Tim Harding's homepage

I am the editor of Chess Mail and webmaster of this site.

Currently I am a fourth year postgraduate student at the University of Dublin, Trinity College. I am researching the history of correspondence chess in Britain & Ireland, 1824-1914. This should lead to a doctoral thesis in 2008 and to a book for a chess audience in about two years time.

I write the monthly column, The Kibitzer at The Chess Cafe website. The 100th column was published in 2004. I have prepared a new index table of all the titles linking to the files themselves!

My first publication in an academic journal appeared in 2005. Ireland's queen of chess: Frideswide Rowland and her world is in the volume History Studies 6 (University of Limerick, 2005); ISSN 1393-7782. Another academic article about chess history appeared in a book collection last year: ‘Policeman on the case: early chess in Lancashire and the Preston Guardian chess column, 1879-83’ in A. Brown and R. Spalding (eds.), Entertainment, Leisure and Identities (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2007), pp. 50-65. ISBN 9-781847-182364.

I have been playing chess both OTB and by correspondence since the 1960s and have written about chess for over 30 years. Recently I finished play on board 6 for Ireland in the Final of the 15th CC Olympiad.

I am a Senior International Master of Correspondence Chess (title awarded by ICCF in 2002). My first place in the ICCF Delegates & Officials IM-A tournament helped me to earn this title.

 I have edited an anthology of CC writings, The Write Move, and also compiled the MegaCorr4 CD series, now replaced by UltraCorr.

I am also the author of many chess books.

My full bibliography is now available again.

 See our shopping cart for 50 Golden Chess Games and other books.
Since 1976 I have been living in Dublin, Ireland, where I was on the editorial staff of The Sunday Press up to May 1995 when it ceased publication. I founded Chess Mail Ltd. in 1996. I am married with two teenage daughters.

My best success as an OTB player was joint first with GM Bojan Kurajica at the 1973 Hammersmith Open in London ahead of many masters and GMs, but it was only 7 rounds and I didn't have to play Kurajica (we scored 6.5/7). The half point I dropped was against Jonathan Mestel.

I also won a good prize at the Le Havre 1980 international open.

I played on the Irish team at the 1984 FIDE Olympiad in Thessaloniki, scoring 50%.

History of the Hardings (website with research by Steve Harding, England: no relation, so far as I know!)

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