Watson was born in
Milwaukee and grew up in
Omaha, Nebraska. He was educated at
Brownell-Talbot,
Harvard, and the
University of California, San Diego, where he took his degree in engineering. He has won many chess tournaments including the first US National High School Chess Championship and the American Open. Watson is a renowned chess theorist and author, having published more than thirty books on many aspects of chess. His 1999 book
Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy won the
British Chess Federation's Book of the Year award as well as the
United States Chess Federation Book of the Year. The successor volume
Chess Strategy in Action was the Chesscafe Book of the Year. These two books explore and theorize how radically chess has changed since the early 20th century, and how old and supposedly 'time-tested' rules for the conduct of play have been replaced by broader and revolutionary practice . These books have been translated into several languages. In a lighter vein, Watson wrote the
Chessman comic book series, illustrated by Chris Hendrickson and Svein Myreng.
Chessman comics are now out-of-print collector's items. Watson has a regular book review columns at
The Week in Chess, the publication of the London Chess Centre (available online), and in
Chess Life. His weekly Internet radio show 'Chess Talk with John Watson' was hosted by on Chess.FM, the radio arm of the
Internet Chess Club (ICC). Watson is much in demand as a chess
coach; his students have included
Tal Shaked, the 1997
World Junior Champion, Senior Master Patrick Hummel,
Abby Marshall, and other US scholastic champions. Watson is married to drama scholar Maura Giles-Watson, who teaches at the University of San Diego; they live in
San Diego, California. ==Selected books==