John Leonard Watson (born 1951) is an American

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 ...

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 (chess), Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combinatio ...

and author. In 2022, Watson was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame along with GM

James Tarjan James Edward Tarjan (born February 22, 1952 in Pomona, California) is an American chess Grandmaster. Tarjan was 17 when he was selected to the American team for the 1969 World Students' Olympiad, at Dresden. He was a member of the winning America ...

and the late Daniel Willard Fiske. Watson is also a recipient of the US Chess Federation's Frank J. Marshall Award, and a 2015 inductee into the Colorado Chess Hall of Fame. Watson was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Omaha,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

, United States. He was educated at

Brownell-Talbot Brownell Talbot College Preparatory School is an independent, co-educational, college preparatory day school located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It serves students from preschool through grade 12. History In the mid-19th century, Omaha ...

, Harvard, and the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

, where he took his degree in engineering. He has won many chess tournaments including the first US National High School Chess Championship and the American Open. As an engineer at Hughes Aircraft, Watson co-developed an
patented
(with colleagues M.I. Parr and T. G. Vishwanath) the algorithm that permits mobile phones to function in valleys. Watson is a renowned chess theorist and author, having published more than thirty books on many aspects of chess. His 1999 book ''Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy'' won the British Chess Federation's ''Book of the year'' award as well as the

United States 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 ...

Book of the Year. The successor volume ''Chess Strategy in Action'' was the Chesscafe Book of the Year. These two books explore and theorize how radically chess has changed since the early 20th century, and how old and supposedly 'time-tested' rules for the conduct of play have been replaced by broader and revolutionary practice over-the-board. These books have been translated into several languages. In a lighter vein, Watson wrote the Chessman

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

series, illustrated by Chris Hendrickson and Svein Myreng. Chessman Comics are now out-of-print collectors' items. Watson has a regular book review columns at

The Week in Chess ''The Week in Chess'' (TWIC) is a chess news web site. It was founded in 1994 and is based in the United Kingdom. ''TWIC'' has been edited by Mark Crowther since its inception in 1994. It began as a weekly Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide d ...

, the publication of the London Chess Centre (available online), and in

Chess Life The monthly ''Chess Life'' and bi-monthly ''Chess Life Kids'' (formerly ''School Mates'' and ''Chess Life for Kids'') are the official magazines published by the United States Chess Federation (US Chess). ''Chess Life'' is advertised as the "mos ...

. His weekly Internet radio show 'Chess Talk with John Watson' was hosted by on Chess.FM, the radio arm of the

Internet Chess Club The Internet Chess Club (ICC) is a commercial Internet chess server devoted to the play and discussion of chess and chess variants. ICC had over 30,000 subscribing members in 2005.John Black, Martin Cochran, Martin Ryan Gardner"Lessons Learned ...

(ICC). Watson is much in demand as a chess

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

; his students have included

Tal Shaked Tal Shaked is an American chess grandmaster who is best known for winning the World Junior Championship in 1997. Shaked learned the game at the age of seven, and developed his chess skills in the scholastic chess organizations of Tucson, Ariz ...

, the 1997 World Junior Champion, Senior Master Patrick Hummel,

Abby Marshall Abby Marshall (born June 11, 1991) is a chess player from Columbus, Ohio, United States, who has resided in Virginia, United States since late 2005. She is a Woman FIDE Master and in 2009 won the Denker Tournament of High School Champions, the fi ...

, and other US scholastic champions. Watson is married to drama schola
Maura Giles-Watson
who teaches at the University of San Diego; they live in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Selected books

*''Play the French'', third edition, (

Cadogan Chess Everyman Chess, formerly known as Cadogan Chess, is a major publisher of books and CDs about chess. "Everyman" is a registered trademark of Random House and the company headquarters is in London. Former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov is the ...

Books) *''The Unconventional King's Indian'' *''The Gambit Guide to the Modern Benoni'' *''Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Advances since Nimzowitsch'',

Gambit Publications Gambit Publications is a major publisher of chess books. The company's headquarters is in London. It has published more than 200 chess books. The company was founded by three chess players. Grandmaster (GM) John Nunn is the chess director, G ...

, 1999, *''Chess Strategy in Action'', Gambit, 2003, *''English 1...P-K4'' *''Dangerous Weapons: The French'', Everyman Chess (2007): *''Mastering the Chess Openings'', Gambit Publications (in four volumes) **Volume 1 (1. e4): (2006) **Volume 2 (1. d4): (2007) **Volume 3 (1. c4): (2009) **Volume 4: (2010)

External links

*
Book Reviews by IM John WatsonPhotograph on Colorado Chess Informant

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, John L. 1951 births Living people Harvard University alumni University of California, San Diego alumni American chess players American non-fiction writers American chess writers American male non-fiction writers Chess International Masters Chess coaches