Hero of the Month
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Tim Upton
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Although
Scotland's FM Tim Upton now lives in Luxembourg with his charming
wife Andree and delightful son Anthony, he is still a most fervent supporter
of Hibernian football team and...wait for it...of course, just what you'd
expect...the Ponziani Opening!! Yes, Tim has been playing 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3
Nc6 3 c3 as White for the best part of the 41+ years since his birth in
the city of St Andrews on Friday 19 December 1958!Tim enjoyed a particularly special purple patch in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His excellent chess results during that period included the following:- winning the 1976 Scottish Under-19 Championship; finishing in a high 5th= place at the European Junior Championship in Groningen 1978---the same year in which Tim also represented Scotland at the Buenos Aires Olympiad (his first of nine, so far!); notching up an impressive IM norm at the 1980 Under-26 Olympiad in Mexico City; gaining the F.I.D.E. Master title in 1982---a crowning year in which Tuesday 31 August was especially memorable for our hero's 30-move win using his favourite Ponziani system against Glenn Flear (a future GM) at the Lloyds Bank Masters tournament. See game G8.3 for all the annotated action.
Tim's numerous successes as a chessplayer are also matched by many very fine academic achievements which led to him becoming first an accountant in London, before moving on to Luxembourg in 1994 to take up a permanent position at the European Court of Auditors. Clearly, Tim is extremely good at keeping people in check (on and off the chessboard!!).
To conclude this passage on a light amusing note, just picture a Ponziani 'theme tournament' in which all games must begin with the moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c3, and we MUST BET TIPS ON one of the players to win the event. Well, I would swiftly rearrange the 13 lucky bold letters above to give TIM UPTON'S BEST!!