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Jonathan Rowson
J Rowson 
Photo Copyright © 2004 Chris Marciano    
 

Number of games in database: 655
Years covered: 1991 to 2022
Last FIDE rating: 2524 (2525 rapid, 2519 blitz)
Highest rating achieved in database: 2599
Overall record: +269 -132 =241 (60.7%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 13 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Sicilian (77) 
    B33 B93 B40 B30 B90
 Ruy Lopez (26) 
    C92 C78 C67 C85 C69
 French Defense (24) 
    C18 C11 C14 C07 C17
 Nimzo Indian (24) 
    E32 E34 E33 E46 E37
 King's Indian (21) 
    E81 E84 E86 E70 E92
 Slav (19) 
    D15 D17 D10 D12 D11
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (107) 
    B90 B92 B25 B80 B22
 Sicilian Najdorf (46) 
    B90 B92 B93 B97 B98
 Grunfeld (34) 
    D85 D97 D76 D91 D71
 Queen's Pawn Game (30) 
    D02 A45 A41 A46 E00
 Nimzo Indian (14) 
    E32 E42 E20 E54 E48
 English, 1 c4 e5 (14) 
    A20 A28 A21 A29 A25
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   J Rowson vs L Cooper, 1997 1-0
   J Rowson vs T Nixon, 2005 1-0
   J Rowson vs de Firmian, 2003 1-0
   P K Wells vs J Rowson, 2000 0-1
   J Rowson vs P Motwani, 1999 1-0
   J Rowson vs A Ledger, 1995 1-0
   M Bluvshtein vs J Rowson, 2008 0-1
   J Rowson vs K Arakhamia-Grant, 2004 1-0
   J Shaw vs J Rowson, 2000 1/2-1/2
   J Rowson vs K Kulaots, 1996 1-0

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Scottish Championship (2001)
   Tyneside International (1995)
   Scottish Championship (1999)
   British Championship (2005)
   British Championship (2006)
   111th Scottish Championship (2004)
   British Championship (2004)
   British Championship (2007)
   4NCL 2011/12 (2012)
   Politiken Cup (1996)
   British Championship (2001)
   British Championship (1997)
   British Championship (1998)
   World Junior Championship (1995)
   Gibraltar Masters (2004)

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   Chess for Zebras (Rowson) by rookbr
   Chess for Zebras (Rowson) by trh6upsz
   Chess for Zebras (Rowson) by Qindarka
   Seven Deadly Chess Sins (Rowson) by pacercina
   Jonathan Rowson: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by trh6upsz
   Seven Deadly Chess Sins (Rowson) by howardb86
   Jonathan Rowson: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by cu8sfan
   Jonathan Rowson: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins by isfsam
   Seven Deadly Chess Sins (Rowson) by Qindarka
   Seven Deadly Chess Sins (Rowson) by Parmenides1963

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 Four Nations Chess League
   J Rowson vs R Bates (Oct-23-22) 1-0
   T Wall vs J Rowson (Oct-22-22) 0-1
   S Royal vs J Rowson (Sep-14-22) 1/2-1/2
   J Rowson vs J B Willow (Sep-13-22) 1/2-1/2
   J Rowson vs M Czopor (Sep-13-22) 1/2-1/2

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Jonathan Rowson
Search Google for Jonathan Rowson
FIDE player card for Jonathan Rowson

JONATHAN ROWSON
(born Apr-18-1977, 48 years old) United Kingdom

[what is this?]

Jonathan Rowson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland. He became Scotland's third grandmaster, after Paul Motwani and Colin McNab. He placed second in the European Under-20 Championship in 1997. He won the Scottish Chess Championship in 1999, 2001, and 2004. He won the British Championship in 2004, 2005, and 2006. He studied at Oxford University in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Rowson is the author of the books Understanding the Grünfeld, The Seven Deadly Chess Sins, Chess for Zebras, and The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life, and the co-author of Rampant Chess.

