CHAPTER ONE I

CHAPTER ONE I

Michael Adams

Michael (Mickey) Adams' meteoric rise to fame was assured from the moment he

picked up his first chess piece At every stage of his chess career he seems to have

set new records. He was the first player to win the British Under-11 title with a per‑

fect 100% score, the third youngest player (behind Fischer and Kasparov) to

achieve a Grandmaster norm and the third youngest player to obtain the Grand‑

master tide. Not content with these accomplishments, just one month later (August

1989) Mickey put his new Grandmaster title to good use, at the age of seventeen

becoming the youngest ever British Champion.

1991 saw him conquer new heights when he became the first player to score the

maximum 200/200 in the British Grand Prix and also saw his Elo rating break 2600

for the first time. Although 2600 is certainly not to be scoffed at, he has now left

this level far behind, being ranked fourth in the world with a raring well over 2700.

Tell me about your chess playing background? How and when did your

chess career begin?

I was about six or seven when I started but I don't remember too much until I was

playing at school and in tournaments. I won my first tournament, so I suppose that

Wasn't too bad to start with. I won the Cornwall under-8 and under-10 titles when 1

was seven (I won them both; they were joint tournaments) so I guess I was pretty

good then. 1 was quite into chess.

What is your earliest chess memory?

I definitely remember that tournament, and playing in school matches and so on

around that time. The thing that I remember most is stalemating someone in a

King's Gambit. I thought that I had some kind of mate after sacrificing my queen

and it didn't actually work, so I sort of took all his pieces instead. I was rooks and

pawns and a queen up and I stalemated him, so it was an eventful game!

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