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 Gods by the North Sea

2/5/2023 – The recent firefight in Wijk aan Zee was a magnificent tournament. While trying to follow his nose (i.e. not merely checking the engine evaluation) as to what was going on in the players’ minds during the battle, Jon Speelman found a number of remarkable ideas! | Photos: Jurriaan Hoefsmit / Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2023
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Young guns by the sea

1/15/2023 – As Wijk aan Zee gets underway this weekend, we can look forward to a magnificent battle of the generations. In my time this would have been utterly impossible — surely the young guns used to play in the B group? Find here analyses of three formidable wins by the Indian prodigies that are playing in Wijk aan Zee. | Photos: Tata Steel Chess
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Shoot-outs, a stand-off and the traditional round-up

1/1/2023 – I’m not a particular devotee of Westerns, but I’ve seen enough to know that at the end there’s normally a shoot-out in which the protagonists have to be at their best to avoid losing their lives. Games of chess are thankfully not fatal, but in many of them there is a final tactical shoot-out, and however well you’ve played beforehand, you have to be able to handle this at least passably to get the win or draw that you deserve. | Pictured: Benny Watts, a main character in Netflix’s ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster
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A multiplicity of Monarchs

12/18/2022 – At a time often known for excess — and at the end of a year when we’ve had two different monarchs and three different prime ministers in the United Kingdom — Jon Speelman considered it fitting to explore chess positions with more than two queens on the board. Remarkably, these positions arise rather frequently (relative to how rare this situation is) in games involving the ever-creative Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Patterns of interference

12/4/2022 – Following Daniel King’s recap of ‘Novotny’ patterns, Jon Speelman could not deny himself the pleasure of analysing the game played by Vasyl Ivanchuk which motivated the theme’s resurgence. Speelman writes of Ivanchuk: “Of all the players that I’ve ever faced over the board, I’ve always considered Ivanchuk the most talented, with no exceptions”. | Photo: Amruta Mokal / ChessBase India
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A story of no Os

11/20/2022 – At a tournament organized by the Grandmaster Association in Reykjavík back in 1988, there was no security in the snack area. Inevitably, this prompted interest in Garry Kasparov’s snacks: Toblerones. In fact, there was a massive temptation to half-inch the odd piece of his numinous nutrition. There was a crucial proviso, though. The pieces of Toblerone had letters on the side spelling it out and no one in his right mind would pilfer an O, thus positively demanding bad luck... | Pictured: Garry Kasparov with Alexander Nikitin
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Battles with Basman

11/6/2022 – Today’s column is dedicated to the memory of Michael Basman, who sadly passed away on Wednesday, October 26th, at the age of 76. It’s one of the great joys of the chess world that we provide a relatively safe environment for eccentric talent, and Basman was as engaging and eccentric in person as in his wonderful creations on the chessboard. | Pictured: Joel Benjamin facing Michael Basman (Lloyds Bank Open 1978)
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Opening catastrophes

10/16/2022 – Leinier Dominguez won his round-7 game in the U.S. Championship after only ten moves. The opening debacle prompted Jon Speelman to locate similar examples both in a book by Yakov Neishtadt and in the database of his own games. And he also remembered to give the solution of the proof game from last week!

Codgerly self-indulgence

10/2/2022 – Today is Jonathan Speelman’s sixty-sixth birthday, so he allowed himself a certain amount of self-indulgence, as he decided to present a selection of his favourite games and studies. His criterion: “A preference for either the breathtakingly simple or the mind-bogglingly complex”. Happy birthday, Jon! | Pictured: Julian Hodgson and Jonathan Speelman

First catch your rabbit!

9/18/2022 – The idea that you should prepare yourself before undertaking an operation is highly germane both to chess and “real life”. As has been reiterated many times over the years, to overcome good defence, you need both some significant advantages in the sector and a clear target. To prove this point, three exquisite examples of players taking all the preparatory steps before a shattering finale are presented. | Pictured: Jon Speelman facing chess computer Sargon 2.5 in 1980
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Murder in a vacuum

9/4/2022 – There are some ideas which the meanest members of the ‘silicon brotherhood’ will flag up immediately but are way beyond our normal human compass. The move that inspired this column is one which is hard to imagine ever being found in a blitz game but might be within the range of a world-class player in a classical game if not in time trouble: Vasyl Ivanchuk, say. | Pictured: José Raúl Capablanca
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The ubiquitous bayonet

8/21/2022 – Pushing the g-pawn early in the game has become so common that when GM Jon Speelman watches Shakhriyar Mamedyarov play, he feels tempted to bet with himself when ‘the bayonet’ will be deployed. This week’s thematic column features a couple of classics (by Paul Keres and Alexei Shirov), an example from Mamedyarov’s practice and a remarkable win by Richard Pert from the British Championship. | Photo: Niki Riga
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Cross checks, deflections and stunning beauty

8/8/2022 – Inspired by Gukesh’s remarkable win over Gabriel Sargissian in round 6 of the Chess Olympiad, star columnist Jon Speelman looked at a few more instances of cross checks and deflections that left a strong aesthetic impression. A beautiful study by the Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is included in the mix. | Photo: Stev Bonhage
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Asking the right questions

7/17/2022 – In recent months, our columnist Jon Speelman had a couple of run-ins with technology, which have necessitated speaking to help lines, and in both cases he initially asked the wrong questions. A perfect excuse to reflect on those times when there are no forcing moves to make in a chess game — when asking ourselves the right questions is crucial. Games by Anatoly Karpov and Fabiano Caruana (pictured) are used to illustrate this topic. | Photo: Anna Shtourman / FIDE
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Conversations with the Gods

7/3/2022 – Unlike in ancient times, in our (chess) world, the oracles are not priestesses but silicon based. For high grade but not necessarily perfect information, we turn to computer engines. The crucial thing is that, however splendiferous the software, it has to be we who control the process. We need to put the time to work through the lines with the engine to understand why we should play a specific move in a given position. | Pictured: Ganesha, a Hindu deity, the deva of intellect and wisdom
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Bluff and thunder

6/19/2022 – Although chess is a total-information game in which everything is laid bare on the board, in practice we can see only part of the picture. Feelings do play a crucial role, at least in games between humans. One necessary evil is the ability, when the need arises, to bluff — or at the very least to keep a reasonably straight face! | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Saint Louis Chess Club
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Eight staircases, two stairwells and a drunken soldier

6/6/2022 – One of the prerequisites for playing chess well is to have a decent feel for the geometry of the board. In today’s column, GM Jon Speelman explores this theme through a couple of somewhat unusual patterns — the staircase and the stairwell. He also looks at a game by Will Watson, a player once described by Boris Spassky as “a drunk with a machine gun”. | Pictured: ‘Relativity’ by M. C. Escher
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A few chestnuts more

5/15/2022 – Unashamed ultra-violence. Jon Speelman continues to share findings from his bookshelf, and today explores Irving Chernev’s “The 1000 best short games of chess”, a collection of miniatures first published in 1957. Speelman adds notes to selected games from the collection of thud and blunder.
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