Wikipedia article: Jonathan Rowson

Last updated: 2025-05-26 07:35:04

Try our new games table.

 page 1 of 27; games 1-25 of 655  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. J Rowson vs S Ovsejevitsch  ½-½221991Wch U14B01 Scandinavian
2. J Rowson vs A Florean  1-0271991Wch U14C07 French, Tarrasch
3. J Rowson vs J W Rogers  1-0351992British ChampionshipC78 Ruy Lopez
4. A D Martin vs J Rowson  1-0311992British ChampionshipA06 Reti Opening
5. J Rowson vs D J Walker  ½-½301992British ChampionshipB08 Pirc, Classical
6. S T Ansell vs J Rowson  ½-½181992British ChampionshipB44 Sicilian
7. J Rowson vs S W Small  ½-½451992British ChampionshipB76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
8. C Crouch vs J Rowson  ½-½181992British ChampionshipD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
9. J Rowson vs S Lalic  1-0601992British ChampionshipC09 French, Tarrasch, Open Variation, Main line
10. M Hennigan vs J Rowson  1-0331992British ChampionshipB45 Sicilian, Taimanov
11. J Rowson vs C Ward  ½-½871992British ChampionshipB76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack
12. O Jackson vs J Rowson  0-1531992British ChampionshipC33 King's Gambit Accepted
13. J Tisdall vs J Rowson  ½-½611993Cappelle OpenE92 King's Indian
14. J Rowson vs G Kallai  0-1251993Cappelle OpenB44 Sicilian
15. J Rowson vs S Makarichev  1-0431993Cappelle OpenB66 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack, 7...a6
16. J Rowson vs L Winants  ½-½171993Cappelle OpenC48 Four Knights
17. I Nei vs J Rowson  1-0411993Cappelle OpenA10 English
18. M Lupu vs J Rowson  0-1311993Cappelle OpenA05 Reti Opening
19. J Rowson vs Sutovsky  0-1461993Wch U16B33 Sicilian
20. G Vescovi vs J Rowson  0-1371993Wch U16E98 King's Indian, Orthodox, Taimanov, 9.Ne1
21. J Rowson vs T Headlong  ½-½511993British ChampionshipB12 Caro-Kann Defense
22. P Roberts vs J Rowson  1-0461993British ChampionshipC41 Philidor Defense
23. J B Henderson vs J Rowson  ½-½291993British ChampionshipA45 Queen's Pawn Game
24. J Rowson vs J J Hastings  0-1371993British ChampionshipB12 Caro-Kann Defense
25. A Spice vs J Rowson  ½-½261993British ChampionshipB44 Sicilian
 page 1 of 27; games 1-25 of 655  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Rowson wins | Rowson loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 8 OF 8 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Apr-16-12  wordfunph: "I am aiming to be 2600 before I am thirty."

- GM Jonathan Rowson

Rowson's peak at 2599 :)

http://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?ev...

Apr-18-12  wordfunph: "Affirm your mistakes; don't deny them. Try to appreciate them and learn from them because they are inevitable. Observe yourself carefully before you play and enjoy the experience of playing. And, of course, buy my books!"

- GM Jonathan Rowson

ok, will buy your books :)

happy birthday, GM!

Apr-14-13  voyager39: Read your article http://chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211... on Chessbase.

Wish you could come up with a more educated analysis of Kramnik's interview

http://chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211...

Apr-18-13  Everett: Player of the day has written some very enjoyable books: The Seven Deadly Chess Sins and Chess for Zebras. Never got my hands on his Grunfeld book, though I never could wrap my head around that opening anyway.

Happy Birthday and thank you Mr. Rowson.

Nov-30-13  RedShield: < Jonathan Rowson @Jonathan_Rowson

Hugely grateful, very excited & suitably nervous to be 'the wild card' @londonclassic Inspired by Magnus, I'm going to prepare some endgames>

Nov-30-13  jancotianno: I hope he will have some good results in the London chess classic.
Dec-22-13  RedShield: <Jonathan Rowson has a golden collection of academic qualifications, having got himself a first class honours in PPE, spent a year at Harvard and got a PhD from Bristol. Oh yes, and he's a chess grandmaster.

[...]

