Anthony "Tony" Miles was born in Birmingham, England. At the age of five, Miles was taught chess by his father.(1) He was educated at King Edward's school in Birmingham, and went on to study Mathematics at Sheffield University, declining an offered place at Oxford.(1) He never finished his university education, opting to become a professional chess player instead.(1)
Early Chess Career
In 1968, Miles won the British U-14 Championship,(2) and the British U-21 Championship in 1971.(3) He debuted in the British Championships (1972), scoring 50%.(3) The next year, Miles went on to share 4th at Lone Pine (1973), won the Silver medal at the Junior World Championship in Teesside (1973) and beat the tournament winner Alexander Beliavsky in their individual encounter, Beliavsky vs Miles, 1973. (2) He also won the Birmingham (1973) International tournament ahead of Andras Adorjan and Arthur Bisguier and lost not a single game in 11 rounds.(1)(3) Miles won the Gold medal at the World Junior Championship in Manila (1974) with a 1.5 point margin, securing the IM title with this win A Kochyev vs Miles, 1974. (3) He shared second place at British Championship (1975).
Britain's First Chess Grandmaster
Miles achieved his first GM norm by winning London (1975), (3) and later became Britain's first home-grown over-the-board Chess Grandmaster,(4) after finishing third with 9.0/15 at Dubna (1976) in February.(3) Miles received a £5,000 award from James Slater for this feat.(1),(2),(3)
One of the World's Best Chessplayers
His first great tournament win was Amsterdam (1976), where he shared first place with Viktor Korchnoi. (2),(3) He shared 2nd place at Lone Pine (1976), and won Amsterdam (1977) and Biel (1977).(3) Miles came in 2nd at Tilburg Interpolis (1977), shared 4th at Buenos Aires (Konex) (1979), shared 2nd at Buenos Aires (Clarin) (1979) and 2nd at Lone Pine (1980). In 1980, the European Team Championship in Skara, Sweden saw England paired against the USSR.(2) Most crucial for England's 4.0-4.0 draw in the match, was Miles' spectacular win over the World Champion, Karpov vs Miles, 1980, replying to 1.e4 with 1...a6.(2) Miles also had good results at Las Palmas (1980), sharing 1st with Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian and Efim Geller, and scored +4 -1 =6 at Vrbas (1980), ahead of Petrosian.(3) He finished Baden-Baden (1981) unbeaten and equal 1st together with Zoltan Ribli, ahead of Korchnoi.(3) Miles won his first and only British Championship title in Torquay, in 1982.(3). He shared 1st with John Nunn at Biel (1983),(3). In 1984, he finshied 2nd behind Karpov at Oslo (1984),(3) before winning Tilburg (1984) by 1.5 points, which was called his "best result" by Barden.(2). In addition, he scored +1 -0 =3 at USSR vs. Rest of the World (1984). A remarkable event was his 22-board Blindfold Simul in Roetgen, Germany on 20 May 1984.(5) Miles scored +10 -2 =10 during the 11.5 hours lasting Simul, while in a sound proofed booth and without access to score sheets.(5) At Tilburg (1985), Miles shared 1st with Robert Huebner and Korchnoi, beating the latter in both games, Korchnoi vs Miles, 1985 and Miles vs Korchnoi, 1985. (3) After a bad start, Miles injured his back and started a winning streak when playing on a hospital massage table.(2) In 1986, Miles came in shared 2nd at Dortmund (1986),(3) but lost a match in Basel against Garry Kasparov by the score of +0 -5 =1, remarking afterwards: "I thought that he was 'only' the World Champion. When I came to Basel, I met some kind of monster with one hundred eyes, which do not miss anything at all."(6)
Despite his many excellent results, Miles never became a World Champion candidate, although he participated in four Inter-zonals.(3) Leonard William Barden explained: "The problem was that he globetrotted too much, travelling from one tournament to another with hardly a break, leaving insufficient time for preparation and rest."(2)
Later Chess Career
A new generation of British chessplayers, among them Nigel Short began to overtake him.(2) Short had already reached a higher rating than Miles, yet only played on board 3 at the Dubai Olympiad (1986), where England won the Silver medal.(7) Short explained in his obituary for Miles: "I obtained a measure of revenge not only by eclipsing Tony in terms of chess performance but also by sleeping with his girlfriend, which was definitely satisfying but perhaps not entirely gentlemanly."(8) Later, Short explained: "Tony was insanely jealous of my success, and his inability to accept that he was no longer Britain’s number one was an indication of, if not a trigger for, his descent into madness. His first psychiatric internment came in 1987, and he was in and (usually) out of institutions for the remainder of his days. Thankfully, there was much more to him than that."(9)
The year 1987 became most crucial for Miles' career and life, when he made public what had happened 2 years before, at the Inter-zonal in Tunisia (1985). Back then, Raymond Keene had approached Miles and wanted to become his second. It was known that Miles didn't want a second and he declined again, so Keene offered him the opportunity to make money. English chess supporters had established a fund to finance the expenses and fees of seconds for those English chessplayers, who had reached the Inter-zonals. All Miles had to do, was to claim that Keene had been his second, and then Keene would split the profits with him. Miles said that he should go ahead, and if he was asked about it, wouldn't contradict Keene, but answer that seconds were underpaid. Since Keene didn't act as his second, Miles forgot about the issue. At the British Championship in Edinburgh, three months later, Keene handed Miles a cheque for £589. Miles photo-copied the cheque and two years later, after failed private investigations, he confronted David W Anderton who said that Keene had acted as Miles' second and had been paid as such. Miles explained to him what had happened and handed him a cheque for £589 in favour of Keene, in case Keene returned the whole money to the British Chess Federation (BCF). After a preliminary inquiry by David Jarrett and Mohammed Amin, the BCF decided to hold a formal inquiry into the accusations in October 1987. Obsessed with bringing Keene to justice, Miles became more and more irrational and when the inquiry was postponed due to the death of Keene's wife's grandmother, Miles believed that he had caused her death. Miles was arrested in Downing Street when trying to talk to the Prime-Minister,(10) later writing: "Perhaps I should mention that I spent several months in hospital from the end of September 87 – a result of banging my head against a bureaucratic brick wall – and am especially ill-informed for that period."