Raymond Keene OBE is a grandmaster and chess correspondent of The Times and The Spectator. He is a former British champion and has won gold medals in various European championships. He holds the world record (200 and counting) for the greatest number of books to which he has materially contributed, or written solo, on chess, Mind Sports, thinking and genius. At Trinity College Cambridge he studied Modern Languages and spent his finals year sharing digs with HRH The Prince of Wales. He has played on top board for Cambridge University and England and won bronze medals in The Chess Olympiads and The Commonwealth championship. The 2018 London contest was the first world chess championship to be held in London since 1872 which Ray did not personally organise.
Byron Jacobs won numerous national junior championships and went on to acquire the international master title. He is a chess journalist, chess publisher and general games expert (he also excels at poker). He has been the chess correspondent of The New Statesman and had chess articles published in The Times, The Independent, Chess and British Chess Magazine. He is the commissioning editor and advisor for the world's leading chess publisher, Everyman Chess, is the author or co-author of 18 chess books and runs a chess publishing company that has produced over 400 books.