Jon Speelman
Jonathan Simon Speelman ( born October 2, 1956 in London ) is an English chess master.
Life
Speelman, next to Tony Miles in the 1970s one of the most talented hopes of chess in England, 1978 International Champion, 1980 Grand Master. He won the British Championship in 1978, 1985 and 1986. 1984 he won jointly with Nigel Short, the zone tournament in Brighton and qualified first for the Interzonal in Taxco in 1985, where he finished fourth and jump into the Candidates tournament just missed. In 1986, he played a match against the Americans Lev Alburt in London 4:4 ( 2, -2, = 4) undecided. 1986/87 he shared with Smbat Lputjan, Murray Chandler and Bent Larsen Place 1-4 at the traditional tournament in Hastings.
End of the 1980s was a serious eye ailment Speelman had playfully severely compromised successfully cured and he managed to climb the peak of his career.
In 1987 he wins superior with 9 points over 10 games in the tournament area of Bath, before Glenn Flear and Jonathan Mestel. Together with Viktor Korchnoi, he won the tournament in Be'er Sheva, and together with Gyula Sax and Nigel Short (1st - 3rd ) the Interzonal of Subotica, which meant a qualifier for the Candidates Tournament.
In the first round of candidates fighting in 1988 in Saint John Speelman met the American Yasser Seirawan, whom he beat convincingly 4-1 ( 3, -0 = 2). Over the next quarter -finals in London he played against his compatriot Nigel Short, whom he defeated with 3.5:1.5 ( 2, 0, = 3) and ventured into the semi-finals, in which he on the Dutchman Jan Timman met, which he in London with 3,5:4,5 ( 1, -2, = 5) underwent in 1989 and retired.
1991 Speelman was pre-qualified for the candidates fighting and got in the first round again drawn against compatriot Short, whom he defeated in rapid chess playoff. The competition was held in London and ended regular 4:4 ( 2, -2, = 4), Short qualified in this cycle, eventually becoming a challenger to world champion Garry Kasparov.
1993 Speelman won the Lloyds Bank Open in London, 1994 Altensteig, 1998 in Roskilde, 2003 and 2005, the Howard Staunton Memorial in London.
His current Elo rating is 2496 (as of March 2014), its highest ever Elo rating was 2645 in July 1988.
Speelman, a trained mathematician, wrote several works on chess literature.
Jonathan Speelman, John Nunn, Murray Chandler, Jonathan Mestel, William Watson and Nigel Short won the silver medal at the 1988 Chess Olympiad in Thessaloniki.
Chess team
National
Speelman represented England from 1980 to 2006 in 14 consecutive Chess Olympiads. He achieved this in 1984, 1986 and 1988 with the team to second place in 1986, he also achieved the second best result on the first reserve board. From 1977 to 2005 Speelman took part in nine European Team Championships and won the competition in 1997 with the English team. 1980 and 1992 the team reached the third place, respectively, in 1980 also succeeded Speelman the second best result on the fourth board. 1985, 1989 and 1997 took Jonathan Speelman part in the World Team Championship. 1985 and 1989 took the English team to third place, won the 1997 Speelman the individual ranking on the fourth board.
Chess club
In the British Four Nations Chess League played Speelman 1995 to 1997 in Slough, in the season 1997/98 at Invicta Knights Maidstone from 1998 to 2006, Wood Green, 2006-2009 at The ADs and since 2009 at Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher. He won the competition in 1996, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012. In the German Chess Bundesliga Speelman 1996-1999 at SG 1868 Alekhine Solingen and from 1999 to 2003 by the Lübeck chess club of 1873. It was 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2003 German team champion. In the Dutch Hoofdklasse or Meesterklasse Jonathan Speelman played in the 1995/96 season at Cap Volmac Rotterdam and in the season 2006/ 07 at HMC Calder.
Works (selection)
- Analysing the Endgame ( Batsford, 1981)
- Endgame Preparation ( Batsford, 1981)
- Together with a couple Jon Tisdall and Robert Wade: Batsford Chess Endings ( Batsford, 1993)
- Jon Speelman 's Best Games ( Batsford, 1997).