John Saunders

Left to right: Connor Clarke (Oxford captain), Henry McWatters (RAC), Remy Rushbrooke (Cambridge captain)

Teams and guests at the 144th Varsity Chess Match, hosted by the RAC, Pall Mall, 7 March 2026

Oxford University team at the 144th Varsity Chess Match, hosted by the RAC, Pall Mall, 7 March 2026

Cambridge University team at the 144th Varsity Chess Match, hosted by the RAC, Pall Mall, 7 March 2026

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: www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn...

A PGN file with 975 of Tony Miles's games up to the end of 1979 has been posted on BritBase...

www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn...

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.

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

Mary Rudge (1842-1919), chess player

Mary Rudge won first prize at the first women's international chess tournament in London in 1897. Her prize was £60... which is the equivalent of £6,756 in 2025. More about the tournament here: www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn...

Sir George Thomas (1881-1972), playing at the Margate tournament, 1936. Colourised by John Saunders.

New at BritBase: a collection of 1,209 games played by Sir George Thomas - even allowing for the inclusion of 164 stubs, that makes it the largest collection of his games available to date. saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn...

Reserve board between Baptiste Alloui-Cros (Oxford University) and Lukasz Domanski (Cambridge University), Varsity chess match, 8 March 2025, RAC Clubhouse, Pall Mall, London

The Varsity chess match dates back to 1873 and this shot from the 2025 match captures some of the Victorian elegance of a century and a half ago. The Polish player (right) would be my nomination for the best dressed player, closely followed by his French adversary.

A young player at the 1963 British Chess Championship was drenched with rain on his way to the tournament. Rather than play in wet trousers, he took them off and left them to dry, wrapped himself in a towel and went into the tournament and played his game. Three hours later he put them back on again.

Now that's what I call Freestyle Chess.

Brixton: 'We're spending our night out playing chess' The young people who are spending their night out at a pop-up chess club in Brixton, south London.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

1992 Oakham Young Masters chess tournament crosstable, including Shirov, Kramnik, Adams, Svidler, etc

Billed at the time as the strongest young player's (under-22) chess tournament of all time, the line-up for the 1992 Oakham Young Masters International still looks very impressive: not just lots of famous GMs but even a Nobel prize-winner. www.saund.org.uk/bri.../pgn/1...

Crosstable of the 1991/92 Hastings Challengers

The 1991/92 Hastings Challengers was a triumph for the late IM Colin Crouch who surpassed the GM norm by a clear point. Also recording a GM result was Matthew Sadler. Games and details at BritBase: www.saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn...

EP 416- IM Malcolm Pein: The Award-winning Journalist and Organizer on the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz, and Why He Is Optimistic about Chess Despite Recent Stumbles

Enjoyed listening to Malcolm Pein being interviewed by Ben Johnson on Perpetual Chess podcast... open.spotify.com/episode/1xZ3...

Happy Mew Year, my furry friend.

The Mayor of Cambridge, Stewart Todd Bull (1900-1970), makes the first move for Bertram Goulding Brown (1881-1965), watched by club president Horace Bernard Coulson (1907-1979) (photo Cambridge Daily News, 7 April 1954) The occasion was a telephone match between the Cambridge City and Oxford City clubs, won by Cambridge 5-3.

The Mayor of Cambridge makes the first move for Bertram Goulding Brown (1881-1965), watched by club president Horace Bernard Coulson (1907-1979), in a telephone match on 6 April 1954 between the Cambridge City and Oxford City clubs, won by Cambridge 5-3. Photo Cambridge Daily News, 7 April 1954

The Guardian's 95-year-old chess columnist Leonard Barden today drew attention to Firouzja's opening error which he himself had refuted in a British Championship game in 1950.

XTX London Chess Classic winner Gawain Jones poised to make a move against table 17, including Supratit Banerjee and Bodhana Sivanandan

Position with White to play in the game between the grandmasters and table 17 at the XTX Markets London Chess Classic prizegiving dinner, 9 December 2024.

XTX Markets London Chess Classic winner Gawain Jones played the spectacular 1 Bxg7 in this position. How did Table 17, including Supratit Banerjee and Bodhana Sivanandan, reply?

World number one Magnus Carlsen was guest of honour at the XTX Markets London Chess Classic prizegiving dinner last night.

Arsenal FC's Emirates Stadium by night

Arsenal FC's Emirates Stadium by night

Two of the more unusual photos I've taken at a chess tournament: Arsenal FC's Emirates Stadium after dark #arsenalfc #londonchessclassic #xtxmarkets

No sleep now Root has scored no runs.

To Resign or Not to Resign... I was intrigued by this brevity I found in the Wolverhampton Express and Star for 11 October 1950... The print is a bit fuzzy so here's the...

Do you want to see three chess brevities perpetrated by the Resigning Rector of Beckbury? Of course you do... johnchess.blogspot.com/2024/11/to-r...

Perhaps you should write a book entitled 'How Good is Your Chess Bookshelf', Gary. My own chess bookshelf construction skills are very poor. I once narrowly escaped death when my flimsy chess bookshelf, top-heavy with CHESS magazines, fell on top of me. Chess literature can be lethal.

Champion Ding and challenger Gukesh prepare for world title battle China’s world champion Ding Liren, 32, will face his Indian rival Gukesh Dommaraju, 18, on Monday.

www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/n...

Introduction I’m Richard James. I'm writing about the intersection between chess and childhood.

richard915.substack.com/p/introduction

If you're interested in chess, or childhood, or would just like to know more about my life and views on junior chess, you'll want to subscribe to my Substack. It is, and always will be, totally free.

Using ChessBase: To Sort or Not to Sort, That is the Question This is the second in what could become a series of occasional technical posts about using ChessBase software. The first such post was a gui...

To sort or not to sort (your ChessBase database) - that is the question. And, if you do, how to do it. Read my Chessbase tutorial here... johnchess.blogspot.com/2024/11/usin...

Tawny Owl, Richmond Park

Kestrel, Richmond Park

Little Owl, Richmond Park

A cold but sunny morning in Richmond Park: snapped these three birds of prey: Tawny Owl, Kestrel and Little Owl.

Mike Healey (Kingston) v James McCarthy (Epsom) This was the board 4 game in the crucial Kingston 1 v Epsom 1 Surrey League division 1 match. Mike’s win helped Kingston to an emphatic 6.5-1.5 victory and was memorable in its own right, cha…

Mike Healey puts both rooks en prise and wins. Don't try this at home, children. kingstonchess.com/mike-healey-...

An entertaining game from the 1938 Surrey Chess Championship between FW Allen and Dr. M Benger (Black)... lichess1.org/game/export/...

Interview with Stuart Conquest, tournament director of the Hastings International Chess Congress YouTube video by PowerPlayChess

Loved this chat about the Hastings Chess Congress between GMs Daniel King and Stuart Conquest... www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0W-...

In my happy place: birdwatching in Richmond Park #Richmondpark

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