David Howell (chess player)
Encyclopedia
David Wei Liang Howell is an English chess
player. He is the youngest chess
Grandmaster in the United Kingdom, a title he earned when he came second during the 35th Rilton Cup in Stockholm
on 5 January 2007 when he was 16. The previous record holder, Luke McShane
, was six months older when he became a grandmaster.
Howell was born in Eastbourne
to Angeline (originally from Singapore
) and Martin Howell. He has a younger sister, Julia, and lives with his family in Seaford, East Sussex
. He has been playing chess since the age of five years and eight months, following his father's purchase of a second-hand chess set at a jumble sale.
Junior Chess Association, where he received tuition from a number of established county players. He progressed rapidly and became the British Under-8, Under-9 and Under-10 chess champion.
In August 1999, Howell became famous internationally when he broke the world record for the youngest player to have defeated a Grandmaster
in an official game. He defeated GM John Nunn
in a blitz
game at the Mind Sports Olympiad. Howell still holds this record. He is also the youngest player in the world to have qualified to compete in a national chess championship, taking part in the British Chess Championship
in August 2000. He came fourth in the Player of the Year ballot held by the British Chess Federation during 2000.
In 2001, Howell came joint first in the European Under-12 Chess Championship
and joint second in the World Under-12 Championship
. In the Hastings
Challengers tournament in January 2001, Howell became the youngest ever British player to defeat a grandmaster at classical time controls when he beat GM Colin McNab
.
In March 2002, Howell drew the last of four games with the Einstein Group World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik
, becoming the youngest player in the world to score against a reigning world chess champion in an organised chess match. The resulting publicity led to articles in all the main British national newspapers and appearances on CBBC
, Channel 4 News
, and Richard & Judy
.
The extensive coverage he received as the UK's most gifted young chess player also spread to appearances on Breakfast TV, Blue Peter
, Nickelodeon
, Good Morning America
, and several local news programmes. At a televised awards show for Britain's most talented youngsters, he was presented an award by Patrick Moore
.
Progress was perhaps more measured during his early to mid teens, but Howell continued to meet all the milestone challenges, first gaining the International Master title, and culminating in becoming a grandmaster at the age of sixteen, the youngest ever in the UK. Along the way, he performed well at the Hastings
knockout-style tournament (2004-5 edition), where he was eliminated at the quarter-final (round 5) stage by the strong Polish GM Bartosz Soćko
.
Despite his sustained efforts at the chequered board, he continued to study for his French
, German
(fluent in both) and Maths
A-levels, at Eastbourne College
.
His chess coaching with grandmaster Glenn Flear
was sponsored by JEB (Hove) Ltd, the software developer responsible for the BITEM event management website. There were also training sessions with Nigel Short
who has worked with other successful juniors such as Pendyala Harikrishna
, Sergey Karjakin
and Parimarjan Negi
.
He obtained the three necessary GM norms between 2004 and 2007; these comprised the 4NCL
team tournament (season 2004/5), the CCA-ICC International at New York
2005 and Stockholm
's Rilton Cup 2006/7. His results included wins against GMs Tomi Nyback
, Slavko Cicak, Vladimir Epishin
, Daniel Fridman
and Nick de Firmian
.
Since becoming a grandmaster in 2007, Howell has participated in a variety of competitions; he took a share of fourth place in the British Chess Championship
that year and went on to scoop the English Chess Federation
's Player of the Year Award.