(11) Keene let the BCF know that he wouldn't attend the inquiry at the new or any future date and that he resigned from the BCF. In The Times, Keene said that his resignation had nothing to do with the accusations, but to establish the English Chess Association. While Miles underwent treatment in a mental hospital in Birmingham, the BCF dropped the inquiry. Keene said that he had been Miles' second, spending much time with him at Tunis. He also said that he expected to be Short's second, which was turned down. When Miles declined, Keene believed that offering him money would change his mind. According to Keene, Miles agreed by telephone. Larry Mark Christiansen, also present at Tunis: “I don’t believe Ray was Tony’s second,” he says. “Tony spent most of his time with me and another American grandmaster. Ray seemed to spend his time politicking and sitting by the hotel pool with his wife.”(10)
In 1987, Miles also transferred allegiance to the USA, when he was no longer top board of the English Olympiad team and also settled in Germany.(2) Miles' chess suffered after the scandal, but when he moved back to Birmingham, his results improved again.(2) He scored 50% at Wijk aan Zee (1989) and 8.5/15 at the US Championships (1989).(3) He shared 3rd behind Karpov and Ulf Andersson at Biel (1990) and 3rd in Biel (1992) and played for England again.(3) Miles won the Capablanca Memorial four times, in 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1999.(3) He had another great momemt at the PCA Intel Rapid Chess Grand Prix (1995) in London, where he knocked out Vladimir Kramnik in round 1, and was only stopped by Michael Adams in the semi-final.(3) Miles went on to participate in tournaments, but around 2001, his interest in chess waned: "I am playing more bridge than chess these days (bit bored!)."(12)
Chess Author
Miles wrote a chess column for the Sunday Telegraph, before he was fired by Dominic Lawson. (5) Miles wrote chess book reviews for Kingpin.(13) He also had a famous chess column, The Miles Report at Chess Café, after Edward Winter had suggested that to him in agreement with Hanon W Russell. (5) The column, which ran from July 1999 to October 2001, is still available online.(14)
Private Life
Miles was divorced twice. One of his wives was Jana Malypetrova Hartston Miles Bellin. He had no children.(2) Suffering from diabetes, Miles died of a heart failure in his sleep, in Harborne, Birmingham.(2),(3)
Theoretical Contributions
A line of the Queen's Indian Defence (E12, http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches..., 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘f3 b6 4.♗f4) is called the Miles Variation.
Sources
(1) The Telegraph, 14 November 2001, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...
(2) Leonard William Barden, The Guardian, 14 November 2001, http://www.theguardian.com/news/200...
(3) Mark Crowther, The Week in Chess 367, 19 November 2001, http://www.theweekinchess.com/html/...
(4) Jacques Mieses (GM title in 1950) was a naturalized Brit originally from Germany. Keith Bevan Richardson held the Correspondence GM title.
(5) Edward Winter, Tony Miles (1955-2001), http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
(6) Interview with Heinz Weber, Basler Zeitung, 23 May 1986, p. 3. Reprinted in Edward Winter, Kasparov v Miles, Basle, 1986, http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/.... Translated by User: Karpova, original: "Ich glaubte, er sei 'bloss' der Weltmeister. Als ich dann nach Basel kam, traf ich eine Art Monster mit hundert Augen, denen auch nicht das Geringste entgeht."
(7) Wojciech Bartelski, OlimpBase :: the online encyclopaedia of international team chess events, http://www.olimpbase.org/1986/1986i... and http://www.olimpbase.org/1986/1986e...
(8) Nigel Short, Sunday Telegraph, 18 November 2001. Reproduced in Justin Horton, Ten years ago this week, 16 November 2011, http://streathambrixtonchess.blogsp...
(9) Nigel Short, The Sunday chess column, The Telegraph, 30 November 2003, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...
(10) Nick Pitt, Sunday Times Colour Supplement, Keene's Gambit, 13 January 1991, pp. 16-26. Reproduced in http://streathambrixtonchess.blogsp.... Anthony Miles, Generous to a Fault, Kingpin, issue 15, Summer 1989. Published online on 10 November 2011, http://www.kingpinchess.net/2011/11...
(11) Anthony Miles in a letter to Edward Winter, 24 July 1989. Reprinted in Edward Winter, Tony Miles (1955-2001), http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
(12) Anthony Miles in an e-mail to Edward Winter, 10 January 2001. Reproduced in Edward Winter, Tony Miles (1955-2001), http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
(13) Review of Eric Schiller 's Unorthodox Chess Openings: http://www.kingpinchess.net/2009/02.... Review of Keene's and Michael Gelb's Samurai Chess: Mastering the Martial Art of the Mind: http://www.kingpinchess.net/2009/02....
(14) Zip-file for download, http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/p...
Wikipedia article: Tony Miles
Kibitzing
