{{Short description|Swedish chess player (born 1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox chess biography | name = Thomas Engqvist | image = | caption = | country = Sweden | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1963|12|03}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | title = International Master (1993) | peakrating = 2440 (January 1994) }} '''Thomas Engqvist''' (born 6 December 1963) is a Swedish chess player and author.
==Chess career== Engqvist was born on 6 December 1963.<ref>{{BnF|17750050x}}.</ref> He began playing chess in the autumn of 1976, at the age of twelve, when he joined SK 33, a small chess club in Enköping.<ref name=Engqvist2014>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Engqvist|year=2014|chapter=About the Author|title=Petrosian: Move by Move|location=London|publisher=Everyman|isbn=978-1-78194-180-5}}</ref><ref name=Engqvist2023>{{cite book|first=Thomas|last=Engqvist|year=2023|chapter=Introduction|title=Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach|location=London|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-1-84994-804-3}}</ref><ref name=Lille>{{cite newspaper|first=Lotta|last=Lille|date=13 July 2019|title=Schackikonen Andersson porträtteras i ny bok|url=https://www.eposten.se/nyheter/schack/artikel/schackikonen-andersson-portratteras-i-ny-bok/jnnp3xmj|newspaper={{ill|Enköpings-Posten|sv}}|language=sv|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250906072348/https://www.eposten.se/nyheter/schack/artikel/schackikonen-andersson-portratteras-i-ny-bok/jnnp3xmj|archive-date=6 September 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> The first chess books he read were by the Swedish grandmaster Gideon Ståhlberg.<ref name=Engqvist2023/>
He won an IM tournament in Titograd in 1991, and came third in the Swedish Championships of 1992 and 1993.<ref name=Engqvist2014/>
He was awarded the title of International Master in 1993, at the age of twenty-nine.<ref name=Engqvist2014/><ref>{{cite web|title=Engqvist, Thomas|url=https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1700332|publisher=FIDE|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250125004901/https://ratings.fide.com/profile/1700332|archive-date=25 January 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
His highest FIDE rating was 2440, which he achieved in January 1994.<ref name=Engqvist2014/><ref>{{cite web|title=FIDE historical ratings|url=https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/ratings/|website=Mark-weeks.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241204194315/https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/ratings/|archive-date=4 December 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>
He became a member of SK Rockaden in 1995,<ref name=Engqvist2014/> and won the club championship in 2006–2007.<ref>{{cite web|title=Klubbmästare|url=https://www.rockaden.com/klubbmastare/|language=sv|publisher=SK Rockaden|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250514025735/https://www.rockaden.com/klubbmastare/|archive-date=14 May 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Writing career== ''Petrosian: Move by Move'' (2014) was nominated for the English Chess Federation's Book of the Year Award. Ray Edwards and Julian Farrand stated: "According to Kasparov, Petrosian had a very distinctive style, the key to which even the greatest players could not locate. Engqvist has made a determined effort to find it in this excellent selection of 60 best games of a much underrated world champion."<ref>{{cite web|first=Ray|last=Edwards|first2=Julian|last2=Farrand|author-link2=Julian Farrand|date=1 September 2014|title=Book of the Year 2014 – shortlist|url=https://www.englishchess.org.uk/book-of-the-year-2014-shortlist/|publisher=English Chess Federation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904010056/https://www.englishchess.org.uk/book-of-the-year-2014-shortlist/|archive-date=4 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
Reviewing ''Stein: Move by Move'' (2015) for ''Chess Life'', John Hartmann wrote: "Thomas Engqvist does an impressive job of contextualizing each of the 60 thoroughly annotated games in ''Stein: MBM'', explaining who the opponents were and incorporating extensive research into the notes. He carefully traces Stein's progression from "new Tal" to complete player, attributing some of the shift to Petrosian's influence. All of this makes for a wonderful book, and it should become the standard work on Stein's life and games."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=John|last=Hartmann|date=October 2016|title=Everyman Roundup|url=https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/2016/2016_10.pdf|magazine=Chess Life|pages=12–13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901162442/https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/2016/2016_10.pdf|archive-date=1 September 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>
