I’ve just received an extraordinarily generous anonymous donation to my GoFundMe appeal and, quite honestly, I’m rather overwhelmed by it. To the donor - whoever you are - thank you so much for your remarkable kindness and support. It means a very great deal to me, far beyond the financial help itself. More generally, I would also like to thank everyone who has donated, shared the appeal, sent encouraging messages, or simply wished me well. The goodwill and support people have shown has been genuinely touching and enormously appreciated. Representing England in these events means a great deal to me, and your support is helping to make it possible.

I'm raising £3400 to support a sports project. Check out my @JustGiving page and please donate if you can. Thank you! #JustGiving justgiving.com/crowdfunding/…

It is not easy to write this while emotions are still raw. Jonathan Hawkins and I were the closest of friends. He was kind, thoughtful and deeply empathetic, with an easy-going temperament, a sharp intelligence and an absolutely ingenious sense of humour. His company was always a pleasure. We shared similar views on many of the characters we both encountered, which only strengthened our camaraderie. Jonathan helped me in more ways than I can properly express. Although he later relocated close to me in Torbay, much of our contact - often an hour or two each day - took place online. Even so, in a rare foreign tournament for him, we travelled together to compete in the exceptionally strong Vienna Opens of 2014 and 2015. In the first, Jonathan scored 7½/9 to my 7; the following year, our scores were reversed. There is little need to dwell on Jonathan’s achievements as a grandmaster, or on the quality of his writing, both of which will be rightly highlighted elsewhere. Those accomplishments, impressive as they are, tell only part of the story. To those who knew him well, it was the generosity, warmth and decency of the man himself that mattered most. I have lost many friends over the years, often far too young, but I have never before felt quite so hit for six. Farewell to one of the good guys. Photo credit: John Upham.

It was a dominant performance from GM Keith Arkell in the 50 section of the Ill Open Internacional de Ajedrez Cap Negret. 1.5 points clear! #chess #englishchess

I've ended my 12 year Senior (50 ) career with a 1st place at Cap Negret. I scored 8.5/9, a point and a half ahead of GM Rogelio Antonio in 2nd place. Next year I'll be hunting down 65 titles...

1sts this year, as I train for the World 65 Ch. next year: Marienbad Rapidplay. Marienbad Blitz. Marienbad Senior. Cheadle. Wells. Bristol. UKCA Easter. Dublin Rapidplay. Dublin Senior. Earlsfield. Earlsfield (again). Bad Bertrich Senior. British Senior Ch. Manchester Summer. Swindon.

I thought this year’s British Championship was especially exciting. When the event was last in Liverpool, 17 years ago, there was some gentle astonishment that two “veterans” - Stuart Conquest (41) and I (47) - were battling it out in the play-off. Fast forward to this year, and the story gets even better: after Peter Roberson was eliminated we were left with Michael Adams (53) versus Stuart Conquest (58)! Inagine a senior team led by Adams, Conquest and myself! It’s actually never happened, and so our main rivals - the Americans - have got away lightly in recent years. Incidentally, I pulled off the hat trick of British senior titles - winning in 2023,4 and 5. My 3rd simul of the championships overlapped with the prize giving.

Huge congrats to GM Keith Arkell on a very impressive win in the Senior British Championships, Over 50's. 6.5/7 👏👏 We can't wait to host this legend of UK #chess next year. @ecfchess @ChessAndBridge @wightlinkferry @DigitalGameTech @FIDE_chess @Atomrod

Awesome Simul with GM Keith Arkell @Atomrod at the IOW Congress. The players faces say it all 😆 #chess #iowcongress

My kids played Grandmaster Keith Arkell at Sheffield Chess Centre tonight. A really nice guy with lots of time for the kids during his training session. Really enjoyed it 😎