William John Donaldson (born September 24, 1958), known as John Donaldson, is an American

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, author, journalist and chess official. Like many of his contemporaries, he began playing in the aftermath of the

World Chess Championship 1972 The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena ...

between

Fischer Fischer is a German occupational surname, meaning fisherman. The name Fischer is the fourth most common German surname. The English version is Fisher. People with the surname A * Abraham Fischer (1850–1913) South African public official * A ...

and Spassky. He joined the Tacoma Chess Club in September 1972, and is still involved with the game almost 50 years later. FIDE awarded Donaldson the title of International Master (IM) in 1983. He has two grandmaster (GM) norms and missed a third, at the 2000

Paul Keres Paul Keres (; 7 January 1916 – 5 June 1975) was an Estonian chess grandmaster and chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s, and narrowly missed a chance at a World Chess Championship match on five ...

Memorial in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, by half a point. Among the international tournaments in which Donaldson has finished first or tied for first are Hamar (Norway) 1986; Philadelphia 1987; Bermuda 1995, 1996, and 1997 (=1st with GM

Sergey Kudrin Sergey Kudrin (born September 7, 1959) is an American chess Grandmaster who was born in the Soviet Union. He achieved his Grandmaster title in 1984 going on to win chess tournaments at Copenhagen in 1983, and Beer-Sheva in 1984, and Torremolinos ...

; Lindsborg (Kansas) 2002 (=1st with GM

Alexander Onischuk Alexander Onischuk (; born September 3, 1975) is a Ukrainian-American chess player. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1994, and won the 2006 U.S. championship. Career In 1991 Onischuk finished second in the world under 16 cha ...

; and Calgary 2007. He also won the 2001 Lindsborg Rotary Open, a three-day event, ahead of three GMs and three IMs. Donaldson has captained the U.S. national team on 25 occasions, including six Chess Olympiads from 1986 to 1996. He has written almost 40 books on different aspects of the game. His book ''Bobby Fischer and His World'' was selected as the 2020 Chess Book Collectors Most Popular Book of the Year. In 1990, Donaldson was elected to the Policy Board of the

United States Chess Federation The United States Chess Federation (also known as US Chess or USCF) is the governing body for chess competition in the United States and represents the U.S. in FIDE, the World Chess Federation. US Chess administers the official national rating ...

. He also became an editor of the magazine '' Inside Chess'', published by

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan ( ar, ياسر سيروان; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess author a ...

. After the magazine folded, he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, where he became chess director of the San Francisco Mechanics Institute. He qualified to play in the 2002 and the 2003 U.S. Chess Championship. He has achieved two

norm Naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) and technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) consist of materials, usually industrial wastes or by-products enriched with radioactive elements found in the envi ...

s for the title of grandmaster, at Lindsborg 2002 and at Stratton Mountain 2003. On December 9, 2006, Donaldson was named US zone president in FIDE, replacing Robert Tanner, who resigned on December 4, 2006.

Playing

The

awarded Donaldson the title of National Master in 1977, and Senior Master in 1979. FIDE awarded him the title of International Master in 1983. He was Washington State Champion in 1978 and 1979. He received Grandmaster Norms at Lindsborg 2002 and Stratton Mountain 2003. His peak USCF rating was 2601 in the May 1990

rating supplement. His peak FIDE rating was 2467 after the Millennium Chess Festival in April 2004.

Captaining

Donaldson is the 14-time captain of the U.S. Chess Olympiad team (1986-1996, 2006-2022 (gold 2016, silver 1990 and 2018, bronze 1986, 1996, 2006, 2008). He is the 8-time captain of the U.S. entry in the World Team Championship (1993, 1997, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 (gold 1993, silver 1997 and 2009)). He captained the gold medal U.S. Pan-American Team in 2013. He is the 2-time captain of the U.S. Online Olympiad team (bronze 2020, silver 2021). He is the captain of the U.S. entry in the Online Nations Cup (silver 2020). He won the Mikhail Botvinnik Award in 2018.

Personal

Donaldson received a BA in history from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

. He

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

Elena Akhmilovskaya Elena Donaldson-Akhmilovskaya (born ''Elena Bronislavovna Akhmilovskaya'', russian: Елена Брониславовна Ахмыловская; 11 March 1957 – 18 November 2012) was a Soviet-born American chess player. She was awarded t ...

