Photo courtesy of FM Terry Chapman
FM Terry Chapman is a 63-year old retired businessman, having floated his company on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 1999, with a day one capitalization of over £100 million. The Terence Chapman Group Plc was a major sponsor of chess activities in Britain, but Terry is probably best known in the English chess community for his charity match against Garry Kasparov in 2001 (at two pawns odds), which he only narrowly lost, 1 1/2 - 2 1/2!
As he discussed in the great book, Chess for Life by GM Mathew Sadler and WIM Natasha Regan, Terry retired in 2007 and started devoting a lot of energy to competitive chess. In the next handful of years, he took his rating from 2156 to a peak of 2331! Last summer, Terry came equal first in the British over 50's Championship, a title he was proud to add to his British junior championship title won 49 years previously. In our conversation, Terry catches us up on what has occurred since the 2016 publication of Chess for Life. He shares the chess improvement lessons he has learned over the ups and downs of the last 12 years. Please read on for more details and timestamps.
Click here to download the episode
0:00- We begin by delving a bit into Terry’s chess and personal background. What life circumstances motivated him to ramp up his competitive chess in the year 2007?
Mentioned: GM Jonathan Rowson
7:00 How had the chess world changed in the years that Terry was busy building a career and raising a family? Did he feel rusty upon returning to the board?
Mentioned: Chessbase
13:00- A Patreon supporter of Perpetual Chess asks FM Chapman if he thinks one should change their opening repertoire as they get older?
Mentioned: NM Fred Wilson, GM Ben Finegold
17:00- What coaches has Terry worked with?
Mentioned: GM Jonathan Speelman
21:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. Here are a few of the tactics resources Chessable offers:
Mastering Mates: https://www.chessable.com/mastering-mates-1-1111-one-move-mates/course/11134/
Tactics Time:
https://www.chessable.com/tactics-time-1/course/21108/
Woodpecker Method:
https://www.chessable.com/the-woodpecker-method/course/10582/
22:00- Patreon supporter, and adult improver NM Han Schut writes in to ask Terry to ask for an update about time trouble issues that Terry mentioned in Chess for Life.
Mentioned: GM Natalia Zhukova
32:00- What is a typical day of chess study like for Terry Chapman?
Mentioned: Chess Calculation Training Volume 2: Endgame by GM Romain Edouard, New in Chess Yearbooks, New in Chess Magazine
43:00- Terry has described himself as a bit of an opening specialist, but also says his memory is nothing special. How does he pull that off?
Mentioned: Kotrianas on the King’s Indian
49:00 What other books does Terry recommend for Club players?
Mentioned: Aagaard Manual Volume 1, From Amateur to IM, Winning Chess Strategies, Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors, Pump Up Your Rating, Yusopov books, Everyman Chess Move by Move series
56:00- What is the latest on Terry’s chess progress?
1:00- Terry tells a few stories about brushes with chess legends, including playing a charity game with Garry Kasparov.
Mentioned: GM Tony Miles, GM Ding Liren, GM Vishy Anand, GM Vladimir Kramnik , Garry Kasparov on Desert Island Discs, Understanding Maroczy Structures by GM Adrian Mikhalchishin
1:15- Thanks so much to Terry Chapman for sharing his tips and some great stories. You can reach him via email here: tpdchapman@gmail.com.