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James Plaskett

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Not to be confused withJames Plaskitt.

Jim Plaskett
Full nameHarold James Plaskett
CountryEngland
Born(1960-03-18)18 March 1960(age 64)
Dhekelia,Cyprus
TitleGrandmaster(1985)
Peak rating2529 (July 2000)

Harold James Plaskett(born 18 March 1960) is a Britishchess grandmasterand writer.[1]

Biography

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Early life and personal life

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Plaskett was born inDhekelia,Cyprus,on 18 March 1960[1]and was educated atBedford Modern School,England.[2]In the 1990s he was a chess columnist for theNew Statesman[1]while working various jobs in London.[3]He is married to the poetFiona Pitt-Kethley.[4]They relocated toCartagena, Spainin 2002.[5]

Chess career

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At theEuropean Junior Chess Championship1978/79, which was won byJohn van der Wiel,Plaskett became third with 8 points out of 13 games.[6]At the Junior EC 1979/80 Plaskett reached a shared fourth place with 8.5 points out of 13 games.[7]

Plaskett achieved the title ofInternational Masterin 1981,[8]and became anInternational Grandmasterin 1985.[8]At theHastings tournamentin 1986/87 he achieved 7 points out of 13 games, one point less than the winnerMurray Chandler.[9]

He becameBritish Chess Championin 1990, with 9 points out of 11 games.[10][11]In 1998 he played in the 73rd Hastings tournament, which was won byMatthew Sadler;James Plaskett reached fifth place with 4.5/9.

As of 2018 he continues to be active in chess in Spain.[12][13][14]

He has written nine chess books.[1]

In 1987, at a top-flightchess tournamentinBrussels,he presented anendgame studycomposed circa 1970 byendgame composerGijs van Breukelen. As a result, the famous study is now known asPlaskett's Puzzle.

Coincidences

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Plaskett has been recording his own experiences of coincidences since the 1980s. He has said that the coincidences have seemed to proliferate in response to his own study, and have been seemingly interlinked by recurrent themes or motifs, which he felt may be "an indicator of something glimpsed but yet to be clearly seen or understood."[3]He is the author of a semi-autobiographical book,Coincidences.[1]

Giant Octopus

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Another of Plaskett's interests has been the pursuit of thecryptid,the "Giant Octopus".[15][16]He undertook a three-week expedition in search of it in the waters off the Bermudan coast in August 1999, in collaboration withCliff StanfordofDemon Internet.[17]

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

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After appearing four times at the qualifying stage ofWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?,[18]Plaskett, who had arrived with fellow grandmaster and friendStuart Conquest,got into the hot seat on the show broadcast on 21 January 2006. After becoming the seventh person to reach £125,000 without using any lifelines, he went on to win £250,000.[1]

He has been public in his defence of contestantsCharles Ingram,Diana Ingram,andTecwen Whittock,who were found guilty of cheating to win the £1 million top prize by means of cough signals. Plaskett told journalistJon Ronsonthat the alleged cough signals were simply nervous, responsive coughing caused by unconscious triggers, and that they had also occurred during the legitimate win byJudith Keppel.[18]In 2015, Plaskett and journalistBob Woffindencollaborated on a book asserting that the Ingrams were innocent.[19]The book, titledBad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major,was published in January 2015.[20]Plaskett's book on the Ingram affair inspired a stage play byJames Graham,calledQuiz.That later spawned a three part TV Drama of the same name directed by Sir Stephen Frears.[21][22][23][24]

Bibliography

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  • Plaskett, James;Keene, Raymond;Tisdall, Jon(1987).The English Defence.Batsford.ISBN978-0-7134-1322-9.
  • Plaskett, James (1988).Playing to Win.Rowman Littlefield.ISBN978-0-7134-5844-2.
  • Plaskett, James (1997).The Sicilian Taimanov.Everyman Chess.ISBN978-1-901259-01-8.
  • Plaskett, James (2000).Sicilian Grand Prix Attack.Everyman Chess.ISBN978-1-85744-291-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2000).Coincidences.Tamworth Press.ISBN978-0-9509441-6-6.
  • Plaskett, James (2002).Can You Be a Tactical Chess Genius?.Everyman Chess.ISBN978-1-85744-259-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2004).The Scandinavian Defence.Batsford.ISBN0-7134-8911-1.
  • Plaskett, James (2004).Starting Out: Attacking Play.Everyman Chess.ISBN978-1-85744-367-7.
  • Plaskett, James (2005).Catastrophe in the Opening.Everyman Chess.ISBN978-1-85744-390-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2005).The Queen's Bishop Attack Revealed.Batsford.ISBN978-0-7134-8970-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2021).Bread and the Circus

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdef"GM James Plaskett wins Roquetas del Mar 2013".chessdom.7 January 2013.
  2. ^School of the Black And Red-A History of Bedford Modern School,by Andrew Underwood (1981); reset and updated by Peter Boon, Paul Middleton and Richard Wildman (2010)
  3. ^abMain, Roderick (2007).Revelations of Chance: Synchronicity As Spiritual Experience.SUNY Press. p. 82.ISBN978-0791470244.
  4. ^Birch, Dinah; Drabble, Margaret (2009).The Oxford Companion to English Literature.OUP Oxford.ISBN978-0192806871.
  5. ^"Fiona Pitt-Kethley papers".Penn State University Libraries.Archived fromthe originalon 1 March 2022.Retrieved31 August2018.
  6. ^8th European Junior Championship 1978/79 Tournament,chessgames
  7. ^9th European Junior Championship 1979/80 Tournament,chessgames
  8. ^abAdministrator."Plaskett, H James FIDE Chess Profile - Players Arbiters Trainers".ratings.fide.Retrieved9 July2016.
  9. ^Hastings 1986/87 Tournament,chessgames
  10. ^British Championship Tournament 1990,chessgames
  11. ^"British Champions 1904 – present « The English Chess Federation".englishchess.org.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 26 June 2018.Retrieved9 July2016.
  12. ^"Victoria para James Plaskett en el Torneo Fin de Curso del Club de Ajedrez Coimbra".telejumilla.es.25 June 2018.
  13. ^"Harold Plaskett gana el Torneo Villa de Xàbia de ajedrez".lasprovincias.es.29 August 2018.
  14. ^"El británico James Plaskett se impone en el XXXIV Open de Ajedrez Feria de Almería".ideal.es.21 August 2018.
  15. ^Keene, Raymond (26 September 2015)."Coincidence".spectator.co.uk.
  16. ^"Chess".Pretoria News.7 January 2013.
  17. ^Coleman, Loren (2003).Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep.Penguin.ISBN110115344X.
  18. ^abJon Ronson (17 July 2006)."Are the Millionaire three innocent?".The Guardian.
  19. ^Tristram Fane Saunders (16 February 2017)."Who Wants to be Millionaire scandal inspires new play: what happened next to the coughing Major?".The Daily Telegraph.
  20. ^"'Coughing Major' and his Welsh accomplice, who cheated their way to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? jackpot, were innocent, new book claims ".walesonline.co.uk.17 January 2015.
  21. ^Henry Hitchings (15 March 2018)."James Graham: 'Theatre gives us something that we're losing in other areas of life'".standard.co.uk.
  22. ^"The" coughing major "comes to the stage..."chichester.co.uk.6 November 2017.
  23. ^Duncan Campbell (11 May 2018)."Bob Woffinden obituary - Journalist who campaigned on behalf of those he believed were victims of miscarriage of justice".The Guardian.
  24. ^Stephen Dalton (11 April 2018)."'Quiz': Theater Review ".hollywoodreporter.
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