Jonathan Hawkins (born 1 May 1983) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

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. He was the

British Chess Champion The British Chess Championships are organised by the English Chess Federation. The main tournament incorporates the British Championship, the English Chess Championships and the British Women's Chess Championship so it is possible, although it has ...

in 2015, having outscored David Howell, with whom he shared the title in 2014.

Chess career

Hawkins's chess career is unusual for the modern era in that he showed only modest ability as a child; his improvement from club player to

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 ...

took place after he left full-time education, and while living in

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, far from traditional centres of chess activity. About this sudden rise through the rankings, in his 2012 endgame book ''Amateur to IM'', he notes that "a careful study of the endgame sparked the biggest leap forward in my own game". As well as his double British championship titles, tournament wins by Hawkins include the

British Rapidplay Chess Championships The British Rapidplay Chess Championships is a rapidplay chess tournament held since 1986 under the auspices of the English Chess Federation. The tournament typically takes place over a single weekend and consists of 11 rounds of chess. The 4NCL t ...

in 2012 and 2014, making him the British champion at both standard and

rapid Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

time limits. In 2013 he tied for first place in the 18th

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Open with Stanislav Novikov, Batuhan Dastan,

Hagen Poetsch Hagen () is a city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme meet the Ruhr. In 2023, the population was 197,677. The cit ...

Alexey Kim Alexey Eduardovich Kim (born April 5, 1986) is a Soviet-born South Korean chess player. He is the only South Korean to hold the FIDE title of Grandmaster. Biography A third-generation ethnic Korean, Kim was born on April 5, 1986, in Tashkent, U ...

Ralf Åkesson Ralf Åkesson (born 8 February 1961) is a Swedish chess player. He was awarded by FIDE the titles of International Master (IM) in 1981 and Grandmaster (GM) in 1995, and by ICCF the title of Senior International Correspondence Master (SIM) in 2 ...

and Kacper Drozdowski. Hawkins was part of the English contingent at the rapidplay tournament of the 2014

London Chess Classic The London Chess Classic is a chess festival held at the Olympia Conference Centre, West Kensington, London. The flagship event is a strong invitational tournament between some of the world's top grandmasters. A number of subsidiary events cove ...

. His game against former

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Vladimir Kramnik Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik (; born 25 June 1975) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. He was the World Chess Champion#Split title (1993–2006), Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the 14th undisputed World Ch ...

at that event was notable for its simultaneous attacks against both castled kings, and for the "exquisite

Zugzwang Zugzwang (; ) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move; a player is said to be "in zugzwang" when any legal move will worsen their position. A ...

" to which Hawkins succumbed. Hawkins attained the

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

titles of

FIDE 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 ...

(FM) in 2008, International Master (IM) in 2010 and Grandmaster (GM) in 2014. His ascent from IM to GM was delayed two years by a lack of results against non-English players. This meant he became one of the highest-rated IMs in the world, outranking the majority of English GMs, and was the first winner of the British Championship since Michael Hennigan in 1993 who had not earned the GM title by the end of the tournament. Hawkins is now a full-time chess player and coach, based in London.

Publications

* From Amateur to IM (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Jonathan 1983 births Living people English chess players Chess Grandmasters English chess writers Sportspeople from Consett