Julian Hodgson

Julian Michael Hodgson (born 25 July 1963^[1]) is a British International Grandmaster and former British Champion of chess.
Hodgson was born in St Asaph, Wales. He first came to the notice of the chess world for his phenomenal prowess as a junior; he was London under-18 champion at 12 years of age and won the British Boys under-21 title aged just 14.^[2]

Biography

International Master and Grandmaster titles followed in 1983 and 1988 respectively. Tournament successes, either shared or outright, included second place Lloyds Bank Open 1986: first place Benidorm 1986: first place Geneva Open 1988: second place Tel Aviv 1988: first place Kecskemét 1988 and first place Dos Hermanas 1989. At San Bernardino 1989, he finished first on tie-break, ahead of strong grandmasters Kiril Georgiev and Ivan Sokolov. A frequent visitor to Spain's Seville Open, he shared first place in 1986 and 1988. At the Philadelphia World Open of 1990, he was runner-up behind Igor Glek.
In domestic competition, Hodgson competed regularly at the British Chess Championship, bagging the Champion's title on four occasions (1991, 1992, 1999, and 2000). By 2000, he was so at home with the event that he even brought his own executive chair with him, wheeling it from board to board for maximum comfort. On those occasions that he did not play, his live commentary sessions and evening lectures were well received by amateurs and competing masters alike.
In international team chess, he played for the English Olympiad team, winning the bronze team medal at Novi Sad 1990, and an individual silver medal at Manila 1992. The Manila success followed a notable win earlier in the year, at the colossal Open tournament held annually in Cappelle-la-Grande.
In 1997 he won the Canadian Open Chess Championship, and was joint winner of the National Open in Las Vegas. At Oxford in 1998, he shared victory with Jonny Hector, ahead of John Nunn and Emil Sutovsky. He was the winner of the North American Open in 1999 and in the millennium year, recorded his peak Elo rating of 2640. A return visit to the World Open saw him finish a half point behind the leaders. In 2001, he was a joint winner of the Chicago Open with Alexander Goldin.
Over a number of years, Hodgson played league chess in both the German Bundesliga and British 4NCL. Since 2003, he has not played competitive chess, due to teaching commitments.

Playing style

Aside from more formal achievements, he developed a sharp, relentless, attacking style of play and against lesser opponents this frequently resulted in devastating quick wins, earning him the epithet "Grandmaster of Disaster". Julian ("Jules") Hodgson's greatest legacy as a chess player may however lie in his resurrection of an almost forgotten opening system. The Trompowsky Attack (1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5) had floundered in the doldrums for many years, prior to his adoption and development of the opening. In interviews, he reveals that this was born out of laziness and a reluctance to learn established chess opening theory. It soon became his weapon of choice with the white pieces, leading to a surprising popularisation of the system, the spawning of a whole generation of devotees and ironically, a number of theoretical guides, containing a high quota of Hodgson's own games and analysis. Indeed, his expert treatment of the system once prompted fellow grandmaster Joe Gallagher to write that it should be renamed the Hodgson-Trompowsky Attack, a view shared by many other masters. A chess journalist once wrote that Hodgson put the 'romp' into Trompowsky.
A related, but more obscure version of the system (1.d4 d5 2. Bg5), has been dubbed by some the Hodgson Attack and by others the Pseudo-Trompowsky or Queen's Bishop Attack.

Bibliography

As an author of chess books and magazine articles, his writing style conveys the same enthusiasm as his lectures. He is perhaps most renowned for his Attack with Julian Hodgson series of books, but was also a busy contributor to the Trends series of chess opening booklets and also the Foxy Openings (VHS, later converted to DVD) series, including Trompowski-Main Line and Trompowski Success. His more major written works comprise:

• Grand Prix Attack: f4 Against the Sicilian, Collier Books, 1985, ISBN 0-02-011430-3
• Chess Traveller's Quiz Book. Cadogan Chess, London 1993, ISBN 1-85744-030-7
• Quick Chess Knockouts. Everyman Chess, 1996, ISBN 1-85744-045-5
• Attack with GM Julian Hodgson, Vol. 1. Hodgson Enterprises, London 1996, ISBN 0-9529373-0-1
• Attack with GM Julian Hodgson, Vol. 2. Hodgson Enterprises, London 1997, ISBN 0-9529373-1-X
• Secrets of the Trompovsky. Hodgson Enterprises, London 1997, ISBN 0-9529373-2-8

Notes

1. ^ Chess History & Chronology - Bill Wall
2. ^ BCM Historical Record of British Champions

References

• Olimpbase - Olympiads and other Team event information

• British Chess Magazine February 1999, No.2, Vol. 119 - Oxford International Chess Festival pp 74–83.

External links

 Julian Hodgson player profile at Chessgames.com

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Julian Michael Hodgson (St Asaph, 25 luglio 1963) è uno scacchista britannico.
Dimostrò un grande talento fin da giovanissimo: vinse il campionato di Londra under-18 all'età di 12 anni e il campionato britannico juniores (under-21) all'età di 14 anni. Divenne Maestro Internazionale nel 1983 e Grande Maestro nel 1988.
Vinse quattro volte il Campionato britannico: nel 1991, 1992, 1999 e 2000.
Partecipò a cinque Olimpiadi con la nazionale inglese, vincendo il bronzo di squadra a Novi Sad 1990 e l'argento individuale a Manila 1992.
Tra i migliori risultati di torneo i seguenti:

• 1986    1° a Benidorm – =1° a Siviglia – 2° al Lloyds Bank Open di Londra
• 1988    =1° a Ginevra – =1° a Siviglia – =2° a Tel Aviv
• 1989    1° a Dos Hermanas – 1° a San Bernardino
• 1990    2° al World Open di Filadelfia dietro a Igor Glek
• 1992    1° al colossale open di Cappelle la Grande (308 partecipanti)
• 1997    1° al Canadian Open di Winnipeg – =1° al National Open di Las Vegas

Julian Hodgson è noto per il suo stile di gioco combinativo, sempre rivolto all'attacco. È uno dei più grandi esperti (assieme a Igor Miladinović) dell'attacco Trompowsky (1.d4 Cf6 3.Ag5), che ha contribuito moltissimo a rendere popolare. Questa apertura era raramente usata in passato ma si è rivelata ricca di contenuti strategici e tattici, tanto da essere oggi ritenuta una valida alternativa al gambetto di Donna.
Hodgson ha scritto diversi libri di scacchi, tra cui:

• Grand Prix Attack: f4 Against the Sicilian, Collier Books, 1985, ISBN 0-02-011430-3
• Chess Traveller's Quiz Book. Cadogan Chess, Londra 1993, ISBN 1-85744-030-7
• Quick Chess Knockouts. Everyman Chess, 1996, ISBN 1-85744-045-5
• Attack with GM Julian Hodgson, Vol. 1. Hodgson Enterprises, Londra 1996, ISBN 0-9529373-0-1
• Attack with GM Julian Hodgson, Vol. 2. Hodgson Enterprises, Londra 1997, ISBN 0-9529373-1-X
• Secrets of the Trompovsky. Hodgson Enterprises, Londra 1997, ISBN 0-9529373-2-8

 http://it.wikipedia.org/


Hodgson Julian M (ENG) - Emms John M (ENG)
It Lloyds Bank   London
1992 A45


1.d4 Cf6 2.Ag5 Ce4 3.h4 c5 4.d5 d6 5.Dd3 Af5 6.g4 Ag6 7.h5 Da5+ 8.Ad2 Cxd2 9.Dxd2 Dxd2+ 10.Cxd2 Axc2 11.b3 c4 12.Th3 h6 13.Tc3 Ah7 14.Txc4 Cd7 15.Tac1 Rd8 16.e4 g6 17.hxg6 Axg6 18.f4 Ag7 19.Cgf3 Ab2 20.T1c2 Aa3 21.b4 a5 22.bxa5 Ac5 23.Cb3 e6 24.dxe6 fxe6 25.Cxc5 Cxc5 26.Td4 Re7 27.f5 Af7 28.e5 dxe5 29.Cxe5 Txa5 30.f6+ Rxf6 31.Txc5 Txc5 32.Cd7+ Rg5 33.Cxc5 e5 34.Ta4 b6 35.Ce4+ Rh4 36.Ae2 Td8 37.g5 b5 38.Ta6 1-0