Early life and personal life Plaskett was born in
Dhekelia,
Cyprus, on 18 March 1960 and was educated at
Bedford Modern School, England. In the 1990s he was a chess columnist for the
New Statesman He is married to the poet
Fiona Pitt-Kethley. They relocated to
Cartagena, Spain in 2002.
Chess career At the
European Junior Chess Championship 1978/79, which was won by
John van der Wiel, Plaskett came third with 8 points out of 13 games. At the Junior EC 1979/80 Plaskett reached a shared fourth place with 8.5 points out of 13 games. Plaskett achieved the title of
International Master in 1981, and became an
International Grandmaster in 1985. He became
British Chess Champion in 1990, with 9 points out of 11 games. In 1998 he played in the 73rd Hastings tournament, which was won by
Matthew Sadler; James Plaskett reached fifth place with 4.5/9. As of 2025 he continues to be active in chess in Spain. He has written nine chess books. He undertook a three-week expedition in search of it in the waters off the Bermudan coast in August 1999, in collaboration with
Cliff Stanford of
Demon Internet.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? After appearing four times at the qualifying stage of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, In 2015, Plaskett and journalist
Bob Woffinden collaborated on a book asserting that the Ingrams were innocent. The book, titled
Bad Show: The Quiz, The Cough, The Millionaire Major, was published in January 2015. Plaskett's book on the Ingram affair inspired a stage play by
James Graham, called
Quiz. That later spawned a three part TV Drama of the same name directed by Sir Stephen Frears. ==Bibliography==