| Biography | Raymond Dennis Keene OBE (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess Grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971, and was the first player from England to earn a Grandmaster norm, in 1974. In 1976 he became the second Englishman, following Tony Miles, to be awarded the Grandmaster title. He represented his country in eight Chess Olympiads.
Keene retired from competitive play in 1986 at the age of thirty eight, and is now better known as a chess organiser, columnist and author. He was involved in organising the 1986, 1993 and 2000 World Chess Championships; and the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Mind Sports Olympiads; all held in London. He has been chess correspondent of The Times since 1985, and is a prolific author, having written over 100 books on chess. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to chess in 1985.
Keene is a controversial figure in the chess world, and has had disputes with John Donaldson, Tony Miles, David Levy, and Viktor Korchnoi. He has been accused of plagiarism, and his business dealings and the quality of some of his chess books have also been criticised. |