| Gawain Jones | |
|---|---|
at Liverpool, 2008 |
|
| Full name | Gawain Christopher B. Jones[1] |
| Country | England |
| Born | 11 December 1987 Keighley, West Yorkshire, England |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2653 (January 2012) |
| Peak rating | 2653 (January 2012) |
Gawain Christopher B. Jones (born 11 December 1987) is an English chess Grandmaster.
Jones was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire[2] and began playing chess at the age of four, competing in his first tournaments at six. In early 1997 he hit the headlines and was featured on the front page of The Guardian newspaper when he became the youngest player in the world ever to beat an International Master in an official tournament game.[3] He has represented England in the World Junior and World Youth Championships on many occasions and since 2008 has been one of England's highest rated players.[4] He has lived in Italy, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, but in 2010, returned to the United Kingdom to live in London, where he will be focusing on his chess career and related projects.
An active player on the tournament circuit, he secured his grandmaster title with successful results at the 2nd EU Individual Open Championship Liverpool 2006, European Club Cup Fügen 2006 and 4NCL 2006/7 season. Elsewhere in Europe, he took first place at Porto San Giorgio and La Laguna (both 2007). During his stay in Australasia, there were many more tournament successes, including a first place at the Sydney International 2008 and creditable second places at the Doeberl Cup 2008 and Queenstown Classic 2009.
Since returning to the UK, he shared first place with Simon Williams at the London Chess Classic FIDE Open 2010, ahead of Boris Avrukh and Abhijeet Gupta. He won the Bunratty Masters in 2011, ahead of Nigel Short, who he defeated in their individual encounter. In the same year he came first in the Commonwealth Chess Championship in Ekurhuleni[5] and second in the open section of the 15th Corsican Circuit.[6]
Playing for England at the Chess Olympiads of 2008 (Dresden) and 2010 (Khanty-Mansiysk) he contributed scores of 50% and 75%, respectively.
His first book, Starting Out: The Grand Prix Attack (ISBN 978-1857445473), was published by Everyman Chess in March 2008. He then co-authored The Benoni and Benko (Dangerous Weapons Series, Everyman, September 2008) along with John Emms, Chris Ward and Richard Palliser. The Benko Gambit is an opening he plays as Black on a regular basis. (Also see Benoni Defense and Grand Prix Attack).