John first started coaching in a primary school in 2000 and continues to teach in schools in the London boroughs of Merton and Kingston. John first learned to play chess when he was aged 10 in hospital from the boy in the next bed. He enjoyed the game and went on to become London U-14 Champion. At Oxford, he won the university championship.

 

He is the Chairman of Kingston Chess Club where as webmaster he has recently won the award for English Chess Federation website of the year.

 

John has qualifications in philosophy, mathematics, psychology and law and an accredited trainer. He has had a diverse career. He was a corporate planner for an oil company, the founder of a commodity trading software house in the USA, head of the decision modelling group of a corporate advisory firm, advisor to the European Commission on broadcasting policy and as a barrister managed legal aid in the criminal courts.

 

He has always pursued jobs involving too much thinking which he puts down to having been exposed to chess at an impressionable age.