Robert Murray Jamieson (born 7 July 1952 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

) is an Australian

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 ...

Chess career

Jamieson won the

Australian Chess Championship The Australian Chess Championship is a tournament organised by the Australian Chess Federation and held every two years. The tournament is largely restricted to Australian chess players, although it is common to allow a small number of strong overs ...

in Cooma 1974 and Perth 1978 and was therefore recognized as Australia's top player of the late 1970s. In 1981 he won the Australian Open Chess Championship. He won the

Doeberl Cup The Doeberl Cup is an annual chess tournament held in Canberra, Australia. It has been held every year since 1963 (apart from 2020) and is the longest running weekend chess event in Australia. Since its inception the event has grown both larger and ...

two times in 1976 and 1978. He was awarded the IM title in 1975 after finishing 3rd in the 1975 Asian Zonal Chess Championship held in Melbourne. Jamieson represented Australia in five

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

s in Nice 1974, Haifa 1976, Buenos Aires 1978, Malta 1980 and Lucerne 1982. Jamieson's best performance was at the

25th Chess Olympiad The 25th Chess Olympiad (german: Die 25. Schacholympiade), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and a women's tournament, as well a ...

in Lucerne in 1982, where he scored 8.5/11 (77%), winning a bronze medal for equal 3rd best performance on second board, together with

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak Elo rating system, rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the hi ...

. This was the first GM norm by an Australian. In June 1975 Jamieson established the Australian simultaneous chess record at Ormond Chess Club, Melbourne, playing 145 opponents at the same time with opponents including two future Grandmasters. This record has not been broken since. In the January 1983

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

ratings list he achieved his peak rating of 2455, equal 192nd in the world. In the December 2012

list, he had an

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved c ...

of 2444. He has played no FIDE-rated games since June 2001. He served in various roles, including President, of the Australian Chess Federation (ACF) during the 1980s and 1990s, and was made a Life Member of the ACF in 1999. Jamieson now works as a coach at Chess Kids in Australia and occasionally writes for Australian Chess publications as well as delivers chess lectures at Melbourne Chess club.

Notable games

Robert Murray Jamieson vs Wolfgang Unzicker, Haifa 1976, Spanish Game: Exchange, (C69), 1–0Juan Manuel Bellon Lopez vs Robert Murray Jamieson, Hoogovens-B 1977, Four Knights Game, Belgrade Gambit (C47), 1/2-1/2

References

External links

*
Robert Murray Jamieson at 365Chess.comChessmetrics Player Profile: Robert Jamieson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamieson, Robert 1952 births Living people Australian chess players Chess International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors