He was the first English chess player to achieve a Grandmaster Norm in
Tournament play.
Keene has been the chess correspondent of The Times newspaper since
1985, and writes regularly for The Spectator magazine also where he has
written non stop for thirty years, the 30th anniversary being March 12,
2007.
He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE), on Queen
Elizabeth II's Honours' List, for services to chess in 1985.
He has organized world chess championship matches for more than two
decades.
He holds the world record for number of chess books written.