Glenn Curtis Flear is a British chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 grandmaster

International Grandmaster

The title Grandmaster is awarded to strong chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain....

 now living in Montpellier

Montpellier

-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

, France. He is the author of several books, some on chess opening

Chess opening

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

s and some on the endgame.

He was awarded the International Master title in 1983 and Grandmaster title in 1987. His current FIDE rating is 2510.

Flear created one of the greatest-ever chess tournament

Chess tournament

A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition among serious players.Today, the most recognized chess...

 upset

Upset

An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win , is defeated by an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the conventional wisdom...

s when, as a last minute substitute, he won the very strong London 1986

Phillips & Drew Kings

The Phillips & Drew Kings was a series of chess tournaments held in London, UK, in 1980, 1982 and 1984. Sponsored by the stockbroker firm Phillips & Drew and the Greater London Council , these were among the strongest chess tournaments ever held in London. They were 14-player all-play-all...

 event (ahead of Chandler

Murray Chandler

Murray Graham Chandler is a New Zealand chess grandmaster who has played internationally for that nation and for England, after gaining citizenship there in the early 1980s...

, Short

Nigel Short

Nigel David Short MBE is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 – July 1989 and in 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess...

, Nunn

John Nunn

John Denis Martin Nunn is one of England's strongest chess players and once belonged to the world's top ten. He is also a three times world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician....

, Ribli

Zoltan Ribli

Zoltán Ribli is a Hungarian chess grandmaster and International Arbiter . He was twice a World Championship Candidate and three times Hungarian Champion.-A career in chess:...

, Polugaevsky

Lev Polugaevsky

Lev Abramovich Polugaevsky was an International Grandmaster of chess and frequent contender for the world chess championship, although he never achieved that title...

, Portisch

Lajos Portisch

Lajos Portisch is a Hungarian chess Grandmaster, whose positional style earned him the nickname, the "Hungarian Botvinnik"...

, Spassky

Boris Spassky

Boris Vasilievich Spassky is a Soviet-French chess grandmaster. He was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from late 1969 to 1972...

, Vaganian

Rafael Vaganian

Rafael Artemovich Vaganian, also transliterated Vahanyan is an Armenian chess grandmaster known for his sharp tactical style of play...

, Speelman

Jon Speelman

Jonathan Simon "Jon" Speelman is an English Grandmaster chess player, mathematician and chess writer.-Early life and education:He was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, where he studied mathematics, earning a doctorate.-Career:...

, and Larsen

Bent Larsen

Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...

, amongst others). To round off the happy occasion, he married five-time French Ladies' Champion Christine Leroy during the event. They have two sons, James and Nathan.

He also represented England at the 1986 Dubai Olympiad (earning a team silver medal) and at the European Team Championship

European Team Championship

The European Team Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9...

 at Plovdiv

Plovdiv

Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

 in 2003.

Partial bibliography

• Improve Your Endgame Play, 2000, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-246-6.
• Mastering the Endgame, 2001, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-233-4.
• Test Your Endgame Thinking, 2002, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-305-5.
• Starting Out: Pawn Endings, 2004, Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-362-4.
• Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics: the Definitive Guide to the Endgames that Really Matter, 2007, Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-555-8

External links

• Statistics at ChessWorld.net
• Chessgames.com Glenn Flear