Print media: columnists in UK newspapers and magazines

[John Townsend]

Is it possible to create here a list of UK newspapers and magazines that have a regular chess column, together with the columnist's name? I am referring to columns in printed national and regional/local publications, not to online-only columns, and not to the content of chess magazines.

We all know that Leonard Barden has columns in the Guardian and the Financial Times (plus the Guardian Weekly), but reliable information about some other publications may be surprisingly hard to pin down.

The English Chess Federation page https://www.englishchess.org.uk/chess-journalists is broader in scope and out of date. Stewart Reuben, who died in February 2025, is still listed there.

[MJMcCready]

GM Howell writes for The Times.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Hmm. Yes, very out-of-date and incomplete.

Why does that ECF page list some people without naming the publications they write for?

David Howell, Nigel Short and Jonathan Speelman are all listed without naming who they write for.

David Howell is currently chess columnist for The Times and The Sunday Times.

I am not entirely sure which newspapers Nigel Short has written columns for.

Jon Speelman does have a current column with Chessbase, but as that is online that may not count for the original request. I do seem to remember Speelman may have also done a print newspaper chess column at some point? Oh, apparently (from his Wikipedia article) he is chess correspondent for The Observer and The Independent.

Luke McShane is not on that list (I think he succeeded Raymond Keene as columnist for The Spectator).

Lists of past journalists (up to a point) would also be useful (i.e. keep Stewart Reuben - did he write for any particular publication or was he just down as a general journalism contact?). Other past journalists and columnists would include Stuart Milner-Barry, Harry Golombek and Raymond Keene (all The Times).

Also missing is William (Bill) Hartston, chess columnist for The Independent. It is not clear if he overlapped with, or was succeeded by Speelman there. Some of these names seem to have more than one column.

I would also include Bernard Cafferty as well, and I think editors of major chess magazines (e.g. the late Jimmy Adams [James Bernard Adams]) would seem appropriate (though when to draw the line between journalist, author and editor is not always obvious).

The ECF page should really be the central resource - does Chess Scotland have a similar page?

[John Townsend]

It would have been better kept simple. Christopher's informed but rambling post seems more likely to end in confused objectives.

The English Chess Federation page is broader in scope. It has already shown that it cannot maintain a resource of that kind.

The list should be confined to the living: again, a simple and clear objective.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Short was definitely chess columnist of the Sunday Telegraph for a while, that was where he made his (in)famous boast after Tony Miles passed.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I will try to be less rambling, John, though I see no reason to confine the listing to the living.

As people have found, when the dead get removed from databases (e.g. deceased people are removed from the FIDE ratings database when FIDE are informed of this) it can impede research (I have no idea if FIDE keep snapshots of their ratings database that could be accessed if needed).

The succession of people that have been columnists for various publications is of interest.

Does anyone know who the major chess columnists are in Scotland (for papers that are published there)?

[Paul McKeown]

The resource that you seek is: Chess Columns A List written by Ken Whyld. It went through various publishers and editions for several decades. The latest I know of is by Publishing House Moravian Chess, Olomouc, 2002, ISBN-80-7189-431-1. You are welcome to borrow it, if you like.

[John Townsend]

Reminder: The stated aim of this thread is "to create here a list of UK newspapers and magazines that HAVE a regular chess column".

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Paul's offer is very kind, and I will try and take him up on that when I have time.

Newspapers and periodicals that have a regular chess column at present? The following is my best attempt.

The Times - David Howell
The Sunday Times - David Howell
The Daily Telegraph - Malcolm Pein
The Guardian - Leonard Barden
The Financial Times - Leonard Barden
The Spectator - Luke McShane

I think those are all current. Have not covered the locals (only the nationals).

It seems that The Independent ceased its chess column (written by Jon Speelman) when it went online only. Similarly, it seems that Paul Motwani's two decades writing for The Scotsman came to an end in 2015.

I have been unable to ascertain if Speelman's columns for The Observer (essentially the Sunday edition of The Guardian) are still going. It appears if they are, they have been available online only up to 2008 and only available in the print editions thereafter.

[JustinHorton]

Possibly The Newcastle Chronicle - Tim Wall

[James Pratt]

Mickey Adams in The Telegraph?

Bill Hartston once said he was writing up to five a week. None now I exhume.

James

[Phil Welsh]

Paul's offer is very kind, and I will try and take him up on that when I have time.

Newspapers and periodicals that have a regular chess column at present? The following is my best attempt.

The Times - David Howell
The Sunday Times - David Howell
The Daily Telegraph - Malcolm Pein
The Guardian - Leonard Barden
The Financial Times - Leonard Barden
The Spectator - Luke McShane

I think those are all current. Have not covered the locals (only the nationals).

It seems that The Independent ceased its chess column (written by Jon Speelman) when it went online only. Similarly, it seems that Paul Motwani's two decades writing for The Scotsman came to an end in 2015.

I have been unable to ascertain if Speelman's columns for The Observer (essentially the Sunday edition of The Guardian) are still going. It appears if they are, they have been available online only up to 2008 and only available in the print editions thereafter.

John Speelman does have a current column in The Observer

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thank you, Phil.

About Mickey Adams in The Telegraph:

https://www.michaeladamschess.co.uk/telegraph/

Looks like his column was a weekly in the Saturday edition of The Telegraph. Not sure if it continued after 2013. Maybe someone could confirm either way.

From Malcolm Pein's Wikipedia article:

Malcolm Pein's journalistic career started with spells as the chess correspondent for the short-lived Today and The European newspapers. Pein started writing reports for The Daily Telegraph in 1987 before becoming their full-time correspondent in 1988. Pein has written a daily chess column every day for the past 33 years, over 11,000 columns in total.

That appears to refer to around 2020. Is this still the case?

I have been unable to confirm which newspapers Nigel Short wrote for, though inter alia there were several newspapers that Tony Miles wrote for (unsure how long for).

Sorry, John. The lure of the past is too strong... (let's not get started on which papers Raymond Keene wrote for).

[Richard Bates]

To be honest Chris, whilst we are all guilty of sending threads off in tangential directions, given that this thread was started for a specific (and i think reasonable) purpose, it seems to me that you should probably start your own thread if you are attracted by the “lure of the past”. And, furthermore, it doesn’t really help to speculate/guess about current correspondents! If a current column exists it shouldn’t really be too difficult to locate it before adding it!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Fair point. Most of the Telegraph stuff (and The Times) is stuck behind paywalls anyway. That might be the issue that John was referring to when he said "reliable information about some other publications may be surprisingly hard to pin down." I don't have much more to add to this thread anyway. Hopefully the information needed will get surfaced. (I cannot believe I actually said that - I meant "found".)