England-Sweden Challenge

Three summers ago, I was invited to the Swedish city of Eskilstuna, for a brief but exciting match against their top player, the affable Nils Grandelius. Earlier this month, Grandelius visited London, this time to play a match against my England team-mate David Howell. The England-Sweden Challenge match was staged as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the London Chess Centre and the relaunch of Chess magazine. It was held in refined surroundings at the residence of Sweden’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mikaela Kumlin Granit. Seeing the photos, one yearns to play more chess in rooms with library ladders.

The ten-game match saw a striking contrast between Grandelius’s active approach and Howell’s supremely patient brand of chess. Howell survived a scare in game 1 and took the lead in game 4, squeezing out a win from a position which I had naively assumed was bound to end in a draw.