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Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:35 am
by Paul McKeown
An updated list.

Sources:
a) Livre d'Or de la Fédération Internationale d'Echecs, FIDE, 1976
b) FIDE Golden Book 1924 - 2002, Wlly Iclicki, FIDE 2002
[Note:- perhaps not 100% reliable]
c) Chess A Biobibliography, Jeremy Gaige, McFarland & Co., 1987
d) ICCF website http://www.iccf.com/downloads/titles/2006_GM.pdf
[Note:- for correspondence GM titles up to 2006]
e) PCCC website http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/titles.htm
[Note:- for composition and solving titles]
f) FIDE website
[Note:- doesn't give info about inactive players]
g) English Chess Federation THE OFFICIAL CHESS YEARBOOK 2006
h) BCM 1999, 2000, 2002, BCM 2003
i) Chessbase website, article titled David Howell becomes a grandmaster at 16, http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3591, viewed 23 Jan. 2009
j) Nick Pert's website, http://www.nickpert.com/, viewed 26 Jan. 2009
k) two postings to this thread by Jack Rudd
l) posting to this thread by Leonard Barden
m) communciation from Andrew Burnett
n) post to this thread by James Coleman
o) post to this thread by Mick Norris


1950 Mieses, Jacques *27.2.1865 Leipzig +23.2.1954 London
1972 Mansfield, Comins (GBR) (PCCC composition) *14.6.1896 Witheridge +28.03.1984 Paignton
1972 Bonham, Reginald Walter (Corr. for Blind) *31-01-1906 +16-03-1984
1975 Richardson, Keith Bevan (ICCF)
1976 Miles, Anthony John *23.04.1955 Edgbaston +12.11.2001; then later, Keene, Raymond D
1976 Hollis, Adrian Swayne (ICCF)
1977 Stean, Michael F
1978 Nunn, John DM
1980 Speelman, Jonathan S
1980 Clarke, Peter Hugh (ICCF)
1982 Mestel, A Jonathan
1982 Miles, Dr. Jana (IWGM) (née Malypetrova, then Hartston, later Miles, now Bellin) (given as CSR by FGB 1924-2002, when did she change nationality?)
1983 Chandler, Murray G (given as NZD, when did he change nationality?)
1983 Penrose, Jonathan (ICCF); Webb, Simon (ICCF) *10.06.1949 London +14.3.2005
1984 Short, Nigel D
1984 Markland, Peter Richard (ICCF)
1985 Plaskett, H James
1985 Golombek Harry (HGM) *01.03.1911 London +1995
1986 Bryson, Douglas Marshall (ICCF)
1987 Flear, Glenn C
1987 Arakhamia, Ketevan (WIGM) (then USSR, later Georgia, now Scotland, as Arakhamia-Grant)
1988 Hodgson, Julian
1988 Lalic, Bogdan (then Yugoslavia, later England, now Croatia)
1988 Arkell, Susan K (née Walker, now Lalic)
1989 King, Daniel J; Adams, Michael; Norwood, David
1989 Povah, Nigel Edward
1990 Gallagher, Joseph (then England, now Switzerland, I think); Watson, William N; Levitt, Jonathan
1991 Conquest, Stuart
1992 Hebden, Mark; McNab, Colin A (Scotland); Motwani , Paul (Scotland)
1993 Davies, Nigel D; Sadler, Matthew; Penrose, Jonathan
1993 MacLeod, Norman Alisdair (GBR) (PCCC composition) *06.12.1927 Glasgow +?
1994 Wells, Peter K
1995 Arkell, Keith; Emms, John; Howell, James;
1995 Muir, Andrew J (Scotland) (ICCF)
1996 McDonald, Neil; Ward, Christopher G; Baburin, Alexander (Ireland)
1996 Prizant, Michael (ICCF); Johnson, Maurice W (ICCF); Kilgour, David A (ICCF) (Scotland)
1997 Kumaran, Dharshan; Summerscale, Aaron P
1997 Hunt, Harriet V (IWGM); Ciuksyte, Dagne (then Lithuania, now England)
1997 Millican, Peter JR (ICCF)
1997 Mestel, A Jonathan (PCCC solving)
1999 Rowson, Jonathan (Scotland) (first appears as GM on IRL for Jan 2000, but earned GM norm by winning Scot. Ch. Jul. 1999)
2000 McShane, Luke; Parker, Jonathan
2000 Houska, Jovanka (WIGM)
2001 Brookes, John G (ICCF)
2002 Hall, Richard VM (ICCF); Brooks, Dr Ian S (ICCF)
2002 Lee, Graham (PCCC solving)
2003 Turner, Matthew J (seems to have snuck in as IGM on the Jan 2003 IRL without fanfare);
Pert, Nicholas (possibly 2004)
2004 Coleman, Peter (ICCF)
2004 Jones, Mary E (ICCF LGM)
2004 Nunn, John DM (PCCC solving)
2005 Gormally, Daniel W
2005 Barber, Jill (ICCF LGM)
2006 Shaw, John (Scotland)
2006 Pugh, John (ICCF)
2007 Howell, David WL; Jones, Gawain CB; Haslinger, Stewart; Aagard, Jacob (Scotland)
2008 Williams, Simon K

Need to find dates for the following (according to FIDE website):
ENG WGM: Jackson, Sheila
ENG: Kosten, Anthony - registered as France, when did he receive his IGM title and was he registered as English at the time?

