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

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Structural thinking

10/30/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King presents a nice chess problem, takes a look at an endgame, and explains the pros and cons of an important structure that arises in many openings. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UTC (18:00 CET, 13:00 ET). All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Attack while getting attacked

10/23/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a nice chess problem, shows why it is indeed good advice to look for hidden resources, and shows an extraordinary game between Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana from the Altibox Norway Chess Tournament, where both sides conducted a kingside attack - simultaneously. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Caruana surprises Carlsen

10/16/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King looks at the game Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen played in round 7 of the Altibox Norway Chess tournament. Caruana came up with a strong novelty in the Rossolimo Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) that put Carlsen under pressure. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Daniel King's Power Play Show: A bold and provocative king

9/25/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a provocative, dangerous and entertaining line of the King's Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nc3!? Qh4+ 4.Ke2 which Steinitz, Keres (pictured) and King himself used to play. The march of the king looks crazy but the whole line is surprisingly powerful and dangerous. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Valter Heuer (Archive)

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Strategic foresight

9/21/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a tense strategic battle from the recent Bundesliga Championship, Michael Adams (pictured) vs Vincent Keymer, that culminated in an explosion of tactics. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Ray Morris-Hill

Daniel King's Power Play Show: A brilliancy by Jan Timman

9/11/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a brilliancy prize win from Jan Timman that he featured in his latest book 'Timman's Triumphs - My 100 Best Games'. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Frans Peeters

Power Play Show: Kalashnikov octopodes

9/4/2020 – In this Power Play Show, Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a couple of games by former junior world champion Parham Maghsoodloo. Both of the analyzed games were played in the Kalashnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence and featured an octopus knight deep in the heart of White’s position! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Power Play Show: King’s Gambit tactics!

8/28/2020 – In this Power Play Show, Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a couple of recent online games that feature typical King's Gambit tactics — the kind that are both instructive and beautiful! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Power Play Show: Crushing the King's Indian

8/14/2020 – In this Power Play Show, Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at two fascinating games with the King's Indian. One was played very recently, the other was played 70 years ago. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Tigran Petrosian

Power Play Show: Nepomniachtchi attacks

8/7/2020 – In this Power Play Show, Grandmaster Daniel King looks at a problem that Paul Keres composed when he was just 19 years old, but the main focus of the show will be on on a remarkable game by Ian Nepomniachtchi against Ding Liren in the Legends of Chess online tournament. A Scotch was played in romantic style but with a modern twist... | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Niki Riga (Archive)

Power Play Show: A World Champion squeeze

7/31/2020 – In this Power Play Show, grandmaster Daniel King shows the solution to last week’s mate-in-two problem, presents a new problem, and takes a look at an exciting game between Ding Liren and former world champion Vishy Anand. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Austin Fuller

Power Play Show: The King’s Gambit is very much alive!

7/24/2020 – In this Power Play Show, grandmaster Daniel King uses all the knowledge he gathered to prepare his latest DVD to analyze the King’s Gambit played by Vasyl Ivanchuk against Peter Leko at the start of the week. Unmissable! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photos: Nugzar Kereselidze

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Spassky attacks - Part II

7/17/2020 – In this Power Play Show, Grandmaster Daniel King continues to look at attacking games by Boris Spassky, World Champion from 1969 to 1972, who was a universal player with a keen sense for the attack and tactical ideas. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Herbert Behrens / Anefo; / CC BY-SA 3.0 NL

Daniel King’s Power Play Show: Spassky attacks

7/10/2020 – In this Power Play Show, grandmaster Daniel King focuses on an exciting attacking game played by tenth world champion Boris Spassky when he was merely 18 years old. He also looks at a mate-in-three problem that even had him confused for a while! | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Can Hikaru Nakamura win the Chessable Masters?

6/19/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King will present an interesting endgame and a problem by Sam Loyd. But he will also look at the current form of Hikaru Nakamura who hopes to win the Chessable Masters, the next Magnus Carlsen Tour event will start tomorrow, Saturday, June 20. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Daniel King's Power Play Show: A chess problem and a spectacular game

6/12/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King makes an excursion into the world of problem chess but the main focus of the session will be a spectacular game by the 2018 World Senior Champion, Vlastimil Jansa. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.

Daniel King's Power Play Show: Dubov wins Lindores Abbey Challenge

6/8/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at what happened in the final of the Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge. Daniil Dubov faced Hikaru Nakamura and after four interesting rapid games the match and the tournament was decided in the Armageddon play-off. | Photo: Daniil Dubov | Photo: Niki Riga

Daniel King's Power Play Show: A classic exchange sacrifice

5/29/2020 – In this Power Play Show Grandmaster Daniel King takes a look at classic exchange sacrifice in the King's Indian/Benoni, played recently in a game between Dubov and Karjakin. | Power Play is on air most Fridays at 17:00 UK (18:00 CEST, 11:00 EST) on playchess.com. All the usual puzzles, games and instruction will be on offer.
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