Rowson, like so many of people who venture into the climate debate from the social science side are unashamedly ignorant about what the climate debate is about. It doesn't matter how many articles you write about climate sensitivity, with all that implies; to the Rowson's of this world you are a denier. This failure to engage with the actual arguments made suggests a highly developed sense of intellectual cowardice or the kind of casual dishonesty that we see so often from greens.>

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/b...

Aug-24-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Tired of being on the losing side of one debate, Rowson plunges headlong into another:

<If the case for independence is so strong, why isn’t Yes winning?>

http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2014/0...

Expect him to announce his candidacy for the 2018 FIDE presidency soon.

Sep-10-14  kellmano: I follow Rowson on twitter and he is fiercely behind the 'yes' campaign for independence. Perhaps this page might be a nice place to discuss it - I'm sure he'd approve.

I've tried to see what people think on the Rogoff page but no-one seems interested. Surely this is not the case? Perhaps it is just posts there get swallowed up by other things.

Anyway - anyone care to offer their tuppence-worth?

Sep-10-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: It is being discussed in its proper place, Scotland.
May-22-15  TheFocus: <Chess no longer seems important, but it remains extremely interesting, and though it may never again feel meaningful, it will always be beautiful> - Jonathan Rowson (New In Chess#2, 2012, page 11).
May-24-15  TheFocus: <If you want to become a better player, you need better habits, and you cultivate better habits through training. The best training is the kind that pushes you up against the edges of your comfort zone, where you force yourself to take responsibility for difficult decisions. It is so much easier to read books that give strategic guidelines, hints and tips, etc., but what you need is ‘know how’ and that means learning by doing> - Jonathan Rowson.
May-24-15  TheFocus: <Playing good chess usually means that clear-cut solutions are quite rare, and that when they exist they won't necessarily follow any logical argument> - Jonathan Rowson.
May-24-15  TheFocus: <The main function of chess trainers should be to guide the training of their students, rather than teach them directly. The best thing you can do for a student is to select interesting positions for them, and analyse them carefully so you can see the kings of things that the student is missing> - Jonathan Rowson.
May-24-15  TheFocus: <Many players get into trouble because they have definite assessments and vague ideas when what you want is clear ideas and revisable assessments - almost the exact opposite!> - Jonathan Rowson.
May-24-15  TheFocus: <I strongly believe that your practical results will improve once you are more willing to sacrifice material - not for attack (we can all do that) but for defensive and psychological reasons> - Jonathan Rowson.
Oct-30-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: He is known as the Tarrasch of the Trossachs.
May-25-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  wwall: I listed all the doctors (PhD or MD) in chess at http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/a...

It may be outdated by a few years. I will need to update it soon.

Jun-24-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: <Jonathan Rowson ‏@Jonathan_Rowson 8h 8 hours ago

I've never felt less British than I do this morning, except for the strong feeling that I need to apologise for what just happened.>

@#$% EU!

Jan-01-18
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: Jonathan Rowson after Michael Adams crushed him in a match in 1998: < "I was amazed at how little he saw." >

I read this quote when reading an article, regarding how AlphaZero was able to defeat Stockfish in a match (recently as of this timestamp).

Feb-06-18  Kapmigs: Jonathan Rowson
@Jonathan_Rowson
Gosh. I just saw how Magnus Carlsen defeated Wesley So. So many beautiful notes.
Such fluency between forms of quality.
Such confidence in transitions.
Such abundant harmony.
You would think he is World Champion or something...
Nov-26-19  pazzed paun: In his new book
He talks about throwing I Ching sticks
...wonder if you did that during a game you would be disqualified? You could argue that it was not a source outside of your own self
Apr-18-21  Albertan: Jonathan Rowson has a website at:

https://www.jonathanrowson.me/

Nov-02-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: <liberal Host SNAPS At Jordan Peterson, Instantly Regrets It>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aX...

Well, at least he wasn't destroyed!

Nov-06-21  Z truth 000000001: And yet another misfire...

One wonders exactly what <Missy> is trying to accomplish by posting such sophomoric tripe, ie. Jordan Peterson spending 10 minutes describing the unintended Earth-shattering consequences of cleaning up one's room?

Gheesh.

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