Simon Webb (10 June 1949 – 14 March 2005) was a British

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 ...

player and writer who held the chess titles of

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 Correspondence Chess Grandmaster. Born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, he was joint British under-18 champion in 1966, and fourth in the European Junior Championship in 1969. Webb was briefly a professional player in the late 1970s, participated in a number of strong tournaments, and met some strong players, including a 17-year-old

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 ...

at the 1980 European Team Championship (Webb lost). At one event, he was assigned a lady translator. Webb married her and took her to England. He was joint second in the 1975 British Championship behind

William Hartston William Roland Hartston (born 12 August 1947) is an English journalist who wrote the Beachcomber column in the ''Daily Express''. He is also a chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 and earned a highest Elo rating of 2485. He ...

. Perhaps his best tournament result was joint first with

Liuben Spassov Luben Spasov ( bg, Любен Спасов; born 23 March 1943) is Bulgarian chess Grandmaster (GM) (1976), World Senior Chess Championship winner (2005), Bulgarian Chess Championship medalist (1965, 1973), European Team Chess Championships ...

at Hamburg 1977, ahead of István Csom and

Milan Matulović Milan Matulović (10 June 1935 – 9 October 2013) was a chess grandmaster who was the second or third strongest Yugoslav player for much of the 1960s and 1970s behind Svetozar Gligorić and possibly Borislav Ivkov. He was primarily active befor ...

. He was famous for his ability to save or even win from hopelessly lost positions, which earned him the nickname "

Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

". He became an

in 1977. His final

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 ...

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 ...

was 2420. Webb took up

correspondence chess Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, traditionally through the postal system. Today it is usually played through a correspondence chess server, a public internet chess forum, or e-mail, email. Les ...

in the early 1980s, and all but gave up over-the-board play for a long time. He gained the International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster title in 1983 and scored a number of impressive results. In the 14th World Correspondence Chess Championship, won by

Tõnu Õim Tõnu Õim (born 16 June 1941) is an Estonian grandmaster of correspondence chess, most famous for being the first to have won the ICCF World Championship twice, in 1983 and 1999. In 1991 he won the Axelson Memorial.ICCF ICCF may stand for: * International Conference on Cold Fusion, also known as "International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science" * International Conservation Caucus Foundation * International Correspondence Chess Federation * Intern ...

Elo rating was 2609. Webb was perhaps best known for his humorous book on practical tournament play, ''Chess for Tigers'' (Oxford University Press, 1978, ). As well as his chess achievements, he also represented England at

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, partnered by his brother Roger. In the 1980s, Webb moved to Sweden. Since the late 1990s, he played in the Swedish team championship. On 14 March 2005, he was fatally stabbed in the family hallway by his 25-year-old son, Dennis. Dennis subsequently drove into a wall at some 130 km/hour but survived with a broken nose.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Simon 1949 births 2005 deaths Chess International Masters Correspondence chess grandmasters Chess players from London British non-fiction writers British chess writers British expatriate sportspeople in Sweden English murder victims British male writers 20th-century chess players Male non-fiction writers