Michael Adams (chess player)


Michael Adams, 2013
Association	England England
Born	November 17, 1971 Truro (Cornwall)
title	International Master (1987) Grand Master (1989)
Current Elo rating	2706 (August 2020)
Best Elo rating	2761 (September 2013)
Tab at the FIDE (English)

Michael Adams (born November 17, 1971 in Truro , Cornwall ) is an English chess grandmaster .

Life

At the age of 17 he won the British Championship in 1989 (the year he was awarded the Grandmaster title) . He was able to repeat this success in 1997 (tied with Matthew Sadler ), 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2019. In 1993, at the interzonal tournament in Biel, he qualified for the candidates' tournament of the world chess federation FIDE : he lost 3: 5 in the round of 16 in Wijk aan Zee in 1994 against Boris Gelfand . In 1993 he also qualified for the PCA qualification tournament in Groningen for their candidate fights. In the quarterfinals he defeated the Russian Sergey Tiviakov in New York City 1994 7.5: 6.5 (after rapid chess sticks, 4: 4 after tournament games) and was defeated in the semifinals by the Indian Viswanathan Anand in Linares 1994 with 1.5: 5, 5.

In 1995 he took first place in the strong tournament of Dos Hermanas together with Gata Kamsky and Anatoli Karpow . In 1997 he took part in the FIDE knockout world championships in Groningen. Only in the semi-finals did he lose to Anand in a "sudden death" blitz game . Anand then competed against Karpov, the reigning FIDE world champion.

In Dortmund 1998 Adams finished second, tied with the winner Wladimir Kramnik and Pjotr Swidler . In 1999 he was the sole winner in Dos Hermanas ahead of Kramnik, Anand, Karpow, Swidler, Topalow and Judit Polgár . In 2004 he reached the final at the FIDE knockout world championships in Tripoli , but was defeated by the Uzbek Rustam Kasimjanov .

In June 2005 he lost a competition against the computer program Hydra with a significant 0.5: 5.5. At the FIDE World Championships 2005 in San Luis he finished 7th among eight participants. In April 2008 he won the Ruy Lopez Masters in Mérida with 5.5 points from 7 games.

His tournament victory at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund in August 2013 - with a result of 7 out of 9 points and a rating performance of 2923 Elo in front of Wladimir Kramnik, Peter Leko and Arkadij Naiditsch - is considered the greatest success of his career to date.

Adams was British Chess Federation Player of the Year in 1990, 1993-1996 and 1998-2002.

He is currently the best English chess player. Adams reached his highest place in the world rankings several times with fourth place in the years 2000 to 2002.

Adams is married to actress Tara MacGowran .

Team chess

National team

Adams has participated in all the Chess Olympiads with the English team since 1990 , and has played on the top board without interruption since 1998. His best result was a third place in 1990 in Novi Sad , in the individual ranking he reached third place on the top board in Calvià in 2004 and second place in Tromsø in 2014 . Michael Adams has participated in ten European team championships since 1989 and won the competition in 1997 in Pula with the English team. In 2001 in León and 2011 in Porto Carras he achieved the best individual results on the top board. Adams was part of the English selection at the 1989 and 1997 World Team Championships.

Club chess

With Radosław Wojtaszek (front left) for OSG Baden-Baden in the 2018 Bundesliga finals in Berlin (sitting in the back: Gerald Hertneck )

In the British Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) Adams played for Slough from 1995 to 1998 , from 2000 to 2002 for The ADs , from 2002 to 2006 for Wood Green , from 2008 to 2011 for Pride and Prejudice , from 2011 to 2014 for Wood Green Hilsmark Kingfisher and for the 2018/19 season at Guildford . He won the 4NCL in 1996 , 2001 , 2002 , 2003 , 2005 , 2006 , 2011 , 2012 and 2019 . In the German Federal Chess League, Michael Adams played for SG 1868-Aljechin Solingen from 1994 to 2000 , and for the Lübeck Chess Club from 1873 from 2000 to 2003 (with which he was also registered for the 2003/04 season, but Lübecker SV pulled his team back before the start of the season), in the 2004/05 season for SG Porz (where he was also registered in the 2005/06 season, but did not play a game), since 2008 he has been playing for OSG Baden-Baden . Adams became German team champion in 1997 , 2001 , 2002 , 2003 , 2009 , 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2013 , 2014 , 2015 , 2017 , 2018 and 2019 . Michael won the Dutch Hoofd class or Meest class in 1996 , 1999 , 2000 and 2006 with De Variant Breda . In the top French league ( National I until 2003 , then Top 16 until 2010 , since then Top 12 ) Adams played at Cannes Echecs until 2002 , from 2002 to 2006 for Paris NAO , with whom he became French team champion in 2003 , 2004 , 2005 and 2006 , in the 2006/07 season at Club de Chess 15 and in the 2010/11 season at Évry Grand Roque . Adams won the Bosnian Premijer Liga in 2002 with ŠK Bosna Sarajevo . In the Spanish team championship in 2001 Adams played for the champions CA Tiendas UPI Mancha Real and from 2007 to 2009 for the team of CA Linex-Magic Mérida , with which he won the title in 2007 and 2009 .

At the European Club Cup Adams has participated 17 times since 1993 and won this in 1998 with De Variant Breda , 2002 with the ŠK Bosna Sarajevo , 2003 and 2004 with Paris NAO , 2007 CA Linex Magic Merida and 2014 with SOCAR Baku . He won individual gold medals on the fifth board in 2009 and on the fourth board in 2015.

literature

Bill and Michael Adams: Michael Adams, development of a grandmaster . Pergamon Chess, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-08-037802-1 .
Bill and Michael Adams: Chess in the fast lane . Cadogan, London 1996, ISBN 1-85744-132-X .