A significant rise in his Elo rating followed his achievements of 2008, beginning with victory at the Andorra
Open, where he scored an 8/9, ahead of experienced grandmasters Julio Granda Zuniga and Mihail Marin
. He followed this with a share of third place at the World Junior Chess Championship
in Gaziantep
, where he was always challenging for the lead. At the very strong EU Individual Open Chess Championship
in Liverpool
he finished with a share of fifth place despite a surprising loss on time and then went on to win the annual Winterthur
Masters event, ahead of other grandmasters that included former Paraguayan Champion Axel Bachmann and former Swiss champions Joseph Gallagher
and Florian Jenni
. At the Dresden
Olympiad
of 2008, he joined the England team on board 3 and contributed 7½/11 for a tournament performance rating (TPR) of 2675. Howell was the British Rapidplay Chess Champion
in 2008 with a score of 10/11 points, and in 2009 with 9/11. In 2009/10 he tied for first with Andrei Istrăţescu
, Romain Edouard and Mark Hebden
in the Hastings International Chess Congress
. He placed third in the London Chess Classic
in December 2009. He won the British Rapidplay Chess Championship again in 2010 with a score of 10½/11.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player. He is the youngest chess
Chess prodigy
Chess prodigies are children who play chess so well that they are able to beat Masters and even Grandmasters, often at a very young age. Chess is one of the few sports where children can compete with adults on equal ground; it is thus one of the few skills in which true child prodigies exist...
Grandmaster in the United Kingdom, a title he earned when he came second during the 35th Rilton Cup in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
on 5 January 2007 when he was 16. The previous record holder, Luke McShane
Luke McShane
Luke James McShane is an English chess player. A former World Youth Champion and prodigious talent in chess, he has become one of England's leading players and a member of the Olympiad team. He has also been a trader in London's financial sector.- Early career :McShane won the World Under-10...
, was six months older when he became a grandmaster.
Howell was born in Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
to Angeline (originally from Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
) and Martin Howell. He has a younger sister, Julia, and lives with his family in Seaford, East Sussex
Seaford, East Sussex
Seaford is a coastal town in the county of East Sussex, on the south coast of England. Lying east of Newhaven and Brighton and west of Eastbourne, it is the largest town in Lewes district, with a population of about 23,000....
. He has been playing chess since the age of five years and eight months, following his father's purchase of a second-hand chess set at a jumble sale.
Career
Howell quickly learned to defeat his father and soon came to the attention of the SussexSussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
Junior Chess Association, where he received tuition from a number of established county players. He progressed rapidly and became the British Under-8, Under-9 and Under-10 chess champion.
In August 1999, Howell became famous internationally when he broke the world record for the youngest player to have defeated a Grandmaster
International Grandmaster
The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....
in an official game. He defeated GM John Nunn
John Nunn
John Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....
in a blitz
Blitz chess
Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.-Overview:The different...
game at the Mind Sports Olympiad. Howell still holds this record. He is also the youngest player in the world to have qualified to compete in a national chess championship, taking part in the British Chess Championship
British Chess Championship
The British Chess Championship is organised by the English Chess Federation. There are separate championships for men and women. Since 1923 there have been sections for juniors, and since 1982 there has been an over-sixty championship. The championship venue usually changes every year and has been...
in August 2000. He came fourth in the Player of the Year ballot held by the British Chess Federation during 2000.
In 2001, Howell came joint first in the European Under-12 Chess Championship
European Youth Chess Championship
Since 1991, the European chess union organises the European Youth Chess Championship in the groups under 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 year. Until 2002, there was also a tournament for the under 20, see European Junior Chess Championship.-Boys winners:...
and joint second in the World Under-12 Championship
World Youth Chess Championship
The World Youth Chess Championship is a chess competition for girls and boys under the age of 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.The first predecessor of the youth championship was the Cadet Championship. It started off unofficially in 1974 in France for players under 18. The 1975 and 1976 editions were also...
. In the Hastings
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress 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 tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
Challengers tournament in January 2001, Howell became the youngest ever British player to defeat a grandmaster at classical time controls when he beat GM Colin McNab
Colin McNab
Colin A. McNab was Scotland's second chess Grandmaster, fulfilling the requirements for the title in 1992 just after Paul Motwani. After achieving his three norms, he strained to get his rating up to the required 2500 level, and is possibly unique among Grandmasters in only achieving a published...
.
