Jonathan Speelman

Jonathan Speelman was born in 1956 and graduated from Worcester College Oxford, where he read mathematics. He became an IM and a professional chess player in 1977, a GM in 1980 and was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006. Three times British Champion he played twice in the Candidates, reaching the semi-final (of what was then a knockout series of matches) in 1989 when he lost 4.5-3.5 to Jan Timman. He was twice a second to a world championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

Jon has written for The Observer (weekly) since 1993 and The Independent since 1998. With its closure (going online, but without Jon on board) he is expanding online activity and is also now offering online tuition. He likes puzzles, especially (cryptic) crosswords and killer sudokus. If you'd like to contact Jon, then please write to jonathan@speelman.demon.co.uk

Recent news

The anatomy of Agony

8/3/2020 – Star columnist Jon Speelman tells a story from the old days, when Soviet tournaments were long and inordinately slow. In it, he mentions Leonid Yurtaev, a fierce attacking player who in 1996 became Kyrgyzstan’s first-ever grandmaster and sadly died in 2011 aged just 52. Speelman then goes on to analyse two of Yurtaev’s finest efforts. | Pictured: The city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

The Cockroach’s Carapace (and other opening disasters)

7/19/2020 – Remembrances of his first chess books, analysis of a World Championship game, backstories from a Candidates Match and a ‘squashed’ Caro-Kann are all part of the latest column by Jonathan Speelman. The former world number four confesses: “Opening theory has never been my thing, and I was perhaps lucky to be active at a time when it was much less essential”. | Photo: David Llada

Jon Speelman: “Play your own moves”

7/5/2020 – “The most important thing is to choose the moves you want to play — not somebody else, let alone an engine. They may not ‘theoretically’ be the best, but unless they can palpably be refuted you will do better with them than something ‘better’ which makes your stomach turn”, concludes star columnist Jon Speelman after exploring a number of instructional examples, including a couple of his games against Garry Kasparov!

Metamorphosis: The promotion of passed pawns

6/21/2020 – Jonathan Speelman explores an overriding aim in most endgames — the promotion of passed pawns. He explains: “One could see this as a form of parthenogenesis, as the piece (like Athena from Zeus's head) springs fully formed onto the board, sadly and inevitably killing the pawn in the process”.

Reginacide II: Jettisoning the Lady

6/7/2020 – Star columnist Jonathan Speelman continues looking at queen sacrifices — or “reginacides”. In this instalment, he analyzes two from his games and two from games played by Ding Liren. Not to be missed! | Painting by Abel de Pujol: "La mort de Marie Stuart", 1587

Reginacide: The art and the pleasure of sacrificing your queen

5/17/2020 – Our author looks at three games that included a queen sacrifice ('reginacide' means 'the murder of the queen'), and shows a particular case in which a "mad rook" can be neutralized. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: A beautiful attack

5/4/2020 – For the first time, star columnist Jon Speelman gets to have a discussion with the protagonist of his Agony column, Belgian engineer Yves Surmont, an attacking player. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: An early g-pawn push

4/20/2020 – Our columnist JON SPEELMAN looks at two fascinating games and shares two very nice problems from the pages of the wonderful Dutchman Tim Krabbe's Chess Curiosities | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: Facing "quite a strong player"

4/5/2020 – The protagonist of this week's column was defeated by "quite a strong player". JON SPEELMAN finds out who was the mysterious opponent and annotates the game in detail. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: A Scandi and a French

3/22/2020 – This week GM JON SPEELMAN breaks down a French and a Scandinavian from an Indian. Once again, Jon recorded a video version of his analysis. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: English Botvinnik setups at club level

3/1/2020 – This Agony and Ecstasy features some English games from an experienced club player from Wales, which GM JON SPEELMAN gives his usual pedagogic attention. As a bonus, Jon recorded a video version of his analysis. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: California dreamin'

2/17/2020 – Two games with "considerable violence" quips GM JON SPEELMAN as he takes a look at his latest submission. | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: Playing up a class

2/2/2020 – A hungry Hungarian A-player sent GM JON SPEELMAN two hard fought battles for your review and study. A mini-GM lesson! | Send in your own games! | Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: A twofer from the 4NCL

1/19/2020 – In this week's column, GM JON SPEELMAN, brings you two of his own instructive games against grandmasters, played in a recent weekend of the Four Nations Chess League. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: An English, a London, a Morra

1/5/2020 – "How could I refuse the author of my favourite endgame books, so I decided to submit four games", writes Justin Baptie. GM JON SPEELMAN provides his instructive comments on four club-level games. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: Big battles

12/15/2019 – This week's games are from an expert-rated club player who sent GM JON SPEELMAN a pair of annotated games for a Grandmasterly review. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: A clash of Sveshnikovs

12/1/2019 – The Sicilian Sveshnikov is on tap for this penultimate column of 2019 as GM JON SPEELMAN tackles a pair of clashes from "clashkid". Pictured: Evgeny Sveshnikov by GFHund (CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons) | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

Speelman's Agony: Lessons from amateur errors

11/17/2019 – This week Jon goes solo on annotating, with five games for your review, including the popular Alapin and London. | Send in your own games! Jon welcomes submissions from readers. If your games are selected for the Agony column, not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!
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