Simon Webb (June 10, 1949 - March 14, 2005) was a British chess player.
He was joint British under-18 champion in 1966, and fourth in the European Junior Championship in 1969. Though never a professional player, Webb participated in a number of strong tournaments, and met some strong players, including a 17-year-old Garry Kasparov at the 1980 European Team Championship (Webb lost). He was joint second in the 1975 British Championship behind William Hartston. Perhaps his best tournament result was joint first with Liuben Spassov at Hamburg 1977, ahead of Istvan Csom and Milan Matulovic. He became an International Master in 1977. His final FIDE Elo rating was 2420.
Webb took up correspondence chess in the early 1980s, and all but gave up over-the-board play. He gained the correspondence Grandmaster title in 1983 and scored a number of impressive results. In the 14th World Correspondence Chess Championship, won by Tonu Oim, Webb finished fifth of the 15 participants with 8.5/14. His final International Correspondence Chess Federation Elo rating was 2609.
Webb was perhaps best-known for his humorous book on practical tournament play, Chess for Tigers (Oxford University Press, 1978). As well as his chess achievements, he also represented England at bridge, partnered by his brother Roger.
In later years, Webb lived in Sweden. It was there that he was stabbed to death by his 25-year old son after an argument. His son, who had spent time in jail for drugs-related offences, subsequently crashed his car at high speed into a bus shelter, in an apparent attempt to kill himself (he suffered a broken nose).
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