William John Donaldson Explained

John Donaldson
Full Name:William John Donaldson
Country:United States
Birth Date:24 September 1958
Birth Place:Los Angeles, California, U.S.
International Master (1983)
Fideid:2000709
Peakrating:2460 (January 2004)

William John Donaldson (born September 24, 1958), known as John Donaldson, is an American chess player, author, journalist and chess official. Like many of his contemporaries, he began playing in the aftermath of the World Chess Championship 1972 between Fischer 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 Memorial in Vancouver, 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; Lindsborg (Kansas) 2002 (=1st with GM Alexander Onischuk; 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. He also became an editor of the magazine Inside Chess, published by Yasser Seirawan. After the magazine folded, he moved to San Francisco, 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 norms for the title of grandmaster, at Lindsborg 2002[1] and at Stratton Mountain 2003.[2]

On December 9, 2006, Donaldson was named US zone president in FIDE, replacing Robert Tanner, who resigned on December 4, 2006.[3]

Playing

The United States Chess Federation awarded Donaldson the title of National Master in 1977, and Senior Master in 1979. FIDE awarded him the title of International Master in 1983.[4] He was Washington State Champion in 1978 and 1979. He received Grandmaster Norms at Lindsborg 2002 and Stratton Mountain 2003.[5] His peak USCF rating was 2601 in the May 1990 United States Chess Federation 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. He married Elena Akhmilovskaya, a member of the Soviet women's team, during the 28th Chess Olympiad (Thessaloniki 1988). Later, while the tournament was still going on, the couple traveled to the United States. They divorced about a year later.

Books

Notes and References

  1. Web site: TWIC 425: Lindsborg Rotary Open . Crowther . Mark . 2002-12-30 . London Chess Center . 10 May 2010.
  2. Web site: TWIC 449: CCA International . Crowther . Mark . 2003-06-16 . London Chess Center . 10 May 2010.
  3. https://new.uschess.org/sites/default/files/media/documents/2006-2007_eb_motions_final.pdf MOTIONS OF THE USCF EXECUTIVE BOARD IN FY 2006 – 2007
  4. [FIDE]
  5. Allen Kaufman, USCF, John Donaldson is the New Secretary of the Samford Fellowship Committee, 6/23/2011. Retrieved 5/15/2024.

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