In March 2002, Howell drew the last of four games with the Einstein Group World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, becoming the youngest player in the world to score against a reigning world chess champion in an organised chess match. The resulting publicity led to articles in all the main British national newspapers and appearances on CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
, Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
, and Richard & Judy
Richard & Judy
Richard & Judy was a British magazine/chat show which was presented by married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. It originally aired on Channel 4 from 2001 to 2008 but later moved to digital channel Watch in October 2008. It featured the world's most famous stars, along with their Book Club...
.
The extensive coverage he received as the UK's most gifted young chess player also spread to appearances on Breakfast TV, Blue Peter
Blue Peter
Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
, Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, and several local news programmes. At a televised awards show for Britain's most talented youngsters, he was presented an award by Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
.
Progress was perhaps more measured during his early to mid teens, but Howell continued to meet all the milestone challenges, first gaining the International Master title, and culminating in becoming a grandmaster at the age of sixteen, the youngest ever in the UK. Along the way, he performed well at the Hastings
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress 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 tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
knockout-style tournament (2004-5 edition), where he was eliminated at the quarter-final (round 5) stage by the strong Polish GM Bartosz Soćko
Bartosz Socko
Bartosz Soćko is a Polish chess Grandmaster. In 2008 Soćko became Polish champion. He played for Poland at six Chess Olympiads and at six European Team Chess Championships...
.
Despite his sustained efforts at the chequered board, he continued to study for his French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(fluent in both) and Maths
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
A-levels, at Eastbourne College
Eastbourne College
Eastbourne College is a British co-educational independent school for day and boarding pupils aged 13–18, situated on the south coast of England, included in the Tatler list of top public schools. The College's current headmaster is Simon Davies. The College was founded by the Duke of Devonshire...
.
His chess coaching with grandmaster Glenn Flear
Glenn Flear
Glenn Curtis Flear is a British chess grandmaster now living in Montpellier, France. He is the author of several books, some on chess openings and some on the endgame....
was sponsored by JEB (Hove) Ltd, the software developer responsible for the BITEM event management website. There were also training sessions with Nigel Short
Nigel Short
Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...
who has worked with other successful juniors such as Pendyala Harikrishna
Pendyala Harikrishna
Pentala Harikrishna is a chess player from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India. Harikrishna became the youngest grandmaster from India in 2001. He is No. 3 in India after Viswanathan Anand & Krishnan Sasikiran, No. 9 in Asia & ranked 71st in the world as per FIDE rating as on November 2011.In November...
, Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Karjakin
Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for both the youngest International Master, eleven years and eleven months, and grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months...
and Parimarjan Negi
Parimarjan Negi
Parimarjan Negi is a chess Grandmaster from India. In July 2005, he earned his third and final International Master norm at the Sort International open chess tournament in Sort, Spain...
.
He obtained the three necessary GM norms between 2004 and 2007; these comprised the 4NCL
4NCL
4NCL is an acronym, standing for Four Nations Chess League; the four nations being England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The league is however truly international, with players from as many as 27 different countries taking part....
team tournament (season 2004/5), the CCA-ICC International at New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
2005 and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
's Rilton Cup 2006/7. His results included wins against GMs Tomi Nyback
Tomi Nyback
Tomi Nyback is a Finnish chess Grandmaster and poker player.-Chess career:He won the Finnish Championship in 2008. In 2009 he tied for 9th-11th with Mikhail Kobalia and Boris Grachev in the European Individual Chess Championship...
, Slavko Cicak, Vladimir Epishin
Vladimir Epishin
Vladimir Epishin is a Russian chess grandmaster with an Elo-rating of 2610.He finished third in the 58th USSR Chess Championship...
, Daniel Fridman
Daniel Fridman
Daniel Fridman is a German chess master who originates from Latvia. He was Latvian champion in 1996 and German champion in 2008.-Early chess career:...
and Nick de Firmian
Nick de Firmian
Nicholas Ernest de Firmian , is a chess grandmaster and three-time U.S. chess champion, winning in 1987 , 1995, and 1998. He also tied for first in 2002, but Larry Christiansen won the playoff...
.
