Family silver

The World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, finished last week with a victory for Russia but with an outstanding team silver medal for England — our best result for decades.
 
The final scores at the top (out of 18) were as follows: Russia 16, England 13, China 12, India and USA 11, Iran and Azerbaijan 8, Kazakhstan and Sweden 4, Egypt 3. The individual English scores were as follows: Michael Adams 3½/9, Luke McShane (individual gold medal) 6/9, David Howell (individual bronze medal) 6/9, Gawain Jones (individual silver medal) 5½/8 and Jon Speelman 0/1.
 
The hero of the English squad was the individual gold medallist Luke McShane, who was the only team member to go through this powerful event without losing a single game. This week’s puzzle pays tribute to his success. Michael Adams struggled on board one for England but the opposition was formidable. Indeed, the former World Championship challenger Sergei Karjakin, playing on board one for Russia, could only muster 3/7.