William Cornwall (born July 4, 1943) is an American chess coach, educator, and journalist best known for his long-running weekly chess column, ''"Chess: A Knight's Tour".''

Chess Background

Cornwall was born in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

and began playing chess at the age of eight. In 1972, Cornwall earned the title of

National Master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

. In his years as a rated

U.S. Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating s ...

(USCF) Expert, Cornwall won the World Open Expert Championship (1982), National Open Expert Championship (1983) and U.S. Expert Championship (1989). He is a two-time U.S. Open Expert Champion (1989 and 1990). He also was the winner of the Philadelphia Open Championship (1969) and the Washington D.C. Championship (1969). While serving in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

, he tied for first in the U.S. Army Chess Championship in 1970 and was awarded the Brilliancy Prize for his play in the U.S. Armed Forces Chess Championship that year. In 1988, Cornwall became the official Florida State Chess Champion.

Teaching and Advocacy

Cornwall served in the U.S. Army as an

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Instructor from 1969 to 1972. After completing his service, he began teaching chess for income. In 1988, he established Cornwall Chess Services (CCS), a chess education business based in South Florida where he lived. CCS provided regular classroom chess training for over a dozen independent schools. Many of Cornwall's students have achieved national recognition for their high rankings and achievements in the game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

. They have placed first in the U.S. Elementary Championship, the National Grade Championships, and numerous Florida State Championships at the Elementary, Junior High, and High School divisions. A.J. Steigman, one of his personally-trained students and U.S. Junior Open Championship winner, became a Master at 13 and was rated number one for his age in the U.S. eight years in a row. Under Cornwall's instruction, the

University School of Nova Southeastern University The NSU University School, commonly known as University School or simply U-School, is a fully accredited, independent, college preparatory school in Davie, Florida, that serves grades pre-K through grade 12. The school is located on the Nova South ...

won the National Elementary Chess Team Championship and placed first in the Florida Elementary Team Championship 8 consecutive times. As a certified USCF Senior Chess Tournament Director, Cornwall has been an active tournament organizer and director for both regional and national competitions. He served as the Assistant Director of the Closed U.S. Championship in 1994 and Closed U.S. Women's Chess Championship in 1991. Cornwall has been a major contributor to the development of chess in the state of Florida, having organized and served as tournament director for most of South Florida's regular chess tournaments and championships from 1989 to 1997. As a Florida delegate to the

, he served on the USCF's Chess in Education Committee, the Rules Committee, and as U.S. Regional Vice President for the Southeastern U.S. Region. In 1991, the USCF awarded Cornwall a special citation for his efforts in attracting more people to the game of chess. In 2014, Cornwall began working as a Senior Instructor with

Sunil Weeramantry Sunil Weeramantry (born September 11, 1951) is a Sri Lankan-born American chess player, trainer and chess author known for being the trainer of his stepson Hikaru Nakamura. Career Weeramantry became a chess master at the age of 15. He represent ...

of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation (NSCF) to train-teachers to teach-chess. Since inception, the pair have trained hundreds of South Florida teachers in workshops.

Journalist

Cornwall has been a national award-winning chess columnist for over 24 years. His involvement with writing began as a teenager when he served as the editor and contributor to his high school's literary magazine. In 1984, he became the editor of ''Checkmate!'', the official Florida State Chess Association publication that he created. His ''"Chess: A Knight's Tour"'' column has been published (bi-weekly & weekly) for over 24 years by the Tribune Publishing Company; first in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (1993-2016) and then the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

(2010–Present). The column is the 4-time winner of the Chess Journalists of America's ''"Best Newspaper Chess Column"'' award and a 13-time recipient of the ''"Best Newspaper Chess Column of Local Interest"'' award.

References

External links

William Cornwall
player profile and games at Chessgames.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwall, Bill American chess writers Chess coaches American chess players 1943 births NSU University School alumni Living people