Simon Kim Williams (born 30 November 1979) is an English
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 ...
grandmaster and author who is best known under the pseudonym and Chess Server Nickname "GingerGM".
Early career
In 1993, he received his first international
FIDE 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 2255. During the same year he finished seventh in the
European Under-14 Championship. Williams regularly participated in youth tournaments throughout the 1990s, finishing seventh in the 1997 European Under-20 Championship and finishing second in the Smith and Williamson Young Masters in 1998.
Williams vs. Simons, Scarborough 1999
Williams competed in the 1999
British Chess Championship
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 ...
, held in
Scarborough and won by
Julian Hodgson
Julian Michael "Jules" Hodgson (born 25 July 1963 in London) is a British chess player, grandmaster, and former British chess champion.
Biography
He first came to the notice of the chess world for his achievements as a junior, whilst at Ha ...
. By the time of the tournament's later rounds, Williams had been eliminated from contention for the championship. He, therefore, chose to play the
Hammerschlag (1.f3 e5 2.Kf2) in a game against Martin Simons, a very unusual and "inferior" opening which needlessly exposes White's king to immediate attack. Williams won the game, and it has since been noted as successful use of a disadvantageous opening.
Following White's initial self-imposed
handicap, Black established a straightforward . White then the position over the next several moves. On the fourteenth move, White activated his ; however, the players traded all of their bishops on the sixteenth and seventeenth moves. On the thirtieth move, the players traded queens. In the final position, White was up two pawns, with multiple immediate
checking
Check or cheque, may refer to:
Places
* Check, Virginia
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Check'' (film), a 2021 Indian Telugu-language film
* ''The Checks'' (episode), a 1996 TV episode of ''Seinfeld''
Games and sports
* Check (chess), a thr ...
threats.
Grandmaster
He became a
Grandmaster in 2008, achieving the final
norm
Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envir ...
at the
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...
2005/2006 and the 2500+ rating at Hastings 2007/2008. His peak rating so far is 2550, achieved in November 2009. In 2009, he organised the Big Slick International in
Purley,
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 ...
, which comprised an invitational GM tournament and FIDE Rated Open.
National performance
In 2003, he finished seventh at the
British Chess Championship
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 ...
. Williams later improved his performance in the tournament, finishing equal second in 2009.
International performance
In 2009, Williams finished equal first at the Southend Chess Congress all-play-all tournament.
He was joint winner with
Gawain Jones
Gawain Christopher Bernard Jones (born 11 December 1987) is an English chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 2007. He won the British Chess Championship in 2012 and 2017. He competed in the FIDE World Cup in 2013, ...
of the
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 ...
FIDE Rated Open in December 2010, with a rating performance of 2690.
Blitz and rapidplay
In 2005, he won the British Blitz Championship.
Chess commentary
Williams works as a chess commentator at tournaments and through online streaming. Most notably, he has provided official commentary at the
Gibraltar Chess Festival
The Gibraltar International Chess Festival is a chess tournament held annually at the Caleta Hotel in Gibraltar. Its eleven days of competition usually run from late January to early February. The inaugural edition, then known as the ''Gibtelecom ...
alongside
Irina Krush
Irina Borisivna Krush ( uk, Ірина Борисівна Круш; born December 24, 1983) is an American chess Grandmaster. She is the first woman, and as of August 2022 the only woman, to earn the GM title while playing for the United States ...
,
Elisabeth Pähtz
Elisabeth Pähtz (born January 8, 1985, sometimes spelt Elisabeth Paehtz) is a German chess Grandmaster.[Jovanka Houska
Jovanka Houska (born 10 June 1980) is an English chess player with the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a nine-time British Women's Chess Champion.
Formative years
Born in south London, her family name stem ...](_blank)
in 2017 and 2018. He has covered a number of other tournaments for
ChessBase and
Chess.com
Chess.com is an internet chess server, news website and social networking website. The site has a freemium model in which some features are available for free, and others are available for accounts with subscriptions. Live online chess can be play ...
. Williams also maintains
YouTube channelwhere he uploads
blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blit ...
games with commentary as well as analysis of his previous games. He has also given commentary on the Chess.com Isle of Man tournament.
Chess publication company
In 2008, he founded a chess media publishing company called "GingerGM" with
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 ...
Simon Ansell. The company produces print books,
ebook
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...
s and DVDs.
Works
Books
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
DVDs
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Williams, Simon (2017). The London System with 2.Bf4 (DVD). Hamburg: Chessbase.
Checkmate Show
In 2017, Williams filmed a show named Checkmate. It followed a tournament with some notable competitors, Namely
Richard Rapport
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...
,
Ju Wenjun
Ju Wenjun (; born 31 January 1991) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the current Women's World Chess Champion. In March 2017 she became the fifth woman to achieve a rating of 2600. She is a three-time Women's World Chess Champion having wo ...
,
Arkadij Naiditsch
Arkadij Naiditsch ( az, Arkadi Naydiç; born 25 October 1985) is an Azerbaijani (since 2015) chess grandmaster who previously represented Latvia (until 2005) and Germany (2005–2015).
Career
In 1995 he won the European Under-10 cha ...
, and
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
* (1993-2003)
* (2003-)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Simon
1979 births
Living people
English chess players
Chess grandmasters
English sportswriters
British chess writers
Twitch (service) streamers