Luke McShane is chess columnist for The Spectator.
‘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
Wei Yi had just won a riveting game in round 11 of the Tata Steel Masters event (see puzzle no. 786). His post-game interview ended with the question: ‘With two rounds to go, do you still have energy?’ ‘No,’ replied Wei, smiling. And yet China’s second strongest grandmaster (after the world champion Ding Liren), somehow
White to play. Maghsoodloo-Warmerdam, Tata Steel Masters 2024. Maghsoodloo’s situation looks desperate, but he found a surprise winning move here. What did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 5 February. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six
Lobbing brickbats at Fide, the International Chess Federation, is always in fashion. The organisation celebrates its centenary this year, but Russia’s top player Nepomniachtchi tweeted a bitter New Year greeting: ‘Let 2024 bring Fide everything that it lacks: transparency, integrity, clear rules, unified standards, wise judges, attentive organisers, recognisable sponsors!’ To that litany of gripes,
White to play. Blübaum-Pavlidis, Bundesliga 2024. Which move won the game for Blübaum? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 29 January. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postaladdress and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Re8! Rxe8 (or 1…Nxe8
Promoting a pawn is a moonshot on the chessboard. A new queen is a literal game-changer, so when a humble pawn becomes far advanced, it is worth moving heaven and earth to get it over the line. Ditching a rook or a bishop is a small price to pay for a coronation. One game from the World
White to play. Cheparinov-Rapport, World Rapid Championship 2023. White found an elegant combination to make use of the passed pawn on f7. What did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 22 January. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and
In 2021, Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura caused a stir with their ‘Double Bongcloud’ opening, in an online game which began 1 e4 e5 2 Ke2 Ke7, soon agreed drawn. Their act of flippancy, clearly spontaneous, drew a mixed response of laughter and tutting, but that game was unofficial and had no competitive significance. Similarly, at the
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Ivar Godal, Ideal-Mate Review, 1983 Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 15 January. 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 Bxe5!
White to play. Mateusz Bartel-Jules Moussard, