Simon Williams (chess player)

Simon Kim Williams (born 30 November 1979) is an English chess grandmaster and author, who frequently uses the pseudonym "Ginger GM" on social media and commercial material.

Simon Williams
Williams at the London Chess Classic 2016.
Full nameSimon Kim Williams
CountryEngland
Born (1979-11-30) 30 November 1979
Surrey, England
TitleGrandmaster (2008)
FIDE rating2464 (August 2020)
Peak rating2550 (November 2009)

Early career

In 1993, he received his first international FIDE rating of 2255, and won the British Junior Squad Under-12 Championships, and in 1995, finished 16th in the European Under-14 Championship. After finishing equal first with Karl Mah in the Smith and Williamson Young Masters, he received the International Master title in 1998, later in the year playing on the top board for England in U16 Chess Olympiad. In 1999, he finished 7th in European U18 Championship.

Grandmaster

He became a Grandmaster in 2008, achieving the final norm at the Hastings International Chess Congress 2005/2006 and the 2500+ rating at Hastings 2007/2008.[1] His peak rating so far is 2550, achieved in November 2009. In 2009, he organised the Big Slick International in Purley, London, which comprised an invitational GM tournament and FIDE Rated Open.

National performance

In 2003, he finished second at the British Chess Championship, and equal second in 2009.

International performance

In 2009, Williams finished equal first at the Southend Chess Congress all-play-all tournament.[2]

He was joint winner with Gawain Jones of the London Chess Classic 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 alongside Irina Krush, Elisabeth Pähtz in 2016 and Jovanka Houska in 2017 and 2018. He has covered a number of other tournaments for ChessBase and Chess.com. Williams also maintains a YouTube channel where he uploads blitz chess 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 the chess media publishing company GingerGM with International Master Simon Ansell. The company produces print books, ebooks and DVDs.

Works

Books
  • Williams, Simon (2003). Play The Classical Dutch. Gambit Publications. ISBN 978-1-901983-88-3.
  • Williams, Simon (2004). Improve Your Attacking Chess. Gambit Publications. ISBN 978-1-904600-09-1.
  • Williams, Simon (2008). How To Crush Your Chess Opponents. Gambit Publications. ISBN 978-1-904600-99-2.
  • Williams, Simon (2009). The New Sicilian Dragon. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-615-9.
  • Williams, Simon (2010). How To Win At Chess - Quickly!. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-631-9.
  • Palliser, Richard; Williams, Simon; Vigus, James (2010). Dangerous Weapons: The Dutch. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-624-1.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  • Williams, Simon (2011). Attacking Chess: The French: A Dynamic Repertoire for Black. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857446463.
  • Williams, Simon (2011). SOS – Secrets of Opening Surprises 13 – Chapter 3 – The Williams Anti-Grunfeld Variation. New in Chess. ISBN 978-90-5691-341-0.
  • Williams, Simon (2011). SOS – Secrets of Opening Surprises 14 – Chapter 4 – Kings Gambit: Tartakower Variation. New In Chess. ISBN 978-90-5691-366-3.
  • Williams, Simon (2013). Killer Dutch - The Book. GingerGM and EPlus Books. ISBN 978-1-927179-15-4.
  • Williams, Simon (2015). The Killer Dutch. Everyman Chess. ISBN 9781781942420.

DVDs

Checkmate Show

In 2017, Williams filmed a show named Checkmate. It followed a tournament with some notable competitors, Namely Richard Rapport, Ju Wenjun, Arkadij Naiditsch, and Nigel Short.

gollark: I don't use React, because it's bloated.
gollark: I could just publish them on YouTube and my website, to be more freerer and open sourcererer.
gollark: Interesting.
gollark: I could *sell* the output of my bad sound sequences generator™?
gollark: Then why did the STN™ train network get mostly shelved in favour of `/home` or flying?

References
  1. "Hastings 2007/08 – a Grandmaster is Born". ChessBase. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  2. http://southendchess.awardspace.biz/club/2008/JackSpeigelMem.html


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