Colin McNab

Last updated

Colin McNab
Colin McNab.jpg
Colin McNab in January 2006
Full nameColin Anderson McNab
Country Scotland
Born (1961-02-03) 3 February 1961 (age 62)
Dundee, Scotland
Title FIDE Grandmaster (1992)
ICCF International Master (1993)
International Solving Master (2007)
FIDE   rating 2402 (January 2024)
Peak rating 2500 (January 1998)

Colin Anderson McNab (born 3 February 1961) is a Scottish chess player. He is Scotland's second player to be awarded the title of Grandmaster (GM), fulfilling its requirements in 1992 just after Paul Motwani. After achieving his three norms, he strained to get his rating up to the required 2500 level, and is possibly unique among Grandmasters in only achieving a published rating of 2500 some six years after being awarded the title. The FIDE regulations in force at the time stated that an 'intermediate' rating at any stage during an event would suffice, and that ratings between 2498.5 and 2500 would be rounded up, which is indeed what happened in 1992. He is also an International Master of correspondence chess since 1993 [1] and International Master of chess problem solving since 2007. [2]

Contents

McNab played for Scotland in eighteen Chess Olympiads between 1980 and 2016, [3] and won the Scottish Chess Championship in 1983, 1991, 1993 and 1995. [4] He was also the Commonwealth champion in 1992. [5] In 2012 and 2013 McNab won the British Problem Solving Championship. [6]

His opening repertoire is noted for its seemingly quiet fianchetto systems, and he has written a book on the fianchetto variation of the King's Indian Defence, and co-authored a book about the Pirc Defence with John Nunn. He is renowned as an expert on the endgame and has written a regular column for Scottish Chess magazine for a number of years.

McNab is a doctor of Mathematics, having studied for a DPhil at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Peter Neumann.

Books

Notable games

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Nunn</span> English chess player

John Denis Martin Nunn is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was formerly in the world's top ten.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Gallagher</span> Chess player

Joseph Gerald Gallagher is a British-born Swiss chess player and writer. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990 and has been the national champion of both Britain and Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Byrne (chess player)</span> American chess player (1928–2013)

Robert Eugene Byrne was an American chess player and chess author who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). He won the U.S. Championship in 1972, and was a World Chess Championship Candidate in 1974. Byrne represented the United States nine times in Chess Olympiads from 1952 to 1976 and won seven medals. He was the chess columnist from 1972 to 2006 for The New York Times, which ran his final column on November 12, 2006. Byrne worked as a university professor for many years, before becoming a chess professional in the early 1970s.

Paul Motwani is a Scottish chess grandmaster. He was the first Scottish player to become a grandmaster.

The Benko Gambit is a chess opening characterised by the move 3...b5 in the Benoni Defence arising after:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pal Benko</span> Hungarian-American chess player (1928–2019)

Pal Charles Benko was a Hungarian and American chess player, author, and composer of endgame studies and chess problems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vasilios Kotronias</span> Greek chess player and writer

Vasilios Kotronias is a Greek chess player and writer. He is a ten-time Greek champion. Kotronias was awarded the titles of International Master in 1986 and Grandmaster in 1990 by FIDE. He was the first Greek chess player to become a Grandmaster.

Duncan Suttles is a chess grandmaster. Canada's second grandmaster after Abe Yanofsky, Suttles was recognized internationally for the originality of his strategic play in the mid-1960s and 70s. He retired from competitive chess in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Bluvshtein</span> Canadian chess player

Mark Bluvshtein is a Soviet-born Canadian chess player. He became the youngest Canadian ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster in 2004, at the age of 16. He previously achieved the title International Master at the age of 13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eduard Gufeld</span> Soviet chess player

Eduard Yefimovich Gufeld was a Soviet/American International Grandmaster of chess, and a chess author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Ivanov (chess player)</span> Soviet-born American chess grandmaster

Alexander Ivanov is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster. Born in Omsk, present-day Russia, he moved to the United States in 1988. FIDE awarded him his Grandmaster title in 1991. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, fellow chess player and Woman International Master Esther Epstein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mikhail Gurevich (chess player)</span> Soviet-born Belgian chess player

Mikhail Gurevich is a Soviet-born Belgian chess player. He was a top ten ranked player from 1989 to 1991. Gurevich became an International Grandmaster in 1986, and is currently an FIDE arbiter and senior trainer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Predrag Nikolić</span> Bosnian chess grandmaster (born 1960)

Predrag Nikolić is a Bosnian Serb chess grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Győző Forintos</span> Hungarian chess player

Győző Victor Forintos was a Hungarian chess player and by profession, an economist. He was awarded the titles International Master, in 1963, and Grandmaster, in 1974, by FIDE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julio Granda</span> Peruvian chess player

Julio Ernesto Granda Zúñiga is a Peruvian chess grandmaster and four-time champion of the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomasz Markowski (chess player)</span> Polish chess player

Tomasz Markowski is a Polish chess Grandmaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Robatsch</span> Chess player

Karl Robatsch was a leading Austrian chess player and a noted botanist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helmut Pfleger</span> German chess grandmaster and author (born 1943)

Helmut Pfleger is a German chess grandmaster and author. He was one of the most promising chess players in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1977 until 2005, Pfleger hosted a series of chess programs on German public TV, including Chess of the Grandmasters, often together with grandmaster Vlastimil Hort. By profession, he is a doctor of medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Milligan</span>

Helen Milligan is a Scottish-New Zealand chess player holding the FIDE titles of Candidate Master (CM) and Woman FIDE Master (WFM), and three-time Asian senior women's champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kacper Piorun</span> Polish chess grandmaster

Kacper Piorun is a Polish chess player who received the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM) in September 2012. He is a five-time winner of the World Chess Solving Championship, and two-time winner of the Polish Chess Championship.

References

  1. "Player Details: McNab, Dr. Colin Anderson". International Correspondence Chess Federation . Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  2. "International solving masters of the FIDE". World Federation for Chess Composition. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  3. Men's Chess Olympiads: Colin Anderson McNab. OlimpBase.
  4. "Champions > Scottish Champions". Chess Scotland. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  5. Henderson, John (20 September 2012). "Chess - The Scotsman". The Scotsman . Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  6. Nunn, John (2 March 2014). "Nunn wins British problem solving championship". ChessBase. Retrieved 20 February 2016.