Leonard William Barden is an English chess columnist and promoter. The son of a dustman, he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He was a strong player jointly winning the British Chess Championship in 1954 at Nottingham and representing England in the Chess Olympiad. He has made invaluable contributions to English chess as a populariser, writer, organiser and fundraiser. He was controller of the British Chess Federation Grand Prix for many years, having found its first sponsor. A keen eye for talented youth, he has been credited with almost single-handedly having brought the standard of English chess from nowhere to Olympiad medal winners during the 80s. For half a century he has presented a daily puzzle in the London Evening Standard and a weekend chess column in both The Guardian and The Financial Times. He once chose as his favourite game his win against Weaver Adams at Hastings 1950.