Raymond Keene

White to play. This position is from Heredia-Videnova; Women’s Olympiad, Baku 2016. Can you spot the White continuation that enabled her to emerge with a decisive material advantage? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 27 September or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first -correct answer out

As I write, the final results of the Baku Olympiad are still not in. England are fighting for a possible medal position. The highlight so far was our 3-1 victory against the defending gold medallists, China. The most spectacular game was Nigel Short’s complicated victory, which I analyse this week.   Li Chao-Short: Baku Olympiad 2016; Nimzo-Indian

The 42nd Chess Olympiad is now underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, and English grandmasters are making their best efforts to recapture the glory days of world team chess when England regularly finished in silver medal position to the mighty Soviets. After the early rounds Russia leads, with Kramnik as top board. The incumbent Chinese gold medallists

One of the most reliable methods of frustrating chess computers is to play 1 d4 but then avoid the well-trodden paths of the Queen’s Gambit, in favour of delaying central occupation with c4. Instead white aims for an early e3, possibly supported by the queenside bishop fianchetto, or Bf4. The former is known as the

From the humble status of wild-card entry at St Louis last year, the US Grandmaster, Wesley So (formerly of the Philippines) has rocketed to first prize laureate this year and also overall leader in the Chess Grand Tour standings. Final scores in St Louis were: So 5½; Anand, Aronian, Caruana and Topalov 5; Vachier-Lagrave and

Grandmaster Michael Adams turned in a superlative performance earlier this month to win the British Championship for the fifth time. The first occasion was 27 years ago in Plymouth. Adams’s performance on this occasion included victories with the black pieces against the two former British champions David Howell and Gawain Jones. Adams’s score of 10/11

After the vote to leave the EU it is time to reclaim the good old English names for traditional openings such as the Ruy Lopez and the Centre Counter. Foreign subversion has gradually altered the correct name for the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5) to the less evocative Spanish Opening,

Mark Hall, curator of the Perth Museum, has recently drawn attention to the proliferation of board games in Viking burials. One site on the island of Rousay in the Orkneys, dating back to the 9th century, contains 25 board game pieces, while a similar site at Sanday, 25 miles to the north-east, has 22 playing pieces. Mr.

Magnus Carlsen, the world champion, has added yet another tournament to his extensive list of victories. Although he must have been annoyed to incur a rare loss against Hikaru Nakamura in the first round, Carlsen then scythed through the field to emerge ahead by a substantial margin. Bilbao was one of those events where the

Sergey Karjakin, the challenger for Magnus Carlsen’s world title later this year, has announced in Bilbao, where he is contesting an elite tournament, that he wants to launch his challenge ‘anywhere but the USA!’ His stance poses an awkward problem for the World Chess Federation, which does not seem to have even contemplated an alternative

To mark the UK’s decision to exit from the EU, I can think of no better example than the triple match victories of Howard Staunton against major European rivals, victories which established him as the de facto champion of the chess playing world. From 1843 to 1846 Staunton comprehensively defeated three leading opponents from France, Germany