Tony Miles, 46; Britain’s First Chess Grandmaster

Tony Miles, 46, Britain’s first chess grandmaster, was found dead at his home in Birmingham, England, on Monday, police said.

Police were called after a friend failed to get an answer at Miles’ home. No cause of death was given, but officials said they did not consider it suspicious.

Born an only child in Birmingham, Miles learned chess from his father at an early age. He became a prodigy and was a grandmaster by age 21.

He won the World Junior Championships in 1976 while attending Sheffield University. He was ranked among the world’s top 10 players throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and was a silver medalist in the Chess Olympiads of 1984 and 1986.

Miles created something of a stir in the chess world in 1985, when he played a tournament in Tilburg, Netherlands. Complaining of a bad back, he played while lying on a massage table. He stayed on his back while thinking about plays and flopped over on his stomach to make the actual moves.