Longest serving daily newspaper columnist

The longest serving daily newspaper columnist is Leonard Barden (UK), who wrote a daily chess column for the London Evening Standard, between 4 June 1956 and 31 January 2020.

Barden (b. 1929) is a chess master. He won the British Under-18 Championship in 1946 and shared the British Championship title in 1954. After studying law at Oxford University and working briefly in publishing, he devoted his career to chess journalism and promotion, becoming one of the game’s most influential popularisers in Britain.

His column for the London Evening Standard began in print and later moved online.

Since 1955, Barden has also written a weekly chess column for The Guardian, and a weekly column for the Financial Times from 1974 to the present (as of September 2025).