Born in 1971 in Truro, Michael Adams, known as Mickey, has a strong claim to being Britain's best ever chess player. He broke all significant national age records to become a grandmaster and win the British Championship at the age of 17 in 1989.

In 2007 Mickey won the 5th Staunton Memorial with a score of 8½/11 and in 2008 won the 2nd Ruy Lopez Masters tournament held in Merida, Spain, scoring 5½/7. In August 2008 he then won a second successive Staunton Memorial, scoring 8/11.

Mickey is currently the top-rated player in the UK and the 2011 British Champion. He will be making his fifth appearance in Gibraltar in 2012, having won the tournament in 2010 after a play-off with Jan Gustafsson and Paco Vallejo Pons.

In Sept 2011 Mickey won his second event in a row scoring 7½/9, a point clear of Loek van Wely, at the 1st Metropolitan FIDE Invitational in Los Angeles.