Chandler Murray Graham (04.04.1960)

Photo Andrew Gorrie©DOMINION POST

New Zealander Grandmaster (1983) who settled in England in 1975 before returning back to his native country in the early 2000’s. Author and Editor.

Best results: Asia Junior Champion 1977, New Zealand Champion (1975), joint Commonwealth Champion (1984) and joint British Champion (1986).

New York and London 1980, equal first, Brighton first, Dortmund and Honk Kong 1983, second equal with Vlastimil Hort, Amsterdam 1983 equal first, London 1984 second equal with Lev Polugayevsky, after Anatoly Karpov, London 1986 second equal with Short, Hastings 1986-7, first equal with Bent Larsen, Smbat Lputian and John Speelman, Wellington 1988, first equal with Boris Spassky; Hastings 1990-1, second behind Evgeny Bareev, at Santa Antonio 2001 he finished first equal with Yuri Yakovich and at Queenstown in 2006 he won the strongest Open in New Zealand ever organized in the country.

The author of number books on openings, Chandler has also been involved with Tournament Chess publication and the London Chess Centre.

He was editor-in-chief of the British Chess Magazine from 1991 to 1999 and then a board member of Gambit publication. In 2007 he moved back to the NZL rating list.

He played for England in five Olympiads, 1982-90,with good results, particularly at Novi Sad 1990 where he scored of +7=4 and finished with the second-best rating performance in the whole Olympiad.
He was voted BCF’s Player of the Year in 1984.

Peak rating: 2605 in 1988.

In 2014, Murray Chandler opened the National Chess Centre in Devonport on the city’s North Shore to teach youngsters all the tricks that helped get him to the top of his game.