is a genius!" In international tournaments, he competed successfully at Montilla 1976 (2nd= with Kavalek and Calvo after Karpov), Montilla 1977 (3rd after Gligorić and Kavalek), London 1977 (2nd= with Mestel and Quinteros after Hort), Vršac 1979 (1st), Smederevska Palanka 1980 (1st) and Beersheba 1982 (1st). During this period, Stean frequently had to put aside his own playing ambitions, as he was engaged as one of Viktor Korchnoi's team of seconds for world championship campaigns in 1977–78 and 1980–81. In many respects, the partnerships that developed were reasonably successful; Korchnoi brushed aside some powerful rival Candidates like Boris Spassky, Robert Hübner and Lev Polugaevsky en route to his two finals with Karpov. Stean's role was mostly involved with opening preparation and he and Korchnoi became good friends. Writing While playing chess, he wrote two books – Sicilian Najdorf (Batsford, 1976) and Simple Chess (Faber, 1978). Both books were well received and the latter has become known as a chess classic, remaining in print many years later (reprinted algebraic edition – Dover, 2003). Simple Chess concentrates on simple positional ideas and strategies and shows how they might be developed with the aid of sample games. He also contributed a lengthy introduction to Bent Larsen's book about the 1978 World Championship. Retirement from chess In 1982, at the age of 29 and more or less in his chess playing prime, Michael Stean retired from chess to become a tax accountant; a decision he does not appear to have regretted, as there has been no attempted return to playing chess in subsequent years. He joined tax consultants Casson Beckman early in 1984. Stean did however serve for a while as the manager of Nigel Short. Notable game Stean-Browne, 1-0, Nice Olympiad 1974, Sicilian Najdorf – The game that won Stean the Turover Prize for 'best game' of the 1974 Olympiad. References External links 1953 births Living people Chess grandmasters English chess players British chess writers English non-fiction writers English male non-fiction writers