Raymond Keene has made many contributions to the development of human excellence in numerous fields, in particular, Raymond has been an important and significant contributor to the world of chess and charity work. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II awarded Ray the title Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in person for his services to the United Kingdom and beyond. He is an international Chess Grandmaster, Chess Correspondent of The Times and author of 202 books translated into 16 languages. Ray was the first western chess grandmaster to compete in China (1981). He also is the holder of the Gold Medal of Chinese Olympic Association. He is the Chairman of the English Chess Association and of the Howard Staunton Society. Ray has raised funding for and organised major Mind Sports events including three world chess championships, twenty seven world Memory Championships and the first ever world championship between a human and a computer program ( Dr Tinsley v Chinook in Draughts London 1992). In the course of these major championships, many of which were televised, Ray raised in excess of £10 million pounds in sponsorship money mainly in the UK but also significantly in China. Ray is currently chair of The Buzan Group of Companies which include Mind Sports World Championships in Memory, Mind Mapping and Speed Reading, online Mind Power Training, Publications , Software and Global Licensing of the Intellectual copyright and educational theories of the late Tony Buzan, a Visioneer Hero of Humanity. Ray is also Chancellor of The Tony Buzan Academy and President Of The Institute for Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition based at London's Imperial College. Ray's most recent plan is to create The Crustacean Carbon Exchange to encourage Aquaculture of oysters and other shellfish to provide DHA rich brain nutrition and reduce global C02 emissions, which are sequestered by crustacean shell formation. This will be a contribution to the Visioneers for Climate Action project.
