Luke McShane is chess columnist for The Spectator.
White to play. Erigaisi-Azarov, Baku 2023. The Bh6 looks in trouble, but Erigaisi found a powerful move to decide the game in his favour. What did he play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 21 August. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include
If you love chess enough to play hundreds of tournaments you will, sooner or later, play like a numbskull. You lick your wounds, go to bed, and hope the engine belches into action the next day. As a wise man once told me, the great comfort of a knockout tournament is that if you play
White to play and mate in two. Composed by Sam Loyd, Lynn News, 1859. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 14 August. 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
Three cheers for last week’s news leak, indicating government plans to support English chess. According to Dominic Lawson, the president of the English Chess Federation (ECF) and The Spectator’s former editor, his conversation with Rishi Sunak, setting out the significant role played by chess players in the wartime codebreaking effort at Bletchley Park, proved particularly
White to play. Edward Jackson-John Merriman, British Championships, 2023. Black has just captured a rook on e2 with a pawn on f3, presumably expecting imminent resignation. Which move allowed White to turn the tables? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 7 August. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of
Three protagonists shaped the action at the British Championships, held at De Montfort University in Leicester last month, with sharply different stories to tell. ‘Business as usual’ was a fair description of the top seed Michael Adams’s performance, who was undefeated on 7.5/9 and secured his eighth championship title by a comfortable margin. His closest
White to play. Navara-Bassem, Biel 2023. This arose from a game of ‘Chess960’ where the pieces are shuffled on the back ranks at the start of the game. Navara’s rook is attacked, but which move allowed him to score a quick win? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 31 July. There is a prize of
In the 12th and final game of the women’s world championship, a pivotal role was played by a modest knight retreat from China’s defending champion Ju Wenjun. Her immediate purpose was to restrain a dangerous passed pawn. But that simple measure set in motion a deeper plan, which challenger Lei Tingjie was unable to prevent.
White to play. Rapport-Caruana, Grand Chess Tour Rapid, Zagreb 2023. Caruana’s last move, 61…Bd6-e7, was a decisive mistake. Which move allowed Rapport to take advantage? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 24 July.There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address. Last week’s solution
Nine wins in a row. What are the chances? That’s how Magnus Carlsen began on the first day of blitz (fast) chess at the the Zagreb Grand Chess Tour. My guesstimate is that Carlsen wins no more than half of his blitz games against the standard of opposition that he faced in Croatia, where his
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Michael Lipton, the Jerusalem Post, 1960 Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 17 July. 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
‘Lipton’s writing is characterised by its rigour, and though his working through of alternative hypotheses can be demanding for the reader, his positions are always stated with great clarity’. That line is taken from an obituary of Michael Lipton, published in the Financial Times, who died in April at the age of 86. Lipton was a
White to play. Petursson-Damljanovic, New York Open, 1988. Which move decided this battle of passed pawns in White’s favour? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 10 July. 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
Magnus Carlsen broke into a smile while pondering his 64th move. Vishy Anand grinned back at him, both players revelling in the tension and complexity of their game from the Global Chess League, held in Dubai last month. They were down to less than a minute each, and India’s five-time world champion had just pulled a
White to play and win. Composed by Josef Hasek, 1929. One plausible try is 1 Kc5 but 1…f5! prepares to meet Kc5-d6 with Rf8-f6+. Which first move should White prefer? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 3 July. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat.
Somewhere in hell, there is a cavernous hall filled with row upon row of people playing online speed chess. Their games bear not a trace of exuberance or wit. Instead, these wretched souls are confronted with utterly sterile positions, perhaps a lone king and rook on each side, but their flinty, remote adversaries will not agree
White to play and mate in 4 moves, composed by Theodore Herlin, 1845, Le Palamède, 1845. The solution has just a single line of play. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 26 June. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address
David Hodge is the 2023 British Chess Solving champion, after winning the Winton British Chess Solving Championship in Nottingham last month. Hodge is now a two-time champion, having first won the event in 2019. Above left is a position which caught my eye, taken from the Category B event, which is aimed at less experienced
White to play. Canal – NN, Simultaneous exhibition, 1934. Black has just castled queenside, in a game sometimes referred to as the ‘Peruvian Immortal’. Which move did Canal play to take advantage? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 19 June. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of
In recent years, the battle for the number two spot in the world rankings has resembled the gentle undulation of a lava lamp. Players rise and fall, and others take their place. I counted 11 different players who have occupied that spot over the past decade, all while Magnus Carlsen sits at the apex. The