Michael Basman is in many ways the most important person in British chess. As a player, he is an International Master, who tied for the British Championship in 1973, losing out in the tie-break. Since then he has turned his hand to organising a mass annual schools championship, attended by 70,000 entrants every year. Sponsored by Delancey, this is the prime breeding ground in British chess for future champions who have gone on to win the British championship, or compete in last month’s London Grand Prix at Simpson’s in the Strand, or will compete in the London Classic at Olympia this December.
Not everyone can become a champion, so Basman is also creating an invaluable social legacy by introducing large numbers of schoolchildren to an activity which will entertain them while exercising their brains.
At his best, Basman was a devastating tactician, as this week’s extracts demonstrate.
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