Impelled by his engineer’s mindset, the former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik wrote a short essay to answer a simple question: ‘What is a combination?’ I like his succinct conclusion, which certainly captures the essence: ‘A combination is a forced variation with a sacrifice.’ Like the fizz in champagne, the sacrificial element is the sine
‘Poor indoor air quality hampers cognitive performance significantly’, concluded a recent study in the IZA (Institute of Labour Economics). Of course, ‘fresh air is good for you’ fits squarely in the category of things you knew already, but the research was specifically about chess: ‘An increase in the indoor concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
‘Chess is a constant struggle between my desire not to lose and my desire not to think.’ I’m fond of that wry insight, neatly expressed by German grandmaster Jan Gustafsson. For a select few, such as the late, irrepressible Viktor Korchnoi, the desire not to lose burns through life like the Olympic flame. For the
‘Visky,’ said the man driving the taxi. ‘Risky?’ ‘Visky.’ ‘Ah… whisky! Or vodka.’ I grinned as I got out. ‘Maybe see you last year,’ I ventured in bungled Russian. There was no bottle to hand, but my wounded ego was soothed by the prescription. I’d been freshly eliminated from the World
In my pantheon of heroes a particular place of honour is occupied by the hypermodern grandmaster Richard Réti, the first to adopt the double fianchetto since the days of Howard Staunton. Réti-Yates: New York 1924; Réti Opening (See diagram 1) 12 Rc2 This manoeuvre connected with this rook move must have struck onlookers as nothing
I am often asked which players I admire most and which grandmasters, writers and champions exerted the most influence on my own chess development. In general I was most impressed by the strategists and writers such as Richard Réti, whose games were brilliantly elucidated in an anthology by grandmaster emeritus Harry Golombek OBE, and Aron
The Hungarian/American grandmaster Pal Benko has died at the age of 91. Among his numerous distinguished achievements was his double qualification for the World Championship Candidates tournaments of 1959 and 1962, eight victories in the US Open, his invention of the Benko Gambit (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5) and his prowess as
Ding Liren, the Chinese grandmaster, has scored a career best in the Classical time limit section of the Grand Tour in St Louis which concluded late last month. Ding tied for first prize with world champion Magnus Carlsen in the main tournament, and then went on to crush the champion in the quickplay tie-break.
The classical section of the elite Grand Tour event in St Louis, which ended earlier this week, resembled a peace conference rather than a chess tournament. Well past the halfway stage, less than 10 per cent of the games had been decisive. Something must be done about this tendency and there are various solutions.
At St Louis, world champion Magnus Carlsen met with unexpected setbacks in both the rapid and blitz sections. In both cases his play was unusually lacklustre and his self-assurance seemed to crumble. I can’t imagine Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik or Kasparov ever uttered such words about their own play as Carlsen did when he said: ‘Everything’s
The German expression zugzwang means ‘compulsion to move’ and is most often seen in the endgame. Consider the following position on Diagram 1. It is Black to move. If Black were not obliged to move he could draw by waiting for White to play 1 c7+ Kc8 2 Kc6 with a draw by stalemate. Instead
Mickey Adams won the British Championship, which finished last week in Torquay, for the seventh time. Leading scores (out of nine) were as follows: 1. Adams 7½; 2. Howell 7; 3= Haria and Palliser 6½; 5= Gordon, Tan and Houska 6. Jovanka Houska has now won the British Women’s Championship a record nine times.
What distinguishes the expert from the amateur in chess is partly tactical fluency, but also the ability to map out long-term patterns, in other words to visualise a distant goal. Some champions were distinguished by their talent for rough-and-tumble tactics; among such illuminati one could mention Alekhine, Tal and Kasparov. Others, such as Capablanca, Reti, Nimzowitsch,
There are comparisons to be made between tennis and chess. Player X (aka White) serves. Player Y (Black) responds. The advantage of playing White in chess and serving in tennis are similar. Losing your serve is nearly as bad for a tennis player as losing with White is for a chess player. But some champions have
Sixty years ago, the great Mikhail Tal won the Candidates tournament by a massive margin to qualify for a world title match against Botvinnik, which Tal also won, equally convincingly. This week, in homage to Tal, one of his four zero wipeout games against Bobby Fischer, with notes based on those of eyewitness Harry Golombek
Staunton was the most successful British player of all time, winning three matches against European masters in the 1840s which in modern times would certainly have qualified him to be recognised as world champion. On the social medium of Twitter (@HowardStaunton), an anonymous writer has invented a witty and satirically trenchant imitation of Staunton.
This year Tigran Petrosian would have celebrated his 90th birthday. The Armenian grandmaster and world champion was noted for the profundity and originality of his strategic concepts, as well as his quasi-invincibility in high level contests. He was certainly my role model when I was a student of chess in my teens, a chess hero
The King’s Indian Defence is one of Black’s most dynamic reactions to closed openings such as d4/c4 and Nf3. Black sacrifices space in the centre but gains flank counter-chances on both wings in compensation. It has been a favourite of the pioneering Soviet grandmaster David Bronstein, who was followed enthusiastically by like-minded aggressors such as
The elite tournament at Stavanger in Norway has resulted in yet another victory for the world champion Magnus Carlsen. The format was unorthodox in that draws were replayed as so-called Armageddon blitz games. In such cases White has more time but any draws count as Black wins. Classical wins count as 2-0, whereas Armageddon wins
The Isle of Lewis chess pieces are one of the proudest possessions of the British Museum and also the National Museum of Scotland, which shares the hoard discovered on Uig in 1831. They represent the oldest complete chess sets in the world, with only a few pawns and a rook missing from one set. Now the rook
