Glenn Curtis Flear (born 12 February 1959 in
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
, England) is a British
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 ...
grandmaster now living in
Montpellier
Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...
, France. He is the author of several books, some on
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 ...
s and some on the
endgame.
He 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 1983 and
Grandmaster title in 1987.
Flear created one of the greatest-ever
chess tournament
A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London 1851 chess tournament, London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard ...
upsets when, as a last minute substitute, he won the very strong
London 1986 event (ahead of
Chandler,
Short,
Nunn,
Ribli,
Polugaevsky,
Portisch,
Spassky,
Vaganian,
Speelman, and
Larsen, amongst others). To round off the happy occasion, he married five-time
French Women's Champion Christine Leroy during the event. They have two sons, James and Nathan.
He also represented England at the
1986 Dubai Olympiad (earning a team silver medal) and at the
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 ...
at
Plovdiv
Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...
in 2003.
Selected writings
*''Improve Your Endgame Play'', 2000, Everyman Chess. .
*''Open Ruy Lopez'', 2000, Everyman Chess. .
*''Mastering the Endgame'', 2001, Everyman Chess. .
*''Test Your Endgame Thinking'', 2002, Everyman Chess. .
*''The ...a6 Slav: The Tricky and Dynamic Lines with...a6''. 2005, Everyman Chess. .
*''Starting Out: Pawn Endings'', 2004, Everyman Chess. .
*''Starting Out: Slav & Semi-Slav'', 2005, Everyman Chess. .
*''Practical Endgame Play – Beyond the Basics: the Definitive Guide to the Endgames that Really Matter'', 2007, Everyman Chess.
*''Starting Out: Open Games'', 2010, Everyman Chess. .
*''Tactimania: Find the Winning Combination'', 2011, Quality Chess. .
References
* (page 79)
OlimpBase – Information about Chess Olympiads and other team chess events
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flear, Glenn
1959 births
Living people
English chess players
Chess Grandmasters
Chess Olympiad competitors
English chess writers
English male non-fiction writers
Sportspeople from Leicester