Jump to content

James Plaskett

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 79.158.41.19 (talk) at 21:42, 14 September 2018 (→Giant Octopus). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with James Plaskitt.

Jim Plaskett
Full nameHarold James Plaskett
CountryEngland
Born (1960-03-18) 18 March 1960 (age 64)
Cyprus
TitleGrandmaster
Peak rating2529 (July 2000)

Harold James Plaskett (born 1960) is a British chess grandmaster and writer.[1]

Biography

Early life and personal life

Plaskett was born in Dhekelia, Cyprus, on 18 March 1960[1] and was educated at Bedford Modern School, England.[2] In the 1990s he was a chess columnist for The New Statesman[1] while working various jobs in London.[3] He is married to the poet Fiona Pitt-Kethley.[4] They relocated to Cartagena, Spain in 2002.[5]

Chess career

Plaskett achieved the title of International Master in 1981,[6] and became an International Grandmaster in 1985.[6] He became British Chess Champion in 1990.[7] He has written nine chess books.[1] As of 2018 he continues to be active in chess in Spain.[8][9][10]

Coincidences

Plaskett has been recording his own experiences of coincidences since the 1980s. He has said that the coincidences have seemed to proliferate in response to his own study, and have been seemingly interlinked by recurrent themes or motifs, which he felt may be "an indicator of something glimpsed but yet to be clearly seen or understood."[3] He is the author of a semi-autobiographical book, Coincidences.[1]

Giant Octopus

Another of Plaskett's interests has been the pursuit of the cryptid, the "Giant Octopus".[11][12] He undertook a three-week expedition in search of it in the waters off the Bermudan coast in August 1999, in collaboration with Cliff Stanford of Demon Internet.[13]

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

After appearing four times at the qualifying stage of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?,[14] Plaskett, who had arrived with fellow Grandmaster and friend Stuart Conquest, got into the hot seat on a show broadcast on 21 January 2006. After becoming the seventh person to reach £125,000 without using any lifelines, he went on to win £250,000.[1]

He has been public in his defence of contestants Charles Ingram, Diana Ingram, and Tecwen Whittock, who were found guilty of cheating to win the £1 million top prize by means of cough signals. Plaskett told journalist Jon Ronson that the alleged cough signals were simply nervous, responsive coughing caused by unconscious triggers, and that they had also occurred during the legitimate win by Judith Keppel.[14] In 2015, Plaskett and journalist Bob Woffinden collaborated on a book asserting that the Ingrams were innocent.[15] The book, titled Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major, was published in January 2015.[16] Plaskett's book on the Ingram affair inspired a stage play by James Graham, called Quiz.[17][18][19][20]

Bibliography

  • Plaskett, James; Keene, Raymond; Tisdall, Jon (1987). The English Defence. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-1322-9.
  • Plaskett, James (1988). Playing to Win. Rowman Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-7134-5844-2.
  • Plaskett, James (1997). The Sicilian Taimanov. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-901259-01-8.
  • Plaskett, James (2000). Sicilian Grand Prix Attack. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-291-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2000). Coincidences. Tamworth Press. ISBN 978-0-9509441-6-6.
  • Plaskett, James (2002). Can You Be a Tactical Chess Genius?. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-259-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2004). The Scandinavian Defence. ISBN 0-7134-8911-1.
  • Plaskett, James (2004). Starting Out: Attacking Play. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-367-7.
  • Plaskett, James (2005). Catastrophe In The Opening. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1-85744-390-5.
  • Plaskett, James (2005). The Queen's Bishop Attack Revealed. Batsford. ISBN 978-0-7134-8970-5.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "GM James Plaskett wins Roquetas del Mar 2013". chessdom.com. 7 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  2. ^ School of the Black And Red-A History of Bedford Modern School, by Andrew Underwood (1981); reset and updated by Peter Boon, Paul Middleton and Richard Wildman (2010)
  3. ^ a b Main, Roderick (2007). Revelations of Chance: Synchronicity As Spiritual Experience. SUNY Press. p. 82. ISBN 0791470245.
  4. ^ Birch, Dinah; Drabble, Margaret (2009). The Oxford Companion to English Literature. OUP Oxford. ISBN 0192806874. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  5. ^ "Fiona Pitt-Kethley papers". Penn State University Libraries. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  6. ^ a b Administrator. "Plaskett, H James FIDE Chess Profile - Players Arbiters Trainers". ratings.fide.com. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  7. ^ "British Champions 1904 – present « The English Chess Federation". www.englishchess.org.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  8. ^ "Victoria para James Plaskett en el Torneo Fin de Curso del Club de Ajedrez Coimbra". telejumilla.es. 25 June 2018. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  9. ^ "Harold Plaskett gana el Torneo Villa de Xàbia de ajedrez". lasprovincias.es. 29 August 2018. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  10. ^ "El británico James Plaskett se impone en el XXXIV Open de Ajedrez Feria de Almería". ideal.es. 21 August 2018. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ Keene, Raymond (26 September 2015). "Coincidence". spectator.co.uk. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ "Chess". Pretoria News. 7 January 2013.
  13. ^ Coleman, Loren (2003). Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep. Penguin. ISBN 110115344X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  14. ^ a b Jon Ronson (17 July 2006). "Are the Millionaire three innocent?". theguardian.com.
  15. ^ Tristram Fane Saunders (16 February 2017). "Who Wants to be Millionaire scandal inspires new play: what happened next to the coughing Major?". telegraph.co.uk. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  16. ^ "'Coughing Major' and his Welsh accomplice, who cheated their way to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? jackpot, were innocent, new book claims". walesonline.co.uk. 17 January 2015. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  17. ^ Henry Hitchings (15 March 2018). "James Graham: 'Theatre gives us something that we're losing in other areas of life'". standard.co.uk. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  18. ^ "The "coughing major" comes to the stage..." chichester.co.uk. 6 November 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  19. ^ Duncan Campbell (11 May 2018). "Bob Woffinden obituary - Journalist who campaigned on behalf of those he believed were victims of miscarriage of justice". theguardian.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  20. ^ Stephen Dalton (11 April 2018). "'Quiz': Theater Review". hollywoodreporter.com. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Plaskett&oldid=859570117"