Richard was born in 1954 and learned to play bridge when he was 10. With the help of a county level Maths teacher his bridge improved while at school and he subsequently became one of the group of strong players at Cambridge University during the 1970s. From 1973 to 1978 he represented the country at junior level with a number of partners including Tony Forrester, with whom he also played for England at open level in 1978.

Soon after this Richard took up the Japanese board game of Go and attained a dan ranking in 1981, but was finding it difficult to develop his expertise at both games. He decided to concentrate on Go, later becoming President of the British Go Association and playing for the country in the 1985 European Championship.

Richard continued to play bridge occasionally at club level, but his interest in the game was rekindled while working away from home in 2009. He started to play bridge more seriously and in 2014 was in the runner-up team in the London Super League. He joined the Young Chelsea Bridge Club the following year and was a member of the team that won the 2016 YCKO (club knockout) championship. He also won the EBU Two Stars pairs tournament later that year.

Richard studied Maths and Computing at University. He followed a career as a software engineer and later specialised in software safety, particularly in the aerospace sector. He changed direction in 2010 to become the bridge consultant for the successful No Fear Bridge website, for which he supplies much of the technical material. He has produced more than 1500 declarer and defence problems for the “Hand of the Day” feature, mostly adapted from real-life deals.