Editing Raymond Keene (section)

==Chess career==
Keene won the London and British Under 18 Championships (shared with Brian Denman) in 1964,<ref>Raymond Keene, ''Becoming a Grandmaster'', Batsford, 1977, p. 11. {{ISBN|0-7134-0830-8}}.</ref> and represented England at the 1965 and 1967 [[World Junior Chess Championship]]s, held in [[Barcelona]] and [[Jerusalem]] respectively. At the latter event he took the silver medal, finishing behind [[Julio Kaplan]].<ref>B. M. Kažić, ''International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events'', Pitman Publishing, 1974, pp. 278–80. {{ISBN|0-273-07078-9}}.</ref> He was educated at [[Dulwich College]] and [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] (where he studied modern languages and graduated with an [[Master of Arts|MA]]). Keene wrote his first chess book whilst studying at Cambridge, and won the [[British Chess Championship]] at [[Blackpool]] 1971. As a result, he was awarded the [[International Master]] title in 1972, the first English player to achieve this since [[Jonathan Penrose]] in 1961. In 1974, Keene married Annette, the sister of International Master [[David S. Goodman]]. They have one son, Alexander, born in 1991.

Keene was the second British player to meet the necessary requirements to become a [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]]. He was pipped to the post by a few months by [[Tony Miles]], the first British Grandmaster in 1976. Both he and Miles won financial prizes for this feat.

Miles and Keene were at the forefront of the English chess explosion of the next 20 years, and they were followed by other British grandmasters such as [[Michael Stean]], [[John Nunn]], [[Jon Speelman]] and [[Jonathan Mestel]].

Keene represented England for nearly two decades in international team events, beginning with the [[17th Chess Olympiad|1966 Chess Olympiad]] in [[Havana]] at age 18. He followed with the next seven straight Olympiads: [[18th Chess Olympiad|Lugano 1968]], [[19th Chess Olympiad|Siegen 1970]], [[20th Chess Olympiad|Skopje 1972]], [[21st Chess Olympiad|Nice 1974]], [[22nd Chess Olympiad|Haifa 1976]], [[23rd Chess Olympiad|Buenos Aires 1978]], and [[24th Chess Olympiad|La Valletta 1980]]. His individual performances at Lugano and Haifa merited bronze medals (although individual medals were not, in fact, awarded at Haifa<ref>[http://www.olimpbase.org/1976/1976in.html#medals Individual Medals] Olimpbase: 22nd Chess Olympiad, Haifa 1976.</ref>) and he was undefeated in three Olympiads – these two and Siegen. His later performances, though, were less impressive, with just two draws from four games at Buenos Aires and losses in both his games at La Valletta.<ref>[http://www.olimpbase.org/1980/1980id01.html], consulted 9 September 2009</ref>

He represented England four times at the Students' Olympiad ([[Örebro]] 1966, [[Harrachov]] 1967, [[Ybbs]] 1968 and [[Dresden]] 1969) and four times at the [[European Team Chess Championship|European Team Championships]] ([[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] 1973, Moscow 1977, [[Skara]] 1980 and [[Plovdiv]] 1983). At Skara he won both a bronze medal with the team and the individual gold medal for the best score on his board.

Keene won the 1971 British championship and shared second place on three occasions, in 1968, 1970 and 1972. His tournament victories include [[Hastings International Chess Congress|Hastings Challengers 1966]], Slater Challenge [[Southend]] 1968, [[Johannesburg]] 1973, [[Woolacombe]] 1973, Capablanca Memorial (Master Group) 1974, [[Alicante]] 1977, [[Sydney]] 1979, [[Dortmund]] 1980, [[Barcelona]] 1980, Lloyds Bank Masters 1981, [[Adelaide]] 1983 and [[La Valletta]] 1985.

===Playing style===
Keene's playing style tended toward the strategically original and positional. Strongly influenced by [[Aron Nimzowitsch]] and [[Richard Réti]], he accordingly preferred hypermodern openings such as the [[Modern Defence]], [[Nimzo-Indian Defence]] and [[King's Indian Defence]].<ref>Keene, ''Becoming a Grandmaster'', pp. 73–76.</ref>