George Steven Botterill (born 8 January 1949) is a Welsh

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player, writer and philosopher. Botterill was born in Bradford and learned chess at the age of seven. From 1969 to 1972 he played for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

, and became one of Britain's leading young players. In 1971 he won the Slater Young Masters tournament at

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, and at Hastings 1971/2 he was the top scorer among the British players with 6.0/15. Botterill won the 1974 British Championship at Clacton, winning the playoff at Llanelli, Wales by a half point over

William Hartston William Roland Hartston (born 12 August 1947) is an English journalist who wrote the Beachcomber column in the '' Daily Express''. He is also a chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 and earned a highest Elo rating of 2485. He ...

after a seven-way tie for first. In 1977 Botterill won his second British Championship, this time outright. Botterill won the

Welsh Championship The WRU National Championship (or Admiral Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of professional rugby union in Wales. The league was reformed by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in 2012. The current National Championship champion ...

in 1973 (jointly). In 1974 he became a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, and began to play for the Welsh international team. In the Preliminary Group of the European Championship he scored 1½–½ against Dutch top board GM

Jan Timman Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...

and 1–1 against English top board Hartston. Botterill played first board for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

at the 1976

Olympiad An olympiad ( el, Ὀλυμπιάς, ''Olympiás'') is a period of four years, particularly those associated with the ancient and modern Olympic Games. Although the ancient Olympics were established during Greece's Archaic Era, it was not unti ...

and previously represented England at the World Student Team Championship and

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

of 1973. He holds the title of International Master. Botterill is best known as a chess writer, in particular for his chess opening collaborations with Raymond Keene: ''The Modern Defence'' (London 1973) and ''The Pirc Defence'' (London 1974). He is currently Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

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George Botterill
profile page at University of Sheffield {{DEFAULTSORT:Botterill, George Steven 1949 births Living people Welsh chess players English chess players British chess writers Chess International Masters Welsh philosophers Academics of Aberystwyth University Sportspeople from Bradford Game players from Yorkshire 20th-century British philosophers 20th-century Welsh writers 20th-century Welsh educators 21st-century British philosophers 21st-century Welsh writers 21st-century Welsh educators

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