Gawain Jones

Gawain Jones
Gawain Jones at London Chess Classic, 2010
Full name	Gawain Christopher B. Jones[1]
Country	England
Born	(1987-12-11) 11 December 1987 Keighley, West Yorkshire, England
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2667 (December 2016)
Peak rating	2671 (January 2015)

Gawain Christopher B. Jones (born 11 December 1987) is an English chess Grandmaster and chess author. He won the British Chess Championship in 2012.^[2]

Career

Jones began playing chess at the age of four, competing in his first tournaments at six. In early 1997 he hit the headlines and was featured on the front page of The Guardian newspaper when he became the youngest player in the world ever to beat an International Master in an official tournament game.^[3] He has represented England in the World Junior and World Youth Championships on many occasions and since 2008 has been one of England's highest rated players.^[4]

An active player on the tournament circuit, he secured his grandmaster title with successful results at the 2nd EU Individual Open Championship in Liverpool in 2006, 2006 European Club Cup in Fügen and 4NCL 2006/7 season.^[5] Elsewhere in Europe, he took first place at Porto San Giorgio and La Laguna (both 2007). During his stay in Australasia, there were many more tournament successes, including a first place at the Sydney International 2008 and creditable second places at the Doeberl Cup 2008 and Queenstown Classic 2009.

Jones shared first place with Simon Williams at the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2010. In 2011, he won the Bunratty Masters in 2011, ahead of Nigel Short, whom he defeated in their individual encounter, and the Commonwealth Chess Championship in Ekurhuleni.^[6] Jones won the 2012/13 Hastings International Chess Congress. In December 2014, he won the Challenge Match against Romain Édouard by 4–2; it was a six-game match held cuncurrently with the London Chess Classic.^[7] In 2016, Jones won the New Zealand Open in January,^[8] and the Dubai Open in April edging out on tiebreak Vladimir Akopian.^[9]

He played for England in four Chess Olympiads (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014), four European Team Chess Championships (2007, 2011, 2013 and 2015) and the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad in 2002.^[10]

Books

• Jones, Gawain (2008). Starting Out: Sicilian Grand Prix Attack. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857445473. 
• Palliser, Richard; Emms, John; Ward, Chris; Jones, Gawain (2008). Dangerous Weapons: the Benoni and Benko - Dazzle Your Opponents!. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857445718. 
• Jones, Gawain (2011). How to Beat the Sicilian Defence - An Anti-Sicilian Repertoire for White. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857446630. 
• Jones, Gawain (2015). The Dragon. Volume One. Quality Chess. ISBN 978-1784830076. 
• Jones, Gawain (2015). The Dragon. Volume Two. Quality Chess. ISBN 978-1784830090. 

Personal life

Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire,^[11] Jones has lived in Italy, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. In 2010, he returned to the United Kingdom to live in London in order to focus on his chess career and related projects.

Jones is married to WIM Sue Maroroa.

References

External links

• Gawain Jones' website
• Gawain C Jones chess games at 365Chess.com
• Gawain Jones player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Gawain Jones player profile at Chess.com