Still not sure that the list is complete or entirely accurate. Know that some more of the players given have passed away; will supply biographical data later.

Would be nice to give biographies of these players, particularly of those no longer with us.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:47 am
by Paul McKeown
James,

Thanks!
That Rowson was omitted convinces me further that the Iclicki book is unreliable, he also got Nick Pert's GM title wrong, as we have already seen. So this list needs some rigorous fact checking.

Btw. which person have I loaned The Seven Deadly Sins to? Will I ever have it back? I wanted to check the blurb for the year when Rowson was awarded the GM title, but I don't have it any more. I have the vague memory of someone asking me about it and then, on hearing that it was interesting, they borrowed it. Only I can't remember for certain who. I have my suspicions, but ... !

Mick,

You bring up a very important point. When is the GM title official? When the norms have been earned (assuming it is by this route), when the rating requirement is satisfied, when the Qualifications Commission says yeah, when the name is read out at the General Assembly or when the certificate is printed and posted? I've never really thought about it, not generally being regarded as a likely candidate ( :wink: !), so I'm not sure.

Does anyone have some ideas?

Regards,
Paul McKeown.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:49 am
by IM Jack Rudd
Thanks to everyone for their help compiling this list. It's much appreciated.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:51 pm
by Andy Burnett
The blurb on the back of 'Seven Deadly Chess Sins' reads, 'Jonathan Rowson became Scotland's third grandmaster in late 1999, within months of graduating from Oxford University.'

The title definitely doesn't kick in when the certificate is printed and posted, as John Shaw was presented with his at November's Glasgow Congress, some two-and-a-half years after gaining his title. (Unless the postal service was REALLY slow!)

My best guess is that the title offically kicks-in when the names are read out at the FIDE General Assembly!? All I have really found at the FIDE website is this:-
5.3b All title applications together with full details must be posted on the FIDE website for a minimum of 60 days prior to finalisation. This is in order for any objections to be lodged.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:36 pm
by Peter Turner
I'd like to add another possibility to the 'title official when' debate. I believe it also depends on when/if the candidate or their federation pays the title fee to FIDE but I could be wrong!!

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:55 pm
by E Michael White
Two title lists are probably needed - a) players who gained a title while a citizen of a country and b) players who held a title and citizenship of a country at the same time. It would be difficult to ascertain citizenship in all cases but no doubt corrections would emerge. There would be complicated cases where FIDE registration, residency, citizenship and country of birth were all different, Imre Koenig being a difficult one.

Fairhurst would then be a Scottish IM under a) and a NewZealand IM under b); Mieses an English GM under b); Kottnauer a Czech IM under a) and an English IM under b).

Regarding Mieses's GM title - from the depths of memory I believe I read in the FT around 1973/4, when Alexander was the columnist, that Mieses became a grandmaster, while his citizenship was being processed but before being granted British citizenship, which made him the first British grandmaster under b). This could explain the 1949/1950 mystery and also keep the Tony Miles fans happy as he would have been the first Britain/Englishman to have become a grandmaster under a).

Kottnauer also became an IM before becoming British.

Fairhurst - born in Cheshire/England, played for Manchester CC in the 1920s etc moved to Scotland became an IM while there, then moved to New Zealand representing New Zealand in an Olympiad and died in New Zealand. Does that make him an English, Scottish or New Zealand IM ?

I've lost interest now so cant look at any others.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:59 pm
by raycollett
1985 Golombek Harry (HGM) *01.03.1911 London +1995
Paul

Many thanks for collating this info. According to the on-line copy of the obituary published by The Independent and written by Bill Hartston, Golombek died 7 Jan 1995. See http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... ntent;col1.

Ray

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 1:04 pm
by Christopher Kreuzer
Paul McKeown wrote:An updated list.
<snip>
Paul McKeown wrote: Need to find dates for the following (according to FIDE website):
ENG WGM: Jackson, Sheila
ENG: Kosten, Anthony - registered as France, when did he receive his IGM title and was he registered as English at the time?

Still not sure that the list is complete or entirely accurate. Know that some more of the players given have passed away; will supply biographical data later.

