John Saunders

A new idea in the English Opening - the #Brexit variation #chess

The 144th Varsity match between Oxford and Cambridge universities, held at the RAC, Pall Mall, on 7 March, ended in a 4-4 draw. Results, games, report, photos at the BritBase website: saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/2…

A PGN file with 975 of Tony Miles's games up to the end of 1979 has been posted on BritBase... saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/m… The new material consists mostly of games he played in weekenders which have been digitised and contributed by IM Geoff Lawton, for which many thanks.

Chatting with a helpful couple at Bunnings in Canberra, Cathy mentioned that she was present in the ACT for the ongoing Australian Junior Ch'ps, whereupon the woman revealed that she was the great, great, granddaughter of Captain WD Evans of Evans Gambit fame!

Last week Kingston A scored an important 4.5-1.5 away victory against Maidenhead A in Thames Valley division 1. On board 1 Kingston FM David Maycock recorded a crucial win over Maidenhead GM Matthew Wadsworth. John Saunders has kindly annotated the game tinyurl.com/34t5z42u

Chess cannot compete with cricket's legendary "the bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey" or "Lillee caught Willey bowled Dilley" but the following deserves a (dis)honourable mention...

From #GibChess Battle of the Sexes opponents in 2022 (with Gibraltar matchmaker Brian Callaghan @gibraltarchess); to marriage in 2025. Congratulations @IM_Rosen & @irene_sukandar !!

Sharing 1st place in the XTX London Classic Open on 7/9: R Praggnanandhaa (India), Velimir Ivic (Serbia) and Ameet Ghasi (England)

10-year-old British chess prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan scores another stellar success, beating Rajko Vujatovic in the XTX London Classic Pro-Biz Cup play-off, winning the title with team partner, US grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra

I've taken 100s of ceremonial first-move photos but this is already my favourite: the self-confidence, the joy, the decisiveness. And she's called Anand! The future of chess is in good hands... @xtxmarkets London Chess Classic

Danny Gormally won the 2025 UK Blitz Championship and Bodhana Sivanandan won the 2025 UK Women's Blitz Championship in Leamington on 22 November. All the games and information on BritBase: saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/2…

New @CHESS_Magazine out now featuring @anishgiri who claims a @FIDE_chess candidates spot - @FabianoCaruana prevails at the @GrandChessTour finals and much more! Get your copy now in print or instant digital download: chess.co.uk/collections/ne… #chessmagazine @TelegraphChess

Loved chatting with the Guardian’s Lennard Barden, who after 70 years, 14 prime ministers, and nearly 4,000 articles, is still writing his brilliant chess column every week - and is now a officially a record holder. Some lovely memories in this piece theguardian.com/sport/2025/sep…

Happy birthday to Leonard Barden, chess correspondent of the Guardian. Leonard, a former British champion, is 96 today and continues to produce unmissable Saturday chess columns. Next month marks his 70th anniversary as Guardian chess correspondent. A truly remarkable career

Final photo-report from the Kingston Invitational Chess Tournament: GM Jakub Kosakowski (POL) finished 2 points clear of David Maycock Bates (MEX) & Ivan Valles Moreno (ESP). In the Open Norwegian FMs Jacob Templen Grave & Gunnar Lund were 1st=. johnchess.blogspot.com/2025/08/2025-k…

@plittl @IMPeterLarge Littlewood and Large - you should set up a podcast together, dispensing wisdom and the fruits of your experience #perfectname

@IMPeterLarge 1/ You are not! 2/ He really is!

Two things I have learnt from the first 4 rounds of the Kingston Invitational: 1. I am a very weak player indeed. 2. Supratit is the real deal.

Day 4 photo-report on the #KingstonChess tournament: GM Jakub Kosakowski (POL) wins the All-Play-All with a round to spare while Gunnar Lund (NOR) leads the Open - johnchess.blogspot.com/2025/08/2025-k…

As I walked to #KingstonChess this morning I took a picture of the street sculpture seen here. On arrival at the venue the next picture I took happened to be Graeme Buckley talking to Supratit Banerjee. Then later I looked at the two together... LOL

Day 3 photo-report of the #KingstonChess tournament covers rounds 5 and 6: Jakub Kosakowski (POL) 5/6; David Maycock (MEX), Ivan Valles (ESP) 4, while 15-year-old Jai Kothari (Hampton School, ENG) leads the Open - all the details johnchess.blogspot.com/2025/08/2025-k…

Day 2 photo-report of the #KingstonChess tournament: rounds 3 and 4, annotations, etc. GM Jakub Kosakowski (POL) leads, David Maycock (MEX) secures the FM title, etc... johnchess.blogspot.com/2025/08/2025-k…

Day 1 report of the #KingstonChess tournament. The leader after two rounds is GM Jakub Kosakowski (Poland) with 2/2. In the Swiss event six players are tied on 2/2 johnchess.blogspot.com/2025/08/2025-k…