Miles Anthony John (23.04.1955-12.11.2001)

English Grandmaster. He studied mathematics at Sheffield University, but he did not complete his education as he decided to become a professional chess player. In 1975 his university awarded him an honorary MA for his chess achievements.

At the age of 19 in 1974, he became Junior World Champion. The next year he participated in the International Tournament in Dublin where he shared the third-sixth place and after which he received the title of International Grandmaster, being the first Englishman who has received it since 1950.

Miles took part in numerous international tournaments and showed brilliant results. In 1975 in London he performed first in Stockholm, in 1977 in Lanzarote he was equal first with Rodriguez, took the first prize in Amsterdam and Biel, and the same year at Tilburg, he was second behind Karpov followed by Vlastimil Hort and Hubner. In 1978 he was equal first with Timman in Amsterdam, shared the third place with Dzindzihashvili and Hubner, behind Timman and Portisch at Tilburg. In 1980 in London he tied for the first place with Andersson and Korchnoi, he was equal first with Geller and Petrosyan in Las Palmas and with Ljubojevic in Puerto Madryn and took the first prizes in Philadelphia, Gausdal, Baerum, and Vrbas. In 1981 he was equal first in Vancouver with Suttles and in Baden-Baden with Ribli followed by Korchnoi, shared the first-third place with Keene and Seirawan in London, and performed first at Manchester.
In 1981-82 in Porz Koln he came in second after Tal, ahead of Hort, in 1982 shared the first place at Manchester with Kudrin, and was among the five first at London. The same year he became the National Champion winning the British Championship. In 1983 in Biel he was equal first with Nunn, among the five first at Metz and New York and took the first prize at Bath; the next year he succeeded at the Tilburg competition taking the first prize in front of Beliavsky, Hubner, and Ribli, in Griesbach and London where he shared the first-fifth places with Nunn, Chandler, Kudrin, and Spassky.
In 1984 he played at the 1984 Chess Olympiad as a member of the English team and participated in the 1984 USSR vs Rest of the World match. In 1985 at Ljubljana Portoroz, shared the first place with Portisch and Ribli, was equal first at Tilburg with Hubner and Korchnoi, the next year he performed first at Ostend. He played a match against Kasparov that year which he lost by a score 0,5-5,5. At this time his participation in chess events weakened and his successes became fewer: in 1986 he was first at Ostend, equal first at Philadelphia with Boris Gulko in 1987 and in 1989 at Metz, he shared the first-third place with Cramling and Kohlweyer. In 1987 he decided to move to the USA, seeking new inspiration, but he was not chosen to play at the 1988 Olympiad as a member of the US team. So he went to Germany where he played for Bundesliga for some time and spending more time in Europe, he began slowly to come back to an active chess life. His most remarkable achievements at that time are the victory of the international tournament at Rome being ahead of Bareev, Chernin and Smyslov; also in 1990 he shared the first prize in Bad Worishofen with Schlosser, and Klinger; he finished first in San Francisco and was in the third place at Biel behind Karpov and Andersson. In 1991 he was equal first with Budnikov at Bejing and performed first at Ostend. He was among the five first at Komotini in 1992, won the tournaments at Seville, Iraklion in 1993 and at Munster Open shared the first place with Dohoian.
In 1994 he shared the first-fourth place at Seville with Spraggett and Suba, in 1995 came out the winner at Benasque and shared the first-fifth place in Isle of Man with Hodgson, Milov, Sadler and Baburin. In 1996 in the Gran Canaria Open, was equal first with Lobron. Miles played at the 1997 British Championship where he shared the first prize with Adams, Emms and Sadler. In 1999 he came in first in the Havana Tournament.
Miles died from heart failure on 12 November 2001.

Peak rating: 2635 in 1996.