George Steven Botterill (born 8 January 1949) is a Welsh

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 ...

player, writer and philosopher. Botterill was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

and learned chess at the age of seven. From 1969 to 1972 he played for

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, and became one of Britain's leading young players. In 1971 he won the Slater Young Masters tournament at

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, and at Hastings 1971/2 he was the top scorer among the British players with 6.0/15. Botterill won the 1974 British Championship at Clacton, winning the playoff at Llanelli, Wales by a half point over

William Hartston William Roland Hartston (born 12 August 1947) is an English journalist who has written the Beachcomber column in the ''Daily Express'' since 1998. He is also a chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 and earned a highest Elo ra ...

after a seven-way tie for first. In 1977 Botterill won his second British Championship, this time outright. Botterill won the

Welsh Championship The WRU National Championship (or Admiral Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the third tier of professional rugby union in Wales. The league was reformed by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in 2012. History In 2012, the new division was forme ...

in 1973 (jointly). In 1974 he became a lecturer in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, and began to play for the Welsh international team. In the Preliminary Group of the European Championship he scored 1½–½ against Dutch top board GM

Jan Timman Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...

and 1–1 against English top board Hartston. Botterill played first board for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at the 1976

Olympiad An olympiad (, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the Ancient Olympic Games, ancient and Olympic Games, modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Archaic Greece, Greece ...

and previously represented England at the World Student Team Championship and

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

of 1973. He holds the title of International Master. Botterill is best known as a chess writer, in particular for his

chess opening The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...

collaborations with

Raymond Keene Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...

: ''The Modern Defence'' (London 1973) and ''The Pirc Defence'' (London 1974). He is currently Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

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George Botterill
profile page at University of Sheffield {{DEFAULTSORT:Botterill, George Steven 1949 births Living people Welsh chess players English chess players British chess writers Chess International Masters Welsh philosophers Academics of Aberystwyth University Sportspeople from Bradford Game players from Yorkshire 20th-century British philosophers 20th-century Welsh writers 20th-century Welsh educators 21st-century British philosophers 21st-century Welsh non-fiction writers 21st-century Welsh writers 21st-century Welsh educators Academics of the University of Sheffield Chess Olympiad competitors

References

Further reading

External links