Luke McShane is chess columnist for The Spectator.
Every time I type out Candidates Tournament, I want to adorn it with an apostrophe, as with Parents’ Evening or Residents’ Association. Hear me out: Women’s Tournament sounds natural whereas Women Tournament sounds clumsy; the word is possessive rather than attributive. Be that as it may, the prevailing wind has swept the apostrophe away. Anyway,
Black to play. Abdusattorov-Praggnanandhaa, Prague Masters, March 2024. White has a rook for a knight. Which move allowed Black to turn the tables and gain a decisive advantage? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 15 April. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal
Vera Menchik was 38 when she was killed by a German V1 flying bomb that landed on her home in Clapham. Born in Moscow in 1906 to a Czech father and an English mother, she was in her teens when her family settled in England. Aged 21, she won the first women’s world championship, and
White to play. Menchik-Graf, Women’s World Championship, Semmering 1937. Which brilliantmove provoked instant resignation? Beware: there is a tempting option which falls short. Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 8 April. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Sam Loyd, Baltimore Herald 1880. Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 1 April. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Rf3!
It is just over a week since Elon Musk’s company Neuralink livestreamed an interview with Noland Arbaugh, who was paralysed from the shoulders down in a diving accident eight years ago. Following the implanting by Neuralink of a chip in his brain, he is now able to control a mouse cursor on the screen by
Chess, to state the obvious, is different from painting, or dance, or poetry. There is artistry in it, and yet the game stands apart. When we admire a sequence of moves, they only make sense viewed through the filter of an imagined adversarial contest. Sacrifices and combinations sparkle according to the obstacles that are overcome.
White to play and mate in two moves. One of the conventional problems from the same Winton British Chess Solving Championship, composed by Huibrecht van Beek, 1899. Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 25 March. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
Find the best move! Once upon a time, I sincerely believed that was my overriding goal during a game of chess. Naive, but nowadays I know better. The truth is that dodging banana skins is more fruitful, so to speak, than the pursuit of golden apples. In part, this is a simple story about experience and
White to play. Brkic-Shengelia, Bundesliga, February 2024. White’s pieces coordinate far better than Black’s. Which move cashes in? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 18 March. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s
They say the best way to really know a subject is to write about it. I speculate it worked for the English grandmaster Danny Gormally, whose forthcoming book Tournament Battle Plan (Thinkers Publishing) perhaps inspired him to victory at the British Rapidplay Championships held in Peterborough earlier this month. It must be said that Gormally was
Black to play. Royal-Gormally, British Rapidplay Championship, 2024. White’s last move, 26 f2-f3, was a fatal mistake. How did Gormally respond? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 11 March. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize
In February the Cambridge International Open returned to the University Arms Hotel. In the penultimate round, the experienced Dutch grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov was half a point clear of a strong field, and looked to be coasting towards victory against his Danish opponent. Playing White in the position below, his bishop and two passed pawns outweigh Haubro’s extra
White to play. Borsos-Nawalaniec, Cambridge International Open, 2024. White found a devastating tactical shot. What did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 4 March. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s
‘Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe.’ I’m fond of that adage, which speaks to the depth of the game in a way that numbers cannot. But how many possible games of chess are there? The mathematician Claude Shannon wrote a paper in 1949: ‘Progamming a Computer
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by M. Lokker, Shakhmatnaya Moskva, 1967 Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 26 February. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution
Popular wisdom has it that the smartphone has shrivelled teenagers’ attention spans. But they are getting better at chess, and there is no doubt that technology is the main driver. Chess knowledge is more widely accessible than ever before, with any number of sparring partners, courses and coaches (like me!) available online. Chess engines, such
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by V. Antipov, Kudesnik, 1998. Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 19 February. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Qg5+! Kf7
A trio of teenagers dominated the Tata Steel Challengers event, which took place in Wijk aan Zee last month alongside the elite Masters event. Their fearless chess helped them get the better of many more experienced grandmasters. India’s Leon Luke Mendonca, 17, took first place with 9.5/13, and will receive an invitation to the Masters
White to play. Salem-Vrolijk, Tata Steel Challengers 2024. Black’s last move, Qf2-c2, was a fatal error in an otherwise drawn endgame. Which queen check won White the game? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 12 February. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal