White to play. This position is from Rogers-Milos, Manila Olympiad 1992. How can White do better than recapturing on c3? Answers to me at the Spectator by Tuesday 2 October or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
The only official interregnum in the reigns of the world chess champions was that between the death of Alekhine in 1946 and the accession of Botvinnik in 1948. There is, however, an unofficial interregnum which occurred when Bobby Fischer won the world title in 1972 but did not play a serious game of chess as
Black to play. This position is from Gurgenidze-Tal, Moscow 1957. What is the most direct way to break into the white position? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 25 September or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a
In the run-up to the Carlsen-Caruana World Championship match set for London in November, I will be previewing their prospects. The match pits Magnus Carlsen from Norway, the highest-rated player in the history of chess and world champion since 2014, against the top-ranked American grandmaster, Fabiano Caruana. Their chessboard styles could not be more different.
Black to play. This position is from Potkin-Caruana, Dagomys 2010. How did Caruana finish off with a flourish? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 18 September or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow
In the recent super-tournament in St Louis, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Lev Aronian opted to share the laurels. According to the regulations, any tie for first place should have been resolved by a playoff. But the three co-victors decided that they would prefer to share the trophy. This peaceful solution was in line with the tournament
White to play. This position is a variation from Caruana-Karjakin, St Louis 2018. Can you spot White’s classic mating finish? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 11 September or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
The Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has been distinguishing himself recently at both classical and speed chess time limits. Last month he emerged as the overwhelming winner of the elite tournament in Biel, taking first prize and defeating world champion Magnus Carlsen in their individual clash. Mamedyarov went on to St Louis where he took the bronze
White to play. This is from Mamedyarov–Georgiadis, Biel 2018. Many of Mamedyarov’s games feature a kingside attack based upon a powerful bishop on the b2-square. Here, his next move led to a decisive increase in pressure against the black king. What was it? Answers to victoria@spectator.co.uk by Tuesday 4 September. There is a prize of
The mathematician Euclid once boldly informed King Ptolemy Soter I of Egypt that there was no royal road to geometry. However, a royal road to a UK visa does exist and it has just been granted to the family of nine-year-old prodigy Shreyas Royal, by means of the intervention of the Home Secretary himself.
White to play. This position is from Nakamura-Mamedyarov, St Louis 2018. Unfortunately for Mamedyarov, he has just blundered in a winning position. How did Nakamura exploit his lapse? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 28 August or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out
Perhaps the outstanding clash of the recently concluded British championship in Hull, supported by Capital Developments Waterloo Ltd, was the last round battle between grandmaster Luke McShane and David Howell. The former has twice thwarted the latter at the finishing post in the past year. At stake was a final shootout for the title with
White to play. This position is from Fernandez-Pritchett, Hull 2018. White found an extraordinary, problem-like move to finish the game. Can you see it? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 21 August or via email to victoria@-spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please
Nine-year-old Shreyas Royal, widely regarded as the UK’s best hope to become a future world chess champion, is being deported from the country next month because his father, although in regular employment, does not have earnings that reach the necessary threshold of £120,000 per annum. The chess world is in uproar about this, not least because
Black to play. This is from Howell-McShane, British Championship, Hull 2018. This was the conclusion of the game that enabled Luke McShane to finish joint first with Michael Adams and force a play-off. How did Black conclude? Answers via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk by Tuesday 14 August. There is a prize of £20 for the first
The recent successful revival of the musical Chess, by Sir Tim Rice and the men of Abba, featured some genuine extracts from play in the staged re-enactments of decisive games. One of the most impressive — and most easy to identify even from a distance without opera glasses — was Bobby Fischer’s infamous and very loud
Black to play. This position is from the classic game Réti-Alekhine, Baden Baden 1925. What was Black’s next move? It does not win at once but it successfully fuels the flames of Black’s initiative. It also forms a thematic pendant to this week’s trio of three thunderous rook incursions. Can you find it? Answers to
This year’s British Championship commences today in Hull. Among a powerful field, which includes Michael Adams and defending champion Gawain Jones, Luke McShane stands out as a supremely dangerous tactician, who at his best can overrun any opponent. This week’s game shows him outmanoeuvring a leading contender from last year’s championship. McShane-Howell: British Championship, Llandudno
Black to play. This position is from Brown-Adams, British Championship, Bournemouth 2016. Black has various ways to force mate but only one move does the job in five moves at most. Can you find it? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 31 July or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a prize of
Sporting commentators frequently resort to chess metaphors to convey the flavour of a particular contest. In the case of football, chess tends to be wheeled out as a comparison when nothing much is happening. Tennis commentators, in contrast, and somewhat more perceptively, deploy the chess metaphor to convey mental toughness. I have for some time regarded Judit
