GM Glenn Flear was part of the England 50+ first team that successfully defended their title as European 50+ Seniors Team Champions in July. A chess coach and author, Glenn has spent nearly 30 years living in Montpellier, France, with his wife Christine (née Leroy) and their two sons. The high point in his career came in 1986, when, as an IM, he pulled off one of the great tournament upsets in winning the prestigious London International Tournament which included some of the world’s strongest players. Born and raised in Leicester, this incredible feat can be compared to Glenn’s hometown football club winning the Premier League 30 years later. In September the ECF welcomed Glenn as part of the writing team in Chess Moves with his monthly column Endgames All Club Players Should Know.
Let’s start with the magical year of 1986 when you won the London International Tournament that included chess A-listers Murray Chandler, Nigel Short, John Nunn, Zoltan Ribli, Lev Polugaevsky, Rafael Vaganian, Lajos Portisch, Boris Spassky, Jonathan Speelman, Bent Larsen, Jonathan Mestel and Jim Plaskett. Not a bad return for an IM, and you also married your fiancée Christine Leroy during the event. Tell us more about this spectacular fortnight.
Originally, they had invited Anatoly Karpov, but he couldn’t make it, so they chose Josif Dorfman and he too had a problem. Then they approached Willie Watson who lived in the London area and was intending to work at the event anyway. Willie set it up for me by replying that he didn’t mind playing if they didn’t have anybody else, but that they should ask me first because I had a higher Elo rating. I accepted, so they were stuck with me! A few days before the event they tracked me down to the Lugano Open where David Anderton contacted me with the details.
My preparation for facing some of the world’s elite was basically reading a chess book on the bus journey from my Streatham base into central London. This already paid dividends in Round One when I beat World Junior Champion Max Dlugy with Black in a Catalan, using an idea that I had gleaned from this last-minute prep. And when you start well, you just need to keep going.
It was my first experience of playing with retransmitted moves direct from the chess board, as this technology was cutting edge at the time. I was so nervous about making a complete fool of myself with the chess world watching, that it seemed to induce me into becoming highly concentrated. I was also spurred on by my fiancée watching.
Anyway, it all clicked, and I won the tournament with my first GM norm (with two rounds to spare). And I got my GM title in 1987. I also had an important condition that I made in advance of the London tournament. I needed 22 March as a free day as I was getting married, and Jim Plaskett kindly agreed to switch our game to another date. And just to make the tournament extra special, we also moved from Streatham to Leicester during the event. It was indeed an eventful couple of weeks.
In those days there were adjournments, and games were sometimes completed on another day. This is indeed ancient history for some, and possibly a weird idea to younger folk. I claim to be unique in that I started a game (against Jonathan Speelman) as a bachelor and completed it after getting married. I don’t think anybody else can match this and, with modern time limits, I doubt it can happen again.
You have been in France for nearly 30 years. What made you move there?
My wife Christine is French, and she has also had achievements in the chess world (WIM and five-time French Women’s Champion). We lived until the mid-1990s in Oadby, Leicester, but once we had our first son it became clear that travelling to France was more complicated than before. Also, there weren’t that many interesting chess events in the UK, whereas the chess scene was more dynamic in France, and that’s where we were playing most of the time.
We chose the Montpellier area in the south of France where we had many chess friends. The lifestyle and weather suited us well. Speaking the language enabled me to fit it without any problems right from the start.
How does the French Federation differ from the ECF?
In France, each region has its particularities and its own set of tournaments, so there is plenty of choice. There are many more ELO-rated tournaments compared to the UK. They have a professionally run federation and their Adult and Junior Leagues are second to none. Having ‘real’ chess clubs where there are coaches who give regular courses to youngsters of all strengths is the main underlying secret behind the chess explosion in France. I already explained this system in detail 25 years ago, but until recently there haven’t been any major strides in this direction in the UK (perhaps with the exception of the Accelerator Programme). If you compare the number of IMs and GMs that the French have generated over England since the 1990s, this proves they must be getting something right!
The number of ‘serious’ junior players in France will come across as extraordinary to many readers. Their journey involves ‘county’ and regional tournaments ahead of the French Junior Championships in the spring. This is an important event in the calendar where there are more than 1500 players present, that is after qualification(!), and around 100 coaches present, many of whom are professional and titled players. The UK Championships for juniors sadly has a lower status. A consequence is that, for every promising UK junior, the French have around 10 in the same age-group.
Interestingly, England was far ahead of France in the 1980s, but rested on its laurels rather too long. My view is that it would be better if the Junior Championships were at a different time of the year from the adult national championships (Easter holidays, for example, asin France) as they can attract media attention, and I suspect that many localities are keen to organise such a prestigious event. A learning trip to the French Junior by an ECF official could well prove to be a good investment!
Having chess considered as a sport adds to the status and it helps with funding and partnerships. The fact that it’s also recognised as of educational value means that there are some parts of France that have chess in schools, and I mean public, not private. I’m slightly out of touch with the UK chess scene, but the readers will perhaps have their own opinions on the subject!
One striking example is Corsica. For an Island with a population of around 300,000, it has13 professional chess coaches, and every schoolchild comes into contact with chess at some point or another. They recently produced their first GM, Marc’Andria Maurizzi who is 16, has an ELO in the mid-2550s and has just won the World Junior!
In comparison with the UK, France is very bureaucratic – there are too many strikes, and I don’t like the dog excrement in the streets! Certainly, Indian restaurants are better in Leicester than anywhere this side of the channel, but you can’t have everything! My home is on the edge of one of the fastest-growing French cities, Montpellier, which boasts modern, high-tech and ecologically-friendly transformations all combined with the Mediterranean lifestyle. I really love the fruit and veg down here!
Tell us about your published chess books and your coaching in France.
There are some opening works and quite a few endgames. The latter gave me the most pleasure in writing and naturally lasted a lot longer in terms of relevance. In particular, I like Practical Endgame Play – Beyond the Basics where I examine pseudo-endgames with two pieces each: no-one else had done this to such a degree beforehand. Then there is my last work Tacticmania which was a family project with my wife and one of my sons involved and presents calculation exercises from Flear games.
One of the advantages of being an author is that some folk have heard of me and this gets you extra invites and pupils! I do quite a lot of coaching with about a 50-50 mix between French and British pupils. In France some of the pupils’ fees are paid in part by their club or regional Federation. In England, there is the aptly-named Accelerator Programme which helps a chosen few on their way and is bearing fruit already with players such as Shreyas Royal having been helped in this way. I was recently contacted to get involved and have worked the last few months with some of England’s best prospects. I enjoy this, as I learn a lot from my pupils, as they keep me on my toes. In both countries, when it comes down to it, for those not quite making the cut, there is no substitute for being highly motivated and having a fair-sized budget.
Please show us a link to one of your favourite games and why it is special for you.
I have too many favourite games to confidently pick out just one, but I found the games of Botvinnik (analysed by himself) to be particularly instructive when I was young. In any case, it’s still a good idea to familiarise oneself with the best games of the great masters.
Picture by Brendan O’Gorman - https://brendanogorman.smugmug.com/Chess