Since becoming a grandmaster in 2007, Howell has participated in a variety of competitions; he took a share of fourth place in the British Chess Championship
British Chess Championship
The British Chess Championship is organised by the English Chess Federation. There are separate championships for men and women. Since 1923 there have been sections for juniors, and since 1982 there has been an over-sixty championship. The championship venue usually changes every year and has been...
that year and went on to scoop the English Chess Federation
English Chess Federation
The English Chess Federation is the governing chess organisation in England and is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 and was effectively a re-constitution of the extant governing body, the British Chess Federation , an organisation founded in 1904...
's Player of the Year Award.
A significant rise in his Elo rating followed his achievements of 2008, beginning with victory at the Andorra
Andorra
Andorra , officially the Principality of Andorra , also called the Principality of the Valleys of Andorra, , is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe having an area of...
Open, where he scored an 8/9, ahead of experienced grandmasters Julio Granda Zuniga and Mihail Marin
Mihail Marin
Mihail Marin is a Romanian chess Grandmaster. As of July 2011, his FIDE rating is 2548. Marin's first major success in international chess was in qualifying for the Interzonal in 1987. He has won three Romanian Championships and has played in the Chess Olympiads ten times, winning a bronze...
. He followed this with a share of third place at the World Junior Chess Championship
World Junior Chess Championship
The World Junior Chess Championship is an under-20 chess tournament organized by the World Chess Federation ....
in Gaziantep
Gaziantep
Gaziantep , Ottoman Turkish: Ayintab) previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria...
, where he was always challenging for the lead. At the very strong EU Individual Open Chess Championship
EU Individual Open Chess Championship
The EU Individual Open Championship was first contested in Cork, Ireland in 2005, under the auspices of organising body, the European Chess Union . The event is open to members of chess federations within the European Union...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
he finished with a share of fifth place despite a surprising loss on time and then went on to win the annual Winterthur
Winterthur
Winterthur is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. It has the country's sixth largest population with an estimate of more than 100,000 people. In the local dialect and by its inhabitants, it is usually abbreviated to Winti...
Masters event, ahead of other grandmasters that included former Paraguayan Champion Axel Bachmann and former Swiss champions Joseph Gallagher
Joseph Gallagher
Joseph Gerald Gallagher is a British Chess Grandmaster and former British Champion, as well as a chess author.Born to Irish parents Norah and Patrick, Gallagher was the eldest child . His sister Marie also played chess to an international standard at age 11...
and Florian Jenni
Florian Jenni
Florian Jenni is a Swiss chess player and International Grandmaster of chess.When he was five years old, he was taught to play chess by his mother and later on by his father. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 2003...
. At the Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
Olympiad
Chess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
of 2008, he joined the England team on board 3 and contributed 7½/11 for a tournament performance rating (TPR) of 2675. Howell was the British Rapidplay Chess Champion
British Rapidplay Chess Championships
The British Rapidplay Chess Championships is a rapid play chess congress held in the UK annually since 1986 under the auspices of the English Chess Federation...
in 2008 with a score of 10/11 points, and in 2009 with 9/11. In 2009/10 he tied for first with Andrei Istrăţescu
Andrei Istratescu
Andrei Istrăţescu is a chess grandmaster .For the national Romanian team he took part in six Chess Olympiads with a record of 17 wins, 33 draws and 11 losses. He also took part in three European Team Chess Championships with a record of 3 wins, 14 draws and 2 losses...
, Romain Edouard and Mark Hebden
Mark Hebden
Mark Hebden is an English chess player who holds the title Grandmaster.Hebden was British Rapidplay Chess Champion in 1990, 1994, 2001, 2005 and 2009....
in the Hastings International Chess Congress
Hastings International Chess Congress
The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess congress 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 tournament. In 2004/05 the tournament was played in the...
. He placed third in the London Chess Classic
London Chess Classic
The London Chess Classic is a festival of the game of chess 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...
in December 2009. He won the British Rapidplay Chess Championship again in 2010 with a score of 10½/11.