At San Bernardino 1989, he finished first on tie-break, ahead of strong grandmasters Kiril Georgiev and Ivan Sokolov.

In domestic competition, Hodgson competed regularly at the British Chess Championship, winning the title on four occasions (1991, 1992, 1999, and 2000).

The Manila result followed a notable win earlier in the year, at the open tournament held annually in Cappelle-la-Grande.

At Oxford in 1998, he shared victory with Jonny Hector, ahead of John Nunn and Emil Sutovsky.

[5] Hodgson is known for having revived the Trompowsky Attack (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5), an opening which had been neglected for several years prior to his adoption and development of it.