Natasha Regan
{{Short description|English chess player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox chess player
|image=
|name=Natasha Regan
|caption=
|birthname=Natasha Katherine Regan
|country={{ENG}}
|birth_date={{Birth date and age|1971|6|12|df=yes}}
|birth_place=London, England
|title=Woman International Master (2002)
|rating=
|peakrating= 2208 (July 2004)
|FideID=403067
}}
Natasha Katherine Regan is a chess player and an award-winning chess author, best known for her book Game Changer. She has represented England at two Chess Olympiads.[http://britishchessnews.com/2020/06/12/happy-birthday-wim-natasha-regan-12-vi-1971/] British Chess News page about Natasha Regan] retrieved 1 December 2020 As a senior (50+), she won the Women's English Seniors Chess Championship in both 2023 https://www.englishchess.org.uk/english-seniors-championships-2023/ retrieved 6 October 2024 and in 2024.https://www.englishchess.org.uk/english-seniors-championships-2024/ retrieved 6 October 2024
Regan is also a successful games all-rounder having won multiple medals at the Mind Sports Olympiad including back-to-back Women's Pentamind in 2023 and 2024.https://mindsportsolympiad.com/andres-kuusk-wins-a-record-6th-pentamind/ retrieved 6 October 2024[https://msoworld.com/all-time-medals-table/ MSO Results page navigate to player] retrieved 1 December 2020
She is also an accomplished Go player. Partnering with Matthew Cocke, she has won the British pair Go championship seven times and has taken bronze at the European Pair Go Championship.[https://www.britgo.org/pairgo/pairuk.html BGA Pair Go results] retrieved 1 December 2020 Natasha has represented the UK at Go at the first World Mind Sports Games in Beijing 2008 and again in 2012.[https://www.britgo.org/events/wmsg/team BGA WMSG team page] retrieved 1 December 2020[https://www.britgo.org/wmsg2012 BGA results summary from WMSG 2012] retrieved 1 December 2020
Personal life
Natasha studied mathematics at King's College, Cambridge University[https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/1998-99/weekly/5770/27.html Cambridge University results website] retrieved 1 December 2020 and is a professional actuary with twin daughters and a son, Oscar Selby. She taught Oscar math, leading him to become the youngest person ever to obtain the grade of A*, the maximum grade for a GCSE, in 2010 for Mathematics.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-11069666 "Seven-year-old maths whizz-kid gains A* in GCSE exam", BBC, 24 August 2010
Chess
While at Cambridge University she became the first female player to play above Board 8 (formerly known as the ladies' board) in the 1992 Oxford and Cambridge Varsity Chess Match.{{Cite web |title=Chess For Life Sadler and Regan » Matthew Sadler |url=https://matthewsadler.me.uk/chess-for-life/ |website=Matthew Sadler}}{{Cite web |title=BritBase Chess: 110th Varsity Match, Oxford v Cambridge, 1992 |url=http://www.saund.co.uk/britbase/pgn/199203vars-viewer.html |website=www.saund.co.uk}} Natasha represented England at the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manilla and the 1994 Chess Olympiad in Moscow. Natasha was awarded the FIDE rank of Woman International Master in 2002.
In September 2019, she was elected to the Board of the English Chess Federation (ECF).[https://www.englishchess.org.uk/about/ecf-officials/ ECF officers webpage], retrieved 1 December 2020
Books
Natasha has co-authored two chess books alongside English chess Grandmaster Matthew Sadler. Their first collaboration Chess For Life won ECF book of the year.[https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-book-of-the-year-presentation-2/ ECF page on award presentation] retrieved 1 December 2020 It interviews and details the way several notable chess players' styles and games evolved throughout their chess careers.{{Cite web |title=Awards – Resource |url=https://www.ecfresource.co.uk/ecf-awards/}} Her collaboration with Matt Ball, Zwischenzug! about intermediate moves in chess was nominated for the 2024 ECF book of the year.https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-book-of-the-year-shortlist-3/
= Game Changer =
Natasha Regan came up with the idea for her and GM Matthew Sadler's second collaboration Game Changer[https://en.chessbase.com/post/interview-with-natasha-regan-and-matthew-sadler ChessBase interview with Natasha Regan and Matthew Sadler], retrieved 1 December 2020 which won the FIDE chess book of the year.[https://trainers.fide.com/2020/07/08/game-changer-wins-the-averbakh-boleslavsky-award-2019/ FIDE Averbakh-Boleslavsky Award 2019 webpage] retrieved 1 december 2020 It details the lessons that can be learnt from how DeepMind's revolutionary computer program AlphaZero plays chess.[https://en.chessbase.com/post/game-changer-wins-averbakh-boleslavsky-award-2019 Chess Base article on FIDE book of the year 2019] retrieved 1 December 2020
The book has been influential upon competitive chess. At the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2019, after a draw with Teimour Radjabov, number 1 ranked chess player and world champion, Magnus Carlsen commented about Game Changer: "I found the book quite inspirational. I was thinking at several points during the game: How would AlphaZero have approached this?"[https://www.chess.com/blog/HanSchut/book-review-game-changer-my-book-of-the-year Hans Schut book of the year review and chess.com], retrieved 1 December 2020
Bibliography
- {{Cite book |last=Regan, Natasha |title=Trends in the Smith-Morra Gambit |last2=Lalic, Susan |publisher=Tournament Chess |year=1997 |isbn=978-1859320730}}
- {{Cite book |last=Regan, Natasha |title=Trends in the Bird's Opening |last2=Lalic, Susan |publisher=Trends Publications |year=1998 |isbn=978-1859320372}}
- {{Cite book |last=Sadler, Matthew |title=Chess For Life |last2=Regan, Natasha |publisher=Gambit |year=2016 |isbn=978-1910093832}}
- {{Cite book |last=Sadler, Matthew |title=Game Changer |last2=Regan, Natasha |publisher=New In Chess |year=2019 |isbn=978-9056918187}}
- {{Cite book |last=Regan, Natasha |title=Zwischenzug! |last2=Ball, Matt |publisher=Chessable |year=2024 |isbn=978-9083413921}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{FIDE|id=403067}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regan, Natasha}}
Category:Chess Woman International Masters
Category:Chess Olympiad competitors
Category:English chess players
Category:21st-century Go players
Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Category:English chess writers