David Howell (chess player)

David Howell
David Howell, Warsaw 2013
Full name	David Wei Liang Howell
Country	England
Born	(1990-11-14) 14 November 1990 (age 26) Eastbourne, England, United Kingdom
Title	Grandmaster (2007)
FIDE rating	2684 (April 2017)
Peak rating	2712 (August 2015)

David Wei Liang Howell (born 14 November 1990) is an English chess grandmaster and British champion in 2009, 2013 and 2014. He is the youngest chess Grandmaster in the United Kingdom, a title he earned when he came second during the 35th Rilton Cup in on 5 January 2007 when he was 16. The previous record holder, Luke McShane, was six months older when he became a grandmaster.

Howell was born in Eastbourne to Angeline (originally from Singapore) and Martin Howell. He has a younger sister and lives with his family in Seaford, East Sussex. He has been playing chess since the age of five years and eight months, following his father's purchase of a second-hand chess set at a jumble sale.

Howell quickly learned to defeat his father and soon came to the attention of the Sussex Junior Chess Association, where he received tuition from a number of established county players. He progressed rapidly and became the British Under-8, Under-9 and Under-10 chess champion.

In August 1999, Howell became famous internationally when he broke the world record for the youngest player to have defeated a Grandmaster in an official game. He defeated GM John Nunn in a blitz game at the Mind Sports Olympiad. Howell still holds this record. He is also the youngest player in the world to have qualified to compete in a national chess championship, taking part in the British Chess Championship in August 2000. He came fourth in the Player of the Year ballot held by the British Chess Federation during 2000.

In 2001, Howell came joint first in the European Under-12 Chess Championship and joint second in the World Under-12 Championship. In the Hastings Challengers tournament in January 2001, Howell became the youngest ever British player to defeat a grandmaster at classical time controls when he beat GM Colin McNab.