Daniel King

Daniel King (born 1963) is a Grandmaster, has been a professional chess player for more than 20 years and has represented his country in numerous competitions, amongst others in the historic win by the English over the Soviet Union in 1990 in Reykjavik. King is the author of more than 15 chess books and has wealth of experience as a trainer, assisting many of England’s leading players. He is also well known for his broadcasting on TV, radio and the internet, commentating major chess events. To the delight of chess fans worldwide, he hosts his monthly "Powerplay" show on the world's largest chess server, Playchess.com. He contributes to ChessBase Magazine, with the popular column "Move by Move". King has also produced the highly praised PowerPlay DVD series for ChessBase. King lives in London.

Recent news

Power Play on the Candidates

3/28/2018 – GM Daniel King was, of course, one of our round-up show hosts, but he also covered the Candidates Tournament in Berlin round-by-round for his Power Play YouTube Channel, culminating in extensive reporting from on-site for the final two rounds. In case you missed some of his great work, we present it here in one convenient place. Grandmaster analysis in easily digestible bites.

Daniel King's video analysis: Magnus Carlsen vs Anish Giri

7/23/2016 – Players in Bilbao got 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss. Magnus Carlsen won the "Masters" with 17 points from 10 games, or, should you prefer the traditional 1-point-per-win-count, with 6.5/10. He won four games, lost one, and drew five. The game that secured Carlsen's tournament victory was his win against Anish Giri in round nine - the first time Carlsen could beat the Dutch in a game with classical time-control. Daniel King takes a closer look.

Daniel King analyses Carlsen vs Karjakin and So vs Giri

7/22/2016 – In round eight of the "Masters" in Bilbao Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen drew after only 19 moves. In his video analysis of the game Daniel King wonders whether Carlsen could have trapped Karjakin's queen instead of repeating moves. He also takes a look at the endgame that Wesley So won against Anish Giri - Wesley So's first win in the "Masters" and the only decisive game of round eight.

Daniel King's video analysis: Magnus Carlsen vs Wei Yi

7/21/2016 – Round seven of the "Masters" in Bilbao saw three draws. The longest game of the round was Magnus Carlsen vs Wei Yi, in which the World Champion tried hard to create winning chances in the endgame. But did he have real winning chances at any point during the game? Did he miss something? And could have Wei Yi played better? In his video analysis Daniel King takes a closer look.

Daniel King's video analysis: Wei Yi vs Anish Giri

7/20/2016 – Anish Giri rarely loses but in round six of the "Masters" in Bilbao he did lose against Chinese prodigy Wei Yi. With the notoriously solid Berlin Defense. Now Wei Yi is known to be especially strong with White but what exactly went wrong? Did Wei Yi find a way to challenge the Berlin or did Giri blunder in a drawn endgame? Daniel King takes a closer look.

Daniel King's video analysis: Anish Giri vs Magnus Carlsen

7/18/2016 – Anish Giri seems to be a difficult opponent for Magnus Carlsen. In games with classical time-control Carlsen lost one game against Giri, the others all ended in a draw. That is, the World Champion still has to find a way to win against his younger rival. In round five of the "Masters" in Bilbao, Carlsen came close - but only close - after outplaying Giri from an equal position. But did Carlsen miss a win? Daniel King takes a look.

Daniel King's video analysis: Magnus Carlsen vs Wesley So

7/17/2016 – The game between Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So from the fourth round of the "Masters" in Bilbao is puzzling. Carlsen, who had White, opted for a solid Anti-Berlin and showed no particular aggression in the opening. But then his knights suddenly started to dance and Black was in trouble. Carlsen won in 26 moves. Daniel King takes a look at the mysteries of this game.

Daniel King's video analysis: Magnus Carlsen vs Sergey Karjakin

7/16/2016 – For weeks chessfans had been waiting for the encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin in the Bilbao "Masters", the prelude of their World Championship match in November. But their third round game turned out to be a pretty one-sided affair in which Carlsen worked his magic again. After a quiet opening he "simply" attacked on the kingside and came to a seemingly effortless win. Daniel King takes a closer look at this crucial encounter.

Daniel King's video analysis: Wei Yi vs Magnus Carlsen

7/15/2016 – Wei Yi vs Magnus Carlsen, potential World Champion against reigning World Champion, was the highlight of the second round of the "Masters" in Bilbao. After his first round loss against Hikaru Nakamura the World Champion obviously wanted to win but was careful to avoid undue risks. This led to an interesting game with lots of tactical moments in the endgame. Daniel King takes a closer look.

Tata Steel R09: Wei Yi vs David Navara

1/27/2016 – In the first eight rounds of his first Masters tournament in Wijk aan Zee Chinese Chinese prodigy Wei Yi drew all his games. But in round nine he threw caution to the winds and in a closed Spanish castled queenside to prepare for some violence. This soon led to sacrifices which culminated in a scintillating mating attack. Daniel King takes a closer look.