In a review of ''Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach'' (2023), Raymond Keene wrote: "Engqvist's ''Chess Lessons'' is an excellent book and I recommend it for its historical, pedagogical and literary values. It is, in fact, a concise account of the intellectual development of chess over the past five centuries."<ref>{{cite web|first=Raymond|last=Keene|author-link=Raymond Keene|date=18 February 2023|title=Grandmasters of the Chessboard|url=https://www.thearticle.com/grandmasters-of-the-chessboard|website=The Article|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250905223205/https://www.thearticle.com/grandmasters-of-the-chessboard|archive-date=5 September 2025|url-status=live}}</ref>
Engqvist has written two books on Ulf Andersson (one in Swedish and one in English).<ref name=Lille/><ref name=Sands>{{cite web|first=David R.|last=Sands|date=19 August 2025|title=A defensive master's attacking masterpieces|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/aug/19/defensive-masters-attacking-masterpieces/|website=The Washington Times|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250905223533/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/aug/19/defensive-masters-attacking-masterpieces/|archive-date=5 September 2025|url-status=live}}</ref> Reviewing ''Ulf the Attacker'' (2025) for ''The Washington Times'', David R. Sands said Engqvist shone "an unexpected light on one of his country's best and most popular players of the modern era".<ref name=Sands/> Engqvist has stated that, of all Andersson's game, his favourite is the game Andersson played against Anatoly Karpov in Milan in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|first=Ingemar|last=Falk|date=14 June 2019|title=Engqvist "Jag vill visa upp Ulf som angreppsspelare"|url=https://schack.se/nyhet/okategoriserade/2019/06/engqvist-jag-vill-visa-upp-ulf-som-angreppsspelare/|website=Schack.se|language=sv|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250123173517/https://schack.se/nyhet/okategoriserade/2019/06/engqvist-jag-vill-visa-upp-ulf-som-angreppsspelare/|archive-date=23 January 2025|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite chessgames.com game|gid=1019693|title=Anatoly Karpov vs Ulf Andersson}}</ref>
==Publications== ===In English=== *{{cite book|year=2014|title=Petrosian: Move by Move|publisher=Everyman|isbn=978-1-78194-180-5}} *{{cite book|year=2015|title=Stein: Move by Move|publisher=Everyman|isbn=978-1-78194-269-7}} *{{cite book|year=2016|title=Chess Strategy for Kids|publisher=Gambit|isbn=978-1-910093-87-0}} *{{cite book|year=2017|title=Réti: Move by Move|publisher=Everyman|isbn=978-1-78194-384-7}} *{{cite book|year=2018|title=300 Most Important Chess Positions|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-1-84994-512-7}} *{{cite book|year=2021|title=300 Most Important Tactical Chess Positions|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-1-84994-612-4}} *{{cite book|year=2022|title=300 Most Important Chess Exercises|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-1-84994-751-0}} *{{cite book|year=2023|title=Chess Lessons from a Champion Coach|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-1-84994-804-3}} *{{cite book|year=2023|title=The Caro-Kann: The Easy Way|publisher=Batsford|isbn=978-1-84994-816-6}} *{{cite book|year=2025|title=The Scandinavian Defense Revisited|publisher=Thinkers|isbn=978-94-93435-07-0}} *{{cite book|year=2025|title=Ulf the Attacker|publisher=New in Chess|isbn=978-90-834834-4-3}} ===In Swedish=== *{{cite book|year=2019|title=Schackets Mästare: I huvudet på Ulf Andersson|others=With Robert Okpu|publisher=Sportförlaget i Europa|isbn=978-91-87589-28-7}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{FIDE|1700332}} *{{OlimpBase FIDE ratings|Engqvist,%20Thomas}} *{{Chessgames player|29066}} *{{365Chess.com player|Thomas_Engqvist|Thomas Engqvist}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Engqvist, Thomas}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:Chess International Masters Category:Swedish chess players Category:Swedish chess writers Category:Swedish male non-fiction writers