Would be nice to give biographies of these players, particularly of those no longer with us.
Was working on merging this list by Paul McKeown and Roger de Coverly's list, and noting here a few inconsistencies to help them in updating the lists.

1) Roger's list: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 9&start=46
2) Paul's list: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 2&start=40

Roger's list didn't include Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (SCO), who was already a WGM, and was awarded the full GM title in 2009. Paul's list had omitted Stephen Gordon (ENG), who was awarded the GM title in 2009. Also, I think Nigel E. Povah should be removed from Paul's list as the FIDE website only credits him with the IM title (though he might be a correspondence GM or something, I wouldn't know).

Wikipedia says that Kosten's title was awarded in 1990, but don't know where that information comes from. Don't know about Sheila Jackson. Also, it seems that the FIDE site may not be reliable, as it gives Nick Pert's GM title year as 2001, but Nick Pert's biography on his website says 2003 (maybe awarded 2004?). But I can't find details on the FIDE website for when the title was awarded, probably because they think it was in 2001 and the congress awarding details only date from 2003.

EDIT: Massive apologies to Paul, as I've just realised his list was posted in January 2009, so he would have had to be prophetic to include Stephen Gordon in his list! :oops:

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:35 pm
by Roger de Coverly
Christopher Kreuzer wrote:as it gives Nick Pert's GM title year as 2001, but Nick Pert's biography on his website says 2003
Don't forget that you also need a rating in excess of 2500 as well as the norms, so it's quite possible to achieve the norms some years in advance of getting the title.

According to http://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=403989, Nick's published rating first exceeded 2500 in 2004. You also qualify if you exceed 2500 on a game by game basis even if you drop back by the time the next list is published.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:37 pm
by John Upham
Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Also, I think Nigel E. Povah should be removed from Paul's list as the FIDE website only credits him with the IM title (though he might be a correspondence GM or something, I wouldn't know).
IM Nigel E Povah was awarded the title of ICCF GM but do not know when.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 3:05 pm
by Christopher Kreuzer
Roger de Coverly wrote:
Christopher Kreuzer wrote:as it gives Nick Pert's GM title year as 2001, but Nick Pert's biography on his website says 2003
Don't forget that you also need a rating in excess of 2500 as well as the norms, so it's quite possible to achieve the norms some years in advance of getting the title.

According to http://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=403989, Nick's published rating first exceeded 2500 in 2004. You also qualify if you exceed 2500 on a game by game basis even if you drop back by the time the next list is published.
That might explain the phrasing "GM Title Achieved with 2670 performace in Essent Tournament, Holland".

By the way, I grabbed some data off the FIDE website for all ENG, SCO, WAL, and IRL players currently on the FIDE rating list, but I'm uncertain where players from Northern Ireland fit into that. Does anyone know?

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 3:21 pm
by IM Jack Rudd
Players from Northern Ireland are IRL.

You might also want to check JCI and GCI, although I don't think either has any players titled above FM.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:13 pm
by Christopher Kreuzer
IM Jack Rudd wrote:Players from Northern Ireland are IRL.

You might also want to check JCI and GCI, although I don't think either has any players titled above FM.
Oh. Thanks. I hope there aren't any other tiny little federations hanging around the British Isles like that.

There are 12 FIDE-rated players from Guernsey (1 FM, 3 CMs, all male).
There are 15 FIDE-rated players from Jersey (1 FM, 2 CMs, all male).

Most of the Jersey rated players are inactive. Have they both sent teams to the Olympiad?

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:50 pm
by Alex Holowczak
Christopher Kreuzer wrote:
IM Jack Rudd wrote:Players from Northern Ireland are IRL.

You might also want to check JCI and GCI, although I don't think either has any players titled above FM.
Oh. Thanks. I hope there aren't any other tiny little federations hanging around the British Isles like that.

There are 12 FIDE-rated players from Guernsey (1 FM, 3 CMs, all male).
There are 15 FIDE-rated players from Jersey (1 FM, 2 CMs, all male).

Most of the Jersey rated players are inactive. Have they both sent teams to the Olympiad?
I found an entry for Jersey on Chessdom: CM Peter Kirby, Peter Rowe, John Cummins, CM Toby Brookfield, Jon Bridel

Couldn't find one for Guernsey.

Re: British Grandmasters

Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:50 pm
by Christopher Kreuzer
Paul McKeown wrote:Still not sure that the list is complete or entirely accurate.
In terms of current (as of September 2010) listings, I attempted to do a complete cross-check with the list I came up with, and in terms of current OTB grandmaster titles (male and female) there are only two entries missing as far as I can tell:

1) Stephen Gordon (GM title in 2009)
2) Anya Corke (WGM title in 2004)

But as you said, some of the older or non-OTB titles may be missing from the list.