Person of day   -  28 AUGUST 2023

DANIEL KING

DANIEL KING

Born in Buckingham, Daniel John King made his debut in the GB championship when he was only 16. At the European U21championship, King came fifth, behind the Soviet Union’s Jaan Ehlvest and behind a trio of future grandmasters- Hansen, Bosboom and Greenfield. In 1982, Daniel became an international master and he peaked in the second half of the 1980s: he won tournaments in Strasbourg and Kecskemet in 1985, came fourth at the GB championship in 1986 and, after he split 1stplace with Boris Gelfand at a large competition in Sydney in 1988, Daniel King became a grandmaster.   

In 1989, Daniel performed for his national team at the European championship. Despite the occasional flash of brilliance, such as a 1996 tournament in Ireland when he overtook Sergey Tiviakov and Peter Svidler, his life took a turn after the 1993 match between Kasparov and Short in London. 

The match was broadcast on five different English channels and one commentator amazed his audience with his looks, hair and conversation style. King even won the nomination for “the choice of a businesswoman in 1993” and became a sex-symbol. Daniel continued to work for the BBC, Eurosport and other mainstream TV channels, telling his viewers about matches for the world championship and about the contests between Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and computers. During this period of success, King was invited to participate in a TV ad for Audi and Volkswagen. 

Daniel King wrote several scenarios for documentaries about chess; he also wrote a column for the Guardian for many years and he has contributed to several British and German magazines. He has also worked with Chess Base. From 2010, King has been a commentator for the London Chess Classic super-tournament and he has his own YouTube blog. 

He has written How To Play ChessKasparov Against the WorldWinning with the Najdorf and several chess textbooks. 

A celebrated chess historian called Edward Winter believed that Daniel King, along with Nigel Short, Jan Gustafsson, Yasser Seirawan and Yannick Pelletier is among the top five English-speaking commentators in the world.