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World chess journalism champion by acclamation of his colleagues and readers.👏

A very happy birthday to Gawain Maroroa Jones - the winner of this year's XTX Markets London Chess Classic. We look forward to welcoming him back in 2025 to defend his title. Photo courtesy of John Saunders

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.

Thrilled for this delightful young man who is surely destined to be as great an ambassador for the game as Vishy Anand. Loved the fact that, despite being overcome with emotion, he still had the good manners to set the pieces up again.

The Mayor of Cambridge makes the 1st move for Bertram Goulding Brown (1881-1965), watched by club president Horace Bernard Coulson (1907-1979). Telephone match on 6 April 1954 between Cambridge City and Oxford City clubs. Photo Cambridge Daily News, 7 April 1954

We are underway! #chess #Hastings Caplin Systems English Chess Federation (ECF) Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club Chess & Bridge: London Chess Centre John Ashworth Lawrence Trent Matthew Sadler lichess.org burn those metal mother fookers to the ground Shreyas Royal Matthew Carr BritishChessNews Daniel King Jovanka Houska Niki Riga Chess in Schools and Communities

Enjoyed listening to Malcolm Pein being interviewed by Ben Johnson on Perpetual Chess podcast... open.spotify.com/episode/1xZ3ca…

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 Matthew Sadler. Games and details at BritBase: saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/1…

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. saund.org.uk/bri.../pgn/199…

Now that's what I call #FreestyleChess - how about it, Magnus Carlsen ?

One-minute silence at the KingstonChess vs Epsom Chess Club match tonight in tribute to one of the greatest figures of British and World chess, Stewart Reuben, who sadly passed away yesterday 📷John Saunders

"Which country did I represent in a world championship in 2004?" is the sort of question the late, great Stewart Reuben would have teased us with. BTW, the answer's India (well, sort of). I shall miss bantering with him so much but always remember him with a smile #legend

Stewart Reuben asked me to take his picture in 2002 which he then sent off to someone in the USA who made a life-size effigy of him. In 2005 I visited him to take more photos of the real and unreal Reuben. (The effigy in the red top represented no one in particular.)

Me (on the right) representing Wales vs John Hurley (Ireland) in the 1997 European Team Chess Championship (in Pula, Croatia). I drew the game but we lost every match to finish last! England's team won gold.

Well done, the Angles, who drew 2-2 with the Saxons to clinch the World Senior Over-1000 Team Chess Championship. I don't want to frighten you but I understand the Normans will be sending a team next year...

Boris Spassky with a young British chess fan, Hay-on-Wye, 2008. I confess I rooted for Fischer in 1972 but over the course of time Boris supplanted Bobby as my all-time chess hero. Proud to have shaken his hand. RIP, Boris.

Games, report and photos from the 143rd Varsity chess match on Saturday at the RAC Clubhouse, Pall Mall, London... saund.org.uk/britbase/pgn/2… ... plus guest of honour GM David Howell, coming to a TV screen near you this evening as chess returns to the BBC.

Cambridge won the 143rd Varsity chess match - the world's oldest regular chess fixture - on Saturday. Consolation for Oxford: their top board Tom O'Gorman scored his 5th straight win - a record for the match. Commentators GM Daniel Fernandez and Natasha Regan 📸 John Saunders

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.

Great to see that our April issue is out and available at Chess & Bridge: London Chess Centre! The 10th world champion is on the cover, with Malcolm Pein, Daniel King, First Move Chess and John Saunders all paying tribute to "The name is Boris, Boris Spassky". #chess