Michael John Franklin was a FIDE Master. He was born on February 2nd, 1931 in Battersea, London. At the commencement of World War II, the eight-year-old Franklin was evacuated to Frome, Somerset, England. As an adult, he delighted in playing in the Frome Congress, which he did multiple times between the inaugural 1990 event and 2010. At age 78, he shared first place at Frome 2009.
Franklin won the National Chess Centre Championship in 1953 and 1955, winning a playoff against Stefan Fazekas 2-0 in the latter. He won the Surrey Championship in 1961, 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970, and made many appearances in county matches for Surrey from 1950 through 2010, when he retired from the game. He won the 1970 London Championship. The greatest success of his life came at the Aaronson Masters (1978), where he tied for first with Aldo Haik, ahead of players like Nigel Short, John Nunn, Andrew Jonathan Mestel, and William Hartston.
Franklin played in the British Championship many times between 1953 and 1990, his best finish being third at the British Championship (1963). He was a member of the British team at the 1964 Tel Aviv Olympiad and the Clare Benedict Cup 12th (1965). He played in the Hastings Challengers over 20 times and competed in the Premier section at Hastings (1963/64) and Hastings (1971/72). He was a frequent and successful competitor in weekend events. He won the inaugural BCF/ECF Senior Prix in 2000, and won again in 2002 and 2003.
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Kibitzing
