| Neil McDonald | |
| Country: | England |
| Birth Date: | 21 January 1967 |
| Birth Place: | Gravesend, Kent, England |
| Grandmaster (1996) | |
| Peakrating: | 2500 (July 1996) |
| Fideid: | 400629 |
Neil McDonald[1] (born 21 January 1967) is an English chess grandmaster and chess writer.
As an English Chess Federation coach[2] he has trained many of the country's strongest junior players and was Head Coach of the English Chess Federation team at the Greece World Schools Championship in 2013.[3] He regularly escorts blind and partially sighted chess players to international World Championship events.
McDonald authored the French Defence monthly updates on chesspublishing.com from October 1999 until March 2009,[4] 1 e4 ... updates from November 2009 until January 2010,[5] 1 e4 ... from June 2014 until February 2015[6] and returned to 1 e4 ... in March 2017 until January 2018.[7]
He became an International Master in 1986 and was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1996.
McDonald obtained his FIDE Trainer qualification in 2016.[8]
| Batsford Books | Year | ISBN | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planning (Think Like a Chess Master) | align=center | 1995 | align=center | ||
| Winning With the Kalashnikov | align=center | 1995 | align=center | ||
| Mastering the French (with Andrew Harley) | align=center | 1997 | align=center | ||
| The King's Gambit: A Modern View | align=center | 1998 | align=center | ||
| Mastering Chess Tactics | align=center | 2002 | align=center | ||
| The Sveshnikov Sicilian | align=center | 2003 | align=center | ||
| Mastering Checkmates | align=center | 2003 | align=center | ||
| The Benko Gambit Revealed | align=center | 2004 | align=center | ||
| Chess: The Art of Logical Thinking | align=center | 2004 | align=center | ||
| The Sicilian Bb5 Revealed | align=center | 2005 | align=center | ||
| The Art of Planning in Chess: Move By Move | align=center | 2006 | align=center | ||
| Chess Success: Planning After the Opening | align=center | 2007 | align=center |
| Everyman Chess[9] | Year | ISBN | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positional Sacrifices | align=center | 1995 | align=center | ||
| Modern Chess Miniatures | align=center | 1995 | align=center | ||
| Practical Endgame Play | align=center | 1996 | align=center | ||
| French Winawer | align=center | 2000 | align=center | ||
| Modern Defence (with Jon Speelman) | align=center | 2000 | align=center | ||
| Main Line Caro-Kann | align=center | 2001 | align=center | ||
| Concise Chess Openings | align=center | 2001 | align=center | ||
| Concise Chess Endings | align=center | 2002 | align=center | ||
| Starting Out: The English | align=center | 2003 | align=center | ||
| Concise Chess Middlegames | align=center | 2004 | align=center | ||
| Starting Out: The Dutch Defence | align=center | 2005 | align=center | ||
| The Masters: Rudolf Spielmann Master of Invention | align=center | 2006 | align=center | ||
| Starting Out: 1 e4: A reliable repertoire for the improving player | align=center | 2006 | align=center | ||
| Starting Out: Queen's Gambit Declined | align=center | 2006 | align=center | ||
| align=center | 2007 | align=center | |||
| How to Play against 1 e4 | align=center | 2009 | align=center | ||
| align=center | 2009 | align=center | |||
| Starting Out: The Réti | align=center | 2010 | align=center | ||
| Play the Dutch: An Opening Repertoire for Black based on the Leningrad Variation | align=center | 2010 | align=center | ||
| The Ruy Lopez: Move by Move | align=center | 2011 | align=center | ||
| Break the Rules! A Modern Look at Chess Strategy | align=center | 2012 | align=center | ||
| King's Indian Attack: Move by Move | align=center | 2014 | align=center | ||
| The Catalan: Move by Move | align=center | 2017 | align=center | ||
| Coach Yourself | align=center | 2019 | align=center | ||
| Your Chess Battle Plan | align=center | 2020 | align=center |