Colin Stamford Crouch (14 October 1956 – 16 April 2015) was a British chess player and author.
Crouch was educated at
Haberdashers' Aske's and read Geography at
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 250 graduate students. The c ...
.
He later finished a PhD at
Durham University
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...
in 1989, the subject of which was the roots of unemployment in mining communities.
A highly talented junior player, he won the British Under-16 Championship in 1972 and the Under-18 Championship in 1974.
He received his first international rating of 2300 in 1977, and following years of play in national and international tournaments, was awarded the
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 ...
title in 1991.
Close to
Grandmaster strength, his 'finest hour' as a chess player was his score of 7/9 in the Hastings Challengers of 1991-92, which included a 'highly original win' over
Valeriy Neverov
Valeriy Neverov (; ; born 21 June 1964 in Kharkiv) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster (1991) and four-time Ukrainian Chess Champion (1983, 1985, 1988 and 1996).
Chess career
In 1991 Neverov won the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, and was a winner ...
.
He achieved a peak rating of 2448.
Despite suffering a stroke that damaged his sight in December 2004, he continued to compete against blind, near-sighted, and sighted players.
He won silver medals in
both the 2008 and 2012 editions of the
Chess Olympiad for the Blind.
Bibliography
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crouch, Colin
1956 births
2015 deaths
British chess players
Chess International Masters
British chess writers
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Alumni of Durham University
People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School
People from Bushey