, a member of the Soviet women's team, during the 28th Chess Olympiad (

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

1988). Later, while the tournament was still going on, the couple traveled to the United States. They divorced about a year later.

Books

*''The Life and Games of Frank Anderson''. Moravian Chess, 2009. *''The Unknown Bobby Fischer''. *''Alekhine in Europe and Asia''. *''Elmars Zemgalis: Grandmaster without the Title''. Pomeranian Press, 2001. * ''Olaf Ulvestad: An American Original''. *''Legend on the Road'' (about

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...

's 1964 simul tour). * *''Essential Chess Endings for Advanced Players'', Chess Digest, 1995. *''A Strategic Opening Repertoire''. International Chess Enterprises, 1998. * ''The Meran Defense''. Chess Enterprises, 1987. * ''How to Win Quickly at Chess''. Summit Publishing, 1991. * ''Legend on the Road''. International Chess Enterprises, 1994. * ''ICON (Inside Chess Opening Novelties: Sicilian Alapin)''. International Chess Enterprises, 1994. * ''ICON (Inside Chess Opening Novelties: Sicilian Accelerated Dragon''. International Chess Enterprises, 1995. * ''Essential Chess Endings for Advanced Players''. Chess Digest, 1995. * '' ICON (Inside Chess Opening Novelties: KID Bayonet Attack''. International Chess Enterprises, 1996. * ''A Strategic Opening Repertoire''. International Chess Enterprises, 1998. * ''Two Masters from Seattle''. ChessBase, 2002. * ''Milan Vukcevich: A Gentleman of Chess''. 2003. * ''Olaf Ulvestad: An American Original''. Thinkers Press, 2002. * ''Imre Konig''. The Chess Player, 2005. * ''The Life and Games of Frank Ross Anderson''. Moravian Chess, 2009. * ''Second US Junior Championship-Cleveland 1947''. 2011. * ''A Legend on the Road: Bobby Fischer’s 1964 Simultaneous Tour'' (3rd edition revised and enlarged). Kindle, 2015. * ''Bobby Fischer and His World''. Silman-James Press, 2020. * ''A History of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club: volume 1: The First 100 years (1854-1953)''. Edited by John Donaldson; researched by Steve Brandwein and John Donaldson. 2002. * ''A History of the Mechanics' Institute Chess Room, volume 2: 1954-2002''. Edited by John Donaldson; researched by Steve Brandwein and John Donaldson. 2003. * ''A Strategic Opening Repertoire'' (2nd edition, revised and enlarged) (with Carsten Hansen). Russell Enterprises, 2007. * ''Akiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King'' (with Nikolay Minev). International Chess Enterprises, 1994. * ''Akiba Rubinstein: The Later Years''. International Chess Enterprises, 1995. * ''Dutch Defense: New and Forgotten Ideas''. Thinkers’ Press, 2003. * ''Akiva Rubinstein: The Later Years'' (2nd edition, revised and enlarged). Russell Enterprises, 2005. * ''Akiva Rubinstein: Uncrowned King'' (2nd edition, revised and enlarged). Russell Enterprises, 2006. * ''Alekhine in the Americas'' (with Nikolay Minev and Yasser Seirawan). International Chess Enterprises, 1992. * ''Alekhine in Europe and Asia'' (with Nikolay Minev and Yasser Seirawan). International Chess Enterprises, 1992. * ''Semi-Slav: Non Meran Variations'' (with Jeremy Silman). Summit Publishing, 1988. * ''The Classical Dragon'' (with Jeremy Silman). Chess Enterprises, 1991. * ''Accelerated Dragons'' (with Jeremy Silman). Cadogan Chess, 1993. * ''The Exchange Variation of the Slav'' (with Jeremy Silman). Chess Enterprises, 1994. * ''Gambits in the Slav'' (with Jeremy Silman). Chess Enterprises, 1993. * ''The Slav versus 1.d4'' (with Jeremy Silman). Chess Enterprises, 1996. * ''Accelerated Dragons'' (2nd edition, revised and enlarged) (with Jeremy Silman). Everyman Chess, 1998.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, William John 1958 births Living people American chess players American chess writers American male non-fiction writers Chess International Masters Chess officials Chess historians People from Los Angeles