Biography of Jon Speelman

Jonathan Speelman (born October 2, 1956) is an English chess player.

Winner of the British Chess Championship in 1978, 1985 and 1986, Speelman is a regular member of the English Chess Olympiad team. His third place in the 1987 Subotica Interzonal tournament qualified him for the World Chess Championship candidates matches (which determine who will challenge the reigning champion). After beating Yasser Seirawan in his first match 4-1, and overcoming Nigel Short in the next 3.5-1.5, he lost to Jan Timman at the semi-final stage 4.5-3.5. In the following championship cycle he lost to Short, the eventual challenger for Garry Kasparov’s crown, 5.5-4.5.

Speelman is noted for his imaginative style, often choosing unobvious ways to carry on his games. He has written a number of books on chess, including several on the endgame, among them Analysing the Endgame (Batsford, 1981), Endgame Preparation (Batsford, 1981) and Batsford Chess Endings (Batsford, 1993, co-author with Jon Tisdall and Robert Wade). Among his other books is the critically acclaimed Jon Speelman’s Best Games (Batsford, 1997).

Once in the top five in the world, in the April 2005 FIDE list Speelman had an Elo rating of 2545, making him England’s seventh highest rated active player.

He is also known as “Spess”, short for “specimen”, one of the many misspellings of his name in the press over the years.