, including England, Ireland and Italy.
Currently he is often to be found in New Zealand together with his girl
friend. There is no doubt of his talent, but he needs to improve his
technical skills to make the next leap forward.
STEPHEN GORDON GM 2537
- Stephen is our most recent grandmaster. He won
the British Under-21 Championship four years in a row. He has not
favoured playing back to back tournaments, which is one reason that it
took him longer to achieve his final norm after becoming an established
2500+ player.
SIMON WILLIAMS GM 2527 - Simon is a most entertaining player, with
something of a cavalier attitude to pieces. Recently he organised the
First Big Slick international congress. He is the first of our GMs since
David Norwood to get interested in chess organisation.
KEITH ARKELL GM 2521
- English co-Champion. Keith ceased being a
professional player for some years, but returned to his first love in
2007. Many people assume that, because he does not try for much in the
openings, he isn’t trying to win. But he favours nursing a small
advantage. For example, he has an enormous plus score in the
theoretically drawn endgame of rook and bishop against rook.
PETER WELLS GM 2498 - Peter is an extremely experienced GM with
particular expertise in the openings. His penchant for time trouble is
always exciting for the spectators, but means his rating does not fully
reflect his ability.
DANNY GORMALLY GM 2490
- Danny has yet to fulfil his potential as a GM.
A professional games player must be willing to travel anywhere and Danny
finds this difficult.
LAWRENCE TRENT IM 2471
- Lawrence is our most likely next GM, apart
from Lorin D’Costa. He is part of a group of young players who have led
something on a renaissance of chess in recent years.
MARK HEBDEN GM 2468
- Mark has now been a professional player for many
years. He is also an experienced captain/coach. His best games continue
to exhibit an apparent effortless strategic logic. Perhaps we will one
day see a collection of the 100 Best Games between Keith and Mark.
AARON SUMMERSCALE GM 2454
- Aaron is a professional chess coach and not
a professional player. His wife, Claire, is Chairman of the 4NCL and a
previous ECF Director of Junior Chess so they are both heavily involved
in chess.
ANDREW GREET IM 2443
- Andrew has made steady progressive in chess. He
is an active player and also does some coaching.
JAMES COBB IM 2432
(Wales) - James, together with his brother are one
of the main effective family teams in Britain.
RICHARD PALLISER IM 2413
- Richard spends much more time these days
writing about chess, rather than playing.
GRAEME BUCKLEY IM 2398
- Graeme is married to Susan Lalic who is also
playing, as is Peter Lalic in the Major Open. He is mainly a chess
teacher. We are expecting their twin daughters shortly to start playing
in the age group championships.
JOVANKA HOUSKA IM 2392
- Jovanka is our leading active woman player.
Earlier this year she married Arne Hagaesaether (Norway) and is
currently residing there. She has a collection of fine scalps to her
credit.
DIETMAR KOLBUS IM 2383
(Germany) - Dietmar is a long-time resident of
the Isle of Man, which explains why he is entitled to play. He did very
well last year, although perhaps he wilted a little towards the end.
GARY LANE IM 2379
(Australia) - Gary has been resident in Australia now
for a very long time and indeed plays for them. However, he came
originally from Paignton and thus is still regarded by some as a local
lad.
THOMAS RENDLE IM 2379
- Thomas first came to our attention at Hastings,
where he used to live, when he was 6. He is now a chess coach.
PAUL LITTLEWOOD IM 2358
- Paul won the British Championship in 1981. He
is playing here together with his father John.
SUSAN LALIC IM 2334
- Susan is mainly a chess coach these days. She led
something of a renaissance of women’s chess in England.
JACK RUDD IM 2326
- Jack is one of our most active IMs. He could have
played for Trinidad (having been born there) and would have strengthened
their team considerably, but there was little interest expressed. He is
giving the free simul on Sunday. He can also be found inputting the
championship games.
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