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Home » Chess Players » Michael Adams – English Chess Grandmaster

Michael Adams – English Chess Grandmaster

Editorial Staff by Editorial Staff
in Chess Grandmasters, Chess Players

Michael Adams is a Chess Grandmaster from England with Elo ratings exceeding 2600 from FIDE, making him one of the best English chess players of all time.

Full Name: Michael Adams

Title: Grandmaster (1989)

International Master (1987)

Place of birth: Truro, Cornwall England

Born: November 17, 1971

Federation: England

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Ratings

World ranking: 41

Rapid: 2651

Blitz: 2742

Classical: 2697

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chessgames.com

Biography

Michael Adams is Britain’s chess Grandmaster, Britain which forms part of the United Kingdom and England’s celebrated player. Adams was born on November 17, 1971 in Truro, Cornwall England, and was awarded the title of Grandmaster in 1989 and the title of International Master in 1987. As of August 2022, Adams’s FIDE rating was 2697 while his Peak rating was 2761 as of September 2013. Between October 2000 to October 2002, Adams came 4th globally in Peak rankings. Adams is an alumnus of Truro School and resides with his spouse, Tara MacGowran in Somerset, South of England.

The Beginning

The chess career of Michael Adams began on a top level when he received acknowledgment from the British Chess Federation at the young age of 11 years. He was coached at the highest level by previous European Junior Title holder Shaun Taulbut, as well as by regional chess victor Michael Prettejohn. He won the Cornwall County U9 Tournament in 1981 when he was 9 years old. He also won the U13, U15, and U18 Tournaments at the very same competition. The last two competitions overlapped for one day, requiring him to compete them both at the same time, moving gingerly from one room to the other which were 30 meters separate.

In 1987, Adams finished second to Stefansson-Icelandic sportsman in the International U16 Tournament in Innsbruck. Afterward that year, Adams became the globe’s youngest International Master at the age of 15. Adams’ initial attempts began to pay off in 1987 when he earned his last International Master norm and triumphed in the biggest junior award at the British Tournament. Adams went on to triumph at the complete Tournament award in 1989, at the age of just 17. In 1997, Adams conquered once more with Matthew Sadler.

After taking a long sabbatical from the tournament, Adams resurfaced to conquer more crowns in 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018, and 2019. His formative chess experience is discussed in two publications co-authored with his father, Bill Adams, Development of a Grandmaster, published in 1991, and Chess in the Fast Lane published in 1996. His formative chess experience is discussed in two publications co-authored with his father, Bill Adams, Development of a Grandmaster, published in 1991, and Chess in the Fast Lane published in 1996.

In 1993, Adams split 1st place with Viswanathan Anand at the Groningen Interzonal game to choose contenders for the 1995 PCA World Chess Tournament. This earned him a spot in the Candidates Championship, in which he defeated Sergei Tiviakov in the quarters but succumbed to Anand in the playoffs. In addition, Adams conquered the British Rapidplay Tournament thrice- 1995, 1996, and 1999. Adams furthermore advanced to the Candidates Championship for the 1996 FIDE World Chess Tournament 1996 but was eliminated in the initial set of plays by Boris Gelfand. Adams has performed well in World Chess Tournament contests. Adams was a Tournament Candidate thrice, reaching the playoffs in 1997, 1999, and 2000. Adams got the finale of the 2004 FIDE Tournament, being defeated by Rustam Kasimdzhanov in tie-break matches. Adams also was victorious at the British Chess Championship seven times.

Additionally, in 1997, Adams competed in the 1997/1998 FIDE Tournament, which was a big elimination contest for the inaugural time, with the conqueror facing title holder Anatoly Karpov. The latter championship featured the majority of the global greatest contestants with the only noteworthy absences being Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, and Gata Kamsky, and he achieved victory in relatively brief tournaments above Tamaz Giorgadze, Sergei Tiviakov, Peter Svidler, Loek van Wely, and Nigel Short before actually facing Anand in the ultimate meeting. Their four competitions at regular time constraints were all level, were also their four Rapidplay encounters at faster time limitations, until Anand won the dramatic match, removing Adams from the event.

Adams reached the semifinals of the 1999 FIDE Tournament before falling to Vladimir Akopian. Adams made through to the playoffs of the 2000 FIDE World tournament once again before losing to eventual champion Anand. Adams claimed victory in the foremost 3 sets of the 2002 FIDE Tournament until he was eliminated in the ‘ 16th succession by Peter Svidler. He got very close to capturing a global tournament when he got to the ultimate of the 2004 FIDE Tournament, overcoming Hussein Asabri, Karen Asrian, Hichem Hamdouchi, Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Akopian, and Teimour Radjabov.

Nonetheless, Adams was ousted in the final by Rustam Kasimdzhanov in Rapidplay deciding set, after the match was deadlocked 3-3 after six conventional gameplays. Adams competed in a contest featuring the United Kingdom and China in Liverpool, England in 2007. Nigel Short, a veteran Tournament contender, partnered with Adams. It was the prime moment the two Grandmasters had partnered in competing in chess on British territory in over 15 years. Altogether, Adams earned 3.5 points out of 6 games, with one setback in the fourth round versus Grandmaster Zhang Pengxiang with an Elo rating of 2649 at the period of the tournament. The United Kingdom squad was defeated 20-28 by China, who had previously trounced a Russian chess squad.

Adams came in 3rd in the 2012 London Chess Challenge, jointly with Hikaru Nakamura and above global title holder Viswanathan Anand and the world’s second highest ranked master Levon Aronian. Adams placed 4th at the Alekhine Memorial event, which took between April 20-May 1 2013. In addition, Adams won the 20th edition of the Bunratty Masters tournament in( March )2013. Adams achieved arguably the greatest achievement of his professional life at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting from July to August 2013, with a rating score of 2925. Adams won the contest with 5 victories and 4 ties, beating off a lineup of Nine other elite players with ratings averaging more than 2705, namely Fabiano Caruana-2796 and Vladimir Kramnik- 2796.

Notable Achievements

Some of his other remarkable outcomes included:

1st spot at Terrassa-1991, combined 1st place at Dos Hermanas- 1995 with Kamsky and Karpov, combined 1st spot at the 1998 Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting with Kramnik and Svidler, and straightforward 1st position at Dos Hermanas- 1999, abreast of Kramnik, Anand, Svidler, Karpov, Veselin Topalov, Judit Polgár, and several others.

Silver medalist on first board at the Tromso Olympiad and topped at the London Chess Classic Blitz Championship together with Nakamura and Kramnik in 2014.

Won the 2016 British Chess Tournament achieving a score of 10 points in 11 games, level with the historic score achieved by Julian Hodgson in 1992.

Split the first position at the Philadelphia World Open and victory at the British Tournament in Sheffield.

Did you enjoy reading about Michael Adams? If you did, you might be interesting in reading other player profiles such as Hikaru Nakamura, Andrew Tang, and Rey Enigma.

Sources

  1. http://ratings.fide.com/top_files.phtml?id=400041
  2. https://web.archive.org/web/20180626111649/https://www.englishchess.org.uk/british-champions-1904-present/
  3. http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4000
  4. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4045
  5. http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4104
  6. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4566
  7. http://ratings.fide.com/tournament_report.phtml?event16=15499
  8. http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009694/aronian-and-gelfand-win-alekhine-memorial-2013-020513.aspx
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20140327214623/http://www.chessvibes.com/adams-draws-quickly-with-kramnik-wins-41st-dortmund
  10. http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7725
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