Born, November 17, 1971, Michael Adams lives in Taunton, Devon and London when not travelling to chess tournaments around the world.

He first won the British Championships on debut in 1989 at age 17, entitling him to the title Chess Grand Master. He won the tournament again in 1997.

Adams was awarded Player of the Year by the British Chess Federation in 1990, 1993-96 and 1998-2002 a record number of titles.

Adams has been an international chess professionally for nearly two decades, reaching his highest FIDE ranking of third in the world in 2002.

He is currently ranked number 1 in Britain and number 7 worldwide, with an ELO rating of 2741. He has won 62.5% of his games between 1979 and 2005.