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Photograph of
Leonard Barden courtesy of John Saunders, Editor, British Chess Magazine |
Leonard
Barden was born in Croydon and studied history at Whitgift School and
Balliol College, Oxford. After leaving university he made chess writing
his profession, combining it with international play. He was British
co-champion in 1954, represented England in four chess Olympiads, and
was Bobby Fischer’s partner in the only consultation game Fischer ever
played—on BBC radio. He was chess adviser to Jim Slater in 1972 when the
financier saved the Fischer v. Boris Spassky world title match in
Reykjavik by doubling the prize fund.
In the 1970s
Barden was a presenter on the BBC2 televised Master Game series, advised
Lloyds Bank on its chess sponsorship which ran for nearly 20 years, and
administered the national Grand Prix. He managed the England junior
squad in the 1970s and 1980s when the country produced a record number
of grandmasters, and was the first to predict in print that Garry
Kasparov (then 11) would become world champion and that Nigel Short
(then 9) would become Kasparov’s challenger.
Barden has
written chess columns for the Guardian (weekly) and London Evening
Standard (daily) for more than half a century, and also contributes
weekly to the Financial Times. Next year he hopes to break the legendary
George Koltanowski’s world record for the longest running chess column
by a single writer. |
