Natasha Regan

Last updated

Natasha Regan
Full nameNatasha Katherine Regan
CountryFlag of England.svg  England
Born (1971-06-12) 12 June 1971 (age 53)
London, England
Title Woman International Master (2002)
Peak rating 2208 (July 2004)

Natasha Katherine Regan is a chess player and an award-winning chess author, best known for her book Game Changer. She has represented England at two Chess Olympiads. [1]

Contents

She is also an accomplished Go player. Partnering with Matthew Cocke, she has won the British pair Go championship seven times and has taken bronze at the European Pair Go Championship. [2] Natasha has represented the UK at Go at the first World Mind Sports Games in Beijing 2008 and again in 2012. [3] [4] At the Mind Sports Olympiad, her medals include silver in the Women's Pentamind in 2018. [5]

Personal life

Natasha studied mathematics at King's College, Cambridge University [6] and is a professional actuary with twin daughters and a son, Oscar Selby. She taught Oscar math, leading him to become the youngest person ever to obtain the grade of A*, the maximum grade for a GCSE, in 2010 for Mathematics. [7]

Chess

While at Cambridge University she became the first female player to play above Board 8 (formerly known as the ladies' board) in the 1992 Oxford and Cambridge Varsity Chess Match. [8] [9] Natasha represented England at the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manilla and the 1994 Chess Olympiad in Moscow. Natasha was awarded the FIDE rank of Woman International Master in 2002. [8] In September 2019, she was elected to the Board of the English Chess Federation (ECF). [10]

Books

Natasha has co-authored two chess books alongside English chess Grandmaster Matthew Sadler. Their first collaboration Chess For Life won ECF book of the year. [11] It interviews and details the way several notable chess players' styles and games evolved throughout their chess careers. [12]

Game Changer

Natasha Regan came up with the idea for her and GM Matthew Sadler's second collaboration Game Changer [13] which won the FIDE chess book of the year. [14] It details the lessons that can be learnt from how DeepMind's revolutionary computer program AlphaZero plays chess. [15]

The book has been influential upon competitive chess. At the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2019, after a draw with Teimour Radjabov, number 1 ranked chess player and world champion, Magnus Carlsen commented about Game Changer: "I found the book quite inspirational. I was thinking at several points during the game: How would AlphaZero have approached this?" [16]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xie Jun</span> Chinese chess grandmaster (born 1970)

Xie Jun is a Chinese chess grandmaster and is the first Asian woman to become a chess grandmaster. She had two separate reigns as Women's World Chess Champion, from 1991 to 1996 and again from 1999 to 2001. Xie is one of three women to have at least two separate reigns, besides Elisaveta Bykova and Hou Yifan. Xie Jun is the current president of the Chinese Chess Association. In 2019, she was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chess prodigy</span> Young child with an aptitude for the game of chess

A chess prodigy is a young child who possesses an aptitude for the game of chess that far exceeds what might be expected at their age. Their prodigious talent will often enable them to defeat experienced adult players and even titled chess masters. Some chess prodigies have progressed to become World Chess Champions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Nunn</span> English chess grandmaster (born 1955)

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">Alexandra Kosteniuk</span> Russian-Swiss chess grandmaster (born 1984)

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk is a Russian and Swiss chess grandmaster who was the Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021. She was European women's champion in 2004 and a two-time Russian Women's Chess Champion. Kosteniuk won the team gold medal playing for Russia at the Women's Chess Olympiads of 2010, 2012 and 2014; the Women's World Team Chess Championship of 2017; and the Women's European Team Chess Championships of 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017; and the Women's Chess World Cup 2021. In 2022, due to sanctions imposed on Russian players after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she switched federations, and as of March 2023 she represents Switzerland.

<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">Nana Ioseliani</span> Georgian chess player (born 1962)

Nana Ioseliani is a Georgian chess player. She was awarded by FIDE the Woman Grandmaster title in 1980 and the International Master title in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Chess Federation</span>

The English Chess Federation (ECF) is the governing chess organisation in England. It is affiliated to FIDE. The ECF was formed in 2004 as one of the more localised successors to the British Chess Federation (BCF), an organisation founded in 1904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Sargissian</span> Armenian chess grandmaster (born 1983)

Gabriel Eduardi Sargissian is an Armenian chess grandmaster. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Armenian team at the Chess Olympiads in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and at the World Team Chess Championship in 2011. Sargissian was awarded the Movses Khorenatsi medal in June 2006 and awarded the Honoured Master of Sport of the Republic of Armenia title in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Sadler</span> British chess player

Matthew David Sadler is an English chess grandmaster, chess writer and two-time British Chess Champion.

The World Mind Sports Games (WMSG) was a multi-sport event created by the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA) as a "stepping stone on the path of introducing a third kind of Olympic Games" after the Summer and the Winter Olympics".

Below is a list of events in chess in 1997, as well as the top ten FIDE rated chess players at the start of that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jovanka Houska</span> English chess player

Jovanka Houska is an English chess player with the titles International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is a nine-time British Women's Chess Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashot Nadanian</span> Armenian chess player and coach (born 1972)

Ashot Nadanian is an Armenian chess International Master (1997), chess theoretician and chess coach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogdan Lalić</span> Croatian chess grandmaster (born 1964)

Bogdan Lalić is a Croatian chess grandmaster. He has the record of an unbeaten streak of 155 games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Lalic</span> English chess player

Susan Kathryn Lalic is an English chess player, holding both International Master (IM) and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) titles. She is five-time British Women's Chess Champion: 1986, 1990–1992, and 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Jones</span>

Rupert William Jones is a Papua New Guinean (PNG) chess FIDE Master (FM) and FIDE International Arbiter (IA). He served as the Secretary of the Botswana Chess Federation from 1986 to 1997 and in that period chess expanded to be one of the biggest participation sports in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Pein</span>

Malcolm Bernard Pein is a British chess player, chess organizer, author, and journalist. He holds the title of International Master.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Collins (chess player)</span> Irish chess player

Sam E. Collins is an Irish chess player. He was awarded the title International Master by FIDE in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Botez</span> American-Canadian chess player (born 1995)

Alexandra Valeria Botez is an American-Canadian chess player and commentator, poker player, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. In chess, she holds the FIDE title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) and has a peak FIDE rating of 2092. She is a five-time Canadian girls' national champion and one-time U.S. girls' national champion. Botez has represented Canada at three Women's Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Alexandra and her younger sister Andrea Botez host the BotezLive Twitch and YouTube channels, which each have over 1 million followers and are one of the largest chess channels on each platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in chess</span> Womens participation in chess

Women represent a small minority of chess players at all ages and levels. Female chess players today generally compete in a mix of open tournaments and women's tournaments, the latter of which are most prominent at or near the top level of women's chess and at youth levels. Modern top-level women's tournaments help provide a means for some participants to be full-time professional chess players. The majority of these tournaments are organized by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and revolve around the World Championship cycle, which culminates in a match to decide the Women's World Chess Champion. Beyond those events, among the most prominent women's tournaments are women's and girls' national and continental championships.

References