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Home » Chess Players » Simon Williams (Ginger GM) – English Chess Grandmaster

Simon Williams (Ginger GM) – English Chess Grandmaster

Editorial Staff by Editorial Staff
in Chess Grandmasters, Chess Players
Simon Williams Chess Player Profile

Flickr user Wolfgang Jekel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to the Chess player profile of Simon Williams, an English Chess Grandmaster who has been in the chess industry from the 90s to today. He’s also known as Ginger GM, the title of his YouTube Channel.

Full name: Simon Kim Williams
Title: Chess Grandmaster – Achieved in 2008
Born: November 30th, 1979
Place of birth: Surrey, England

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Ratings

World ranking: 261
Rapid: 2497
Blitz: 2468
Classical: 2464

Profiles

  • FIDE
  • Chessgames.com

Simon William started playing chess in the 90s; he got the Grandmaster title in 2008. His FIDE rating is 2464 with a peak rating of 2550. His rapid ranking is at 2497, Blitz at 2468, and a world ranking of 261. He couldn’t be given the title GM without earning the three norms where he got the final one in 2005/2006. He surpassed the 2500 ratings needed for one to be named a grandmaster in 2007 and 2008.

Biography

Simon Kim Williams is one of the English notable chess players whose contribution to growing the chess industry is felt to date. His interest in playing chess began when he was six years old. And at the age of twelve, he had already got his first FIDE rating, which was 2255. For more information on FIDE and ratings, see the step-by-step guide on how to get a FIDE rating.

He has engaged in numerous tournaments, from playing nationally to internationally. In 2003, he emerged at number seven at the British Chess Championship. He put more effort into bettering his performance in a tournament held in 2009, where he finished at equal second. In the same year, he was positioned equal first at a tournament in the Southend Chess Congress. Later the following year, he was rated 2690 by FIDE when he tied with Gawain Jones as the winner of the London Chess Classic.

Williams is also an author, and his alias name is “GingerGM.” It is known on social media and as his company’s name. He came up with this company together with International Master Simon Anseli in 2008. Chess books, e-books, and DVDs are manufactured here. He worked as a chess commentator in the Gibraltar Chess Festival, which incorporated Elisabeth Pahtz and Irina Krush in 2016. This was the best and most dominant open tournament ever that happened globally. He also streams chess online, such as on the Chess.com.

He began playing in the British Championship at the age of thirteen in 1993 and has not been absent except for 1996 and 2006. In 1998, he was given the title of International Master. Further, in 2005, he triumphed as the winner in the British Blitz Championship. He was pronounced Grand Master in 2008.

Simon Williams was appointed to engage in the big European league in 2006, where he played board three for Hilsmark Kingfisher for the very first time. He was welcomed to participate in such big leagues immediately after attaining the title of Grand Master. He was appointed to stand in for England in the Four Nations Chess Challenge (Norway, Sweden, and Latvia) in 2008. He gained team silver in this competition.

He diversifies chess in various ways, from being a chess coach, commentator, Grandmaster, video maker, and author to teaching chess in surrey schools.

The Beginning

Simon Williams started playing chess when he was six years old. At twelve, he had already been recognized by FIDE. His earliest main team event was when he played top board for England in the 1995 Children’s Olympiad. He managed to get his team at number four.

Simon was born in Surrey, and the openings he uses today are from chess lessons he got from his father. Grandmasters Tony Kosten and Peter Wells acted as his coaches in the competitions he played away from his country. Williams has a playing mode that is very aggressive, and he likes striking chess to positional grinds. He frequently plays the Dutch defense that he mastered from his father.

His main goal in playing chess by Simon is to get the title of British Blitz championship, as he did in 2005. According to FIDE, he has been ranked above 20 in England as of December 2020. He teaches chess in person as well as through the videos he makes on YouTube and the DVDs he produces.

Most people find him entertaining of his humor, making it easy for them to get lured into watching his videos. This has attracted a large audience on his YouTube and Twitch channels. On Twitch, he is fond of streaming his blitz games, giving commentary to his followers.

Achievements

Simon Williams has made remarkable achievements in the chess industry. He won the title of Grandmaster in 2008 at the age of 29. After getting the third norm at Hastings international chess congress in 2005 and 2006.

Simon earned the title of International Master at just 18 years old, the second highest title in chess. This was when he surpassed the 2500 ratings during the Hastings International Chess Congress. He has made efforts to teach people how to play chess from the different sources he gives.

Other than that, he has also made personal achievements. As of November 2009, he escalated his peak ratings to 2550. In the same year, he organized the Big Slick International held in Purley, London. It constituted the FIDE Rated Open and Grandmaster tournament. In 1999, this guy triumphed over a game he played with Martin Simons through victoriously using an inconvenient opening. This was achieved when he opted to play Hammerschlag, an odd opening that puts the white king at risk of instantly getting attacked.

Further, he has emerged the winner in various tournaments such as the Swiss championship in 2009, the Caterham Open in 2008, the 2011 Surrey Open, and the Amersham International in 2009, where he defeated Arkell and Hebden.

This Grandmaster has been involved in a chess game challenge constituting a world team. He played the challenge until nineteenth January 2014, when he stepped down on 16th September 2013.

Simon has written many chess books, including how to crush your chess opponents, the new silicon dragon, and play the classical Dutch, ranked among the top ten chess books ever.

Simon has also produced DVDs to aid players in improving their chess skills. Examples of these DVDs titles are the killer Dutch, the killer dragon (part 2), and play like Mikhail Tal, both produced in 2011.

After that, in 2017, Williams filmed a show called the checkmate, where a tournament anteceded with renowned chess players such as Ju Wenjun and Richard rapport participating.

In conclusion, Simon has one of the best Chess YouTube channels with plenty of tutorials on how to get better at Chess, check it out for tips on improving your game.

Did you enjoy reading about Simon Williams? If you did, you might be interesting in reading other player profiles such as Hikaru Nakamura, Emanuel Lasker, and Paul Morphy.

Sources

  • https://ratings.fide.com/profile/404454
  • https://www.celebsagewiki.com/simon-williams-chess-player
  • https://www.365chess.com/tournaments/BCF-ch_2003/778
  • https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008986
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