John Donaldson

John Donaldson

Guest Speaker

International Chess Master; Biographer

Like many chess players from his generation, John Donaldson became fascinated with the game while following the Fischer-Spassky World Championship match played in the summer of 1972. Not long after it ended he joined the Tacoma (Washington) Chess Club where despite a late start (age 14) he made steady progress earning his National Master and Senior Master titles in 1977 and 1979, respectively.  He became an International Master in 1983 and currently has two of the needed three norms for the Grandmaster title. For the past 35 years Donaldson has been a chess professional working as a writer, journalist, coach and historian of the game as well as playing. He has served as the US team captain 21 times including 13 of the biennial Chess Olympiads. Highlights include first place finishes in the 1993 World Team Championship and the 2016 Chess Olympiad. Donaldson has served as Director of the Mechanics’ Institute Chess Club of San Francisco, the nation’s oldest, for twenty years. Donaldson the author of over 30 books on all aspects of chess with an emphasis on the history of the game and individual players. Among his best-known works are biographies on Akiva Rubinstein, Bobby Fischer, and Alexander Alekhine.