Black to play. This position is from Kosmo-Smerdon, Goa 2002. Can you spot Black’s beautiful winning move? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 25 August or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and each week there
Black to play. This is a variation from Osborne-Hawkins, British Championship, Coventry 2015. Black is a piece down. What is his idea? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 18 August or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a
White to play. This is a variation from Williams-Howell, British Championship, Warwick 2015. Howell won this game but the puzzle shows what might have happened if he had gone wrong. How can White regain his material to achieve a winning position? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 11 August or via email to
White to play. This position is from Howell-Sokolov, Staunton Memorial 2009. How can White finish off his attack with a fine flourish? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 4 August or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a
Black to play. This is from Williams-Hawkins, -British Championship 2014. How can Black finish off his attack with a fine flourish? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 28 July or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat,
Black to play. This position is a variation from Kramnik-Naiditsch, Dortmund 2015. How can Black make a decisive material gain? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 21 July or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and
Black to play. This position is a variation from Hou Yifan-Kramnik, Dortmund 2015. Black is a rook down. What does he have in mind? Answers to me at The Spectator or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7961 0058. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and
White to play. This is from Anand–Hammer, Stavanger 2015. White is a pawn up with a good position and his next move put the game beyond all doubt. How did he continue? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 7 July or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The
White to play. This position is from Vachier-Lagrave-Caruana, Norway Blitz 2015. How did White finish off at once? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 30 June or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and each week
Black to play. This is from Spassky-Fischer, World Championship, Reykjavik (Game 5) 1972. This is probably the most famous ‘dark-square’ Nimzo-Indian game of all-time. How did Fischer finish off? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 23 June or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be
Black to play. This is from Rodriguez-Xiong, California 2012. How does Black finish off? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 16 June or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a hat, and each week I am offering a
Black to play. This is from Caruana-Jakovenko, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. Black is winning -easily, but can you find the most accurate continuation, which forces mate in six moves at the most? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 9 June or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will
Black to play. This is from Westman-Walther, Havana 1966. Black has the possibility of a discovered check against the white king. How can he make the most of this? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 2 June or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a
White to play. This is from Kramnik-Svidler, Russian Team Championship, Sochi 2015. The black pieces are in a tangle and vulnerable to tactical strikes. How did Kramnik now launch just such a strike? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 26 May or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. The winner will be the first correct
White to play. This position is from Tal–Benko, Candidates 1959. Black has just advanced with … e5, attacking the white knight. What has he overlooked? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 19 May or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out
White to play. This is from Polgar-Short, -Buenos Aires 2000. Here we return to the theme of Judit Polgar’s massive plus score against Nigel Short. Nigel’s logical brain no doubt spotted 1 Rxg4 Rf1+ mating. What did Judit play instead? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 12 May or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk
Black to play. This is from Short-Polgar, Madrid 1995. Judit Polgar is the strongest female -player ever, with an overwhelming plus score against Nigel Short. This is the conclusion of one of her many wins against him. What is the key move? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 5 May or via email
Black to play. This position is a variation from Troff-Nakamura, US Championship 2015. How can Black conclude his kingside attack with a standard tactic? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 28 April or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of
White to play. This is from Lee-Zakharov, Vrnjacka Banja 1963. Black has just captured on c3 and now 1 Qxc3 runs into 1 … Qxf1 mate. However, White can do rather better than that. Can you see how? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 21 April or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. The winner
Black to play. This is from Cochrane-Staunton, London 1842. How did Staunton exploit his menacing build up of pieces on the kingside? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 14 April or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk or by fax on 020 7681 3773. The winner will be the first correct answer out of a
