Keene Raymond Dennis (29.01.1948)

English Grandmaster (1976), British Champion (1971) and International Arbiter (1981).  Keene won the silver medal at the World Junior 1967 and w  as a member of the team who collected a bronze medal at the 1976 Olympiad.  He won the individual gold medal at the European Team Championship 1980, the Western European Team Championship 1970 and 1974, was the London Boy Champion and British Junior Champion 1964 and has played in eight Olympiads.

Best results: winner at Capablanca 1974 and Dortmund 1980 also second at Alicante 1975 Aarhus 1976.

A diligent and fluent author, Keene has written over 50 chess books and claims to be able to write one over a weekend if necessary.  His principal works include: Flank Openings (St Leonards-on-Sea 1968); The Modern Defense with George Botterill (1972), Aron Nimzowitsch, A Reappraisal (1974), How to play the Opening in Chess (1974), Karpov-Korchnoi (1974), Staunton: the English World Champion with Coles (1975), Good Move Guide (1992) and Warriors of the Mind (1989) which was written by the Canadian professor of mathematics Nathan Divinsky and sets out to select the best 64 players of all time.  Although the statistical underpinnings in this book have not been widely accepted, the biographies and games give a good view of most of the world’s best players.
He wrote also: How to beat Your Chess Computer (1991), Nigel Short-World Chess Challenger(1992), Kasparov-Short: The First Challenge (1993), Chess for Absolute Beginners (1993), Winning with Hypermodern (1994),Contenders for Crown (1994), World Chess Championship 1995 (1995), Times Winning Chess (1995), Winning Move 2 (1996),Learn from Grandmasters (1998), Grandmaster Strategy (1999) and The Times Winning Moves (2003).

As an organizer, Keene successfully staged the London half of the 1986 World Championship match, the USSR vs. Rest of the World match 1984, the World Championship Candidates’ Semi-finals (Garry Kasparov vs. Viktor Korchnoi / Vasily Smyslov vs. Zoltan Ribli) and the Brain Games World Chess Championship 2000 (Kasparov vs. Kramnik).

He has an OBE (1985) and also edits chess columns in the London Times and the Spectator and he has also contributed extensively on chess to the International Herald Tribune.
Keene is a man full of ideas for promoting his beloved game of chess, a “bon vivant” and a loyal friend.