Vernon Albert Small (born 18 July 1954,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a New Zealand journalist and

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

(IM). He represented New Zealand in eight

Chess Olympiads The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

from

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. Previously a journalist for

Fairfax Media Fairfax Media was a media (communication), media company in Australia and New Zealand, with investments in newspaper, magazines, radio and digital properties. The company was founded by John Fairfax as John Fairfax and Sons, who purchased ''The ...

, Small worked as a press secretary to

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

minister David Parker from 2017 to 2023.

Biography

Small moved to New Zealand at the age of 9 in 1964 from England. Small was educated at

Shirley Boys' High School Shirley Boys' High School (), also known as SBHS, is a single sex state (public) secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was originally situated on a 6 hectare site in the suburb of Shirley, but in April 2019 moved, along with Av ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand. He was awarded a PhD in English Literature from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

(New Zealand) in 1985. His doctoral thesis was titled ''The authorial persona: A truth conditional account''. Small worked as a business and political journalist for ''The New Zealand Herald'' and ''The Dominion Post'' as deputy political editor and, also at the ''Post'', national affairs editor. For more than two decades he was based in the press gallery at Parliament and was made a life member. During the period of the Sixth Labour Government, from 2017 to 2023, he worked as a senior

press secretary A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage. Dutie ...

to Cabinet minister David Parker. He lives in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand.

Chess career

He represented New Zealand in eight

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...

s from 1976 to 1992, playing on board 1 in 1982, 1984 and 1988.Vernon Small
Chess Olympiad Statistics
www.olimpbase.org
/ref> His best result was his Olympiad debut at the

22nd Chess Olympiad The 22nd Chess Olympiad (, ''Olimpiada ha-shachmat ha-22''), organized by Fédération Internationale des Échecs, FIDE, took place between October 26 and November 10, 1976, in Haifa, Israel. For the first time, the event comprised both an openAl ...

, Haifa 1976, when he scored 7/9, and finished equal third with Grandmaster Larry Evans for the bronze medal on board 3. Small won or jointly won the

New Zealand Chess Championship The New Zealand Chess Championship is an annual open tournament played to determine the country's chess champion. It is organised by the New Zealand Chess Federation. The first installment of the championship was held in Christchurch in 1879, and ...

on four occasions; 1979/80 (shared with

Ortvin Sarapu Ortvin Sarapu (born Ortvin Sarapuu; 22 January 1924 – 13 April 1999), known in New Zealand as "Mr Chess", was an Estonian-born chess player who emigrated to New Zealand and won or shared the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times from 1 ...

and Ewen Green), 1980/81 (shared with

and Roger Nokes), 1981/82, and 1984/85. He has defeated a number of strong players, including

Jonathan Mestel Andrew Jonathan Mestel (born 13 March 1957 in Cambridge, England) is a British mathematician and chess grandmaster. He holds the position of Professor of Applied Mathematics at Imperial College London. He worked on magnetohydrodynamics and biol ...

Eugenio Torre Eugenio Oliveros Torre (born November 4, 1951) is a Filipino Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. In 1974, at 22 years old, he became the first Filipino and non-Soviet Asian to qualify for the title Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster. Torre di ...

and

Oscar Panno Oscar Roberto Panno (born 17 March 1935) is an Argentine chess Grandmaster. Biography Panno was born in Buenos Aires. He won the 2nd World Junior Chess Championship in 1953, ahead of such future strong Grandmasters as Borislav Ivkov, Bent Lar ...

.Mestel-Small Haifa Olympiad 1976Small-Torre, Wellington 1978Small-Panno, Thessaloniki Olympiad 1988
chessgames.com

Notable games

Vernon Small vs Oscar Panno, Olympiad 1988, French Defense: Tarrasch Variation, (C03), 1-0

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Vernon Chess International Masters New Zealand chess players Chess Olympiad competitors 1954 births Living people New Zealand journalists People educated at Shirley Boys' High School English emigrants to New Zealand