Editing Jon Speelman

{{Short description|English chess grandmaster (born 1956)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=January 2011}}
{{Infobox chess biography
| name        = Jon Speelman
| image       = JonSpeelman24.jpg
| birthname   = Jonathan Simon Speelman
| country     = England
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1956|10|02|df=y}}
| birth_place = Marylebone, London, England
| death_date  = 
| death_place = 
| title       = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (1980)
| peakrating  = 2645 (July 1988)
| peakranking = No. 5 (July 1988)
| FideID      = 400033
}}
'''Jonathan Simon Speelman''' (born 2 October 1956 in Marylebone, London)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://britishchessnews.com/event/birthday-of-jonathan-simon-speelman/2023-10-02/|title=Birthday of GM Jonathan Speelman}}</ref> is a British chess player and author. He was awarded the title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] in 1980.

==Early life and education==
Speelman was educated at [[St Paul's School, London]] and [[Worcester College, Oxford]], where he read mathematics.<ref>''The Spectator'', Volumes 258–259, Issue 8306, 1987, p.&nbsp;92: "Jon was educated at St Paul's School, London, and went on to Worcester College, Oxford, where he gained a second in mathematics."</ref>

==Career==
A winner of the [[British Chess Championship]] in 1978, 1985 and 1986, Speelman has been a regular member of the English team for the [[Chess Olympiad]], an international biennial [[chess tournament]] organised by [[FIDE]], the [[World Chess Federation]].

He qualified for two [[Candidates Tournament]]s:

*In the 1989&ndash;1990 cycle, Speelman qualified by placing third in the 1987 [[interzonal|interzonal tournament]] held in [[Subotica]], [[Yugoslavia]]. After beating [[Yasser Seirawan]] in his first round 4&ndash;1, and [[Nigel Short]] in the second round 3½&ndash;1½, he lost to [[Jan Timman]] at the semi-final stage 4½&ndash;3½.
*In the following 1990&ndash;93 championship cycle, he lost 5½&ndash;4½ in the first round to Short, the eventual challenger for [[Garry Kasparov]]'s crown.

In 1989, Speelman beat Kasparov in a televised speed tournament and then went on to win the event.

On 7 December 1990, Speelman was featured in an experimental interactive [[BBC Two|BBC2]] broadcast called ''Your Move'', which was hosted by [[Rob Curling]] and commentated by chess writer [[William Hartston]]. In the groundbreaking one-off episode, Speelman was pitted against the audience, who would use a special telephone line to submit their moves, with the move played by the viewers being decided by a democratic vote.<ref>{{Citation |title=1990: INTERACTIVE CHESS on Your TELEVISION! {{!}} Your Move {{!}} Retro Gaming {{!}} BBC Archive |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIOwwGIupp0 |access-date=2023-06-13 |language=en}}</ref> Speelman won the match. The broadcast went for approximately three hours, about double the time that it had been scheduled for.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Your Move - UKGameshows |url=http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Your_Move |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=www.ukgameshows.com}}</ref>

===Writing===
He has written a number of books on chess, including several on the [[Chess endgame|endgame]], among them ''Analysing the Endgame'' (1981), ''Endgame Preparation'' (1981) and ''Batsford Chess Endings'' (co-author, 1993).

Among his other books are ''Best Games 1970&ndash;1980'' (1982), an analysis of nearly fifty of the best games by top players from that decade, and ''Jon Speelman's Best Games'' (1997). Today he is primarily a chess journalist and commentator, being the chess correspondent for ''[[The Observer]]'' and ''[[The Independent]]'' and sometimes providing commentary for games on the [[Internet Chess Club]].{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

==Bibliography==
''(partial)''
*Speelman, Jonathan (1981).  ''Analysing the Endgame''.  Batsford (London, England). 142 pages. {{ISBN|978-0-7134-1909-2}}.
*Speelman, Jonathan (1981).  ''Endgame Preparation''.  B.T. Batsford (London, England). 177 pages. {{ISBN|978-0-7134-4000-3}}.
*Speelman, Jon (1982).  ''Best Chess Games, 1970-80''.  Allen & Unwin (London, England; Boston, Massachusetts).  328 pages. {{ISBN|978-0-04-794015-6}}.
*Speelman, Jonathan; [[Jon Tisdall|Tisdall, Jon]]; [[Robert Wade (chess player)|Wade, Bob]].  (1993).  ''Batsford Chess Endings''.  B.T. Batsford (London, England). 448 pages. {{ISBN|978-0-7134-4420-9}}.
*Speelman, Jon (1997).  ''Jon Speelman's Best Games''.  B.T. Batsford (London, England). 240 pages.  {{ISBN|978-0-7134-6477-1}}.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Chess}}
* [[List of Jewish chess players]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{FIDE|name=Jonathan S. Speelman}} (World Chess Federation)
* {{Chessgames player|27451|Jonathan Speelman}}

{{English GMs}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speelman, Jon}}
[[Category:1956 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English chess players]]
[[Category:Jewish chess players]]
[[Category:Chess Grandmasters]]
[[Category:Chess Olympiad competitors]]
[[Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford]]
[[Category:English chess writers]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:English Jews]]
[[Category:Mathematicians from London]]
[[Category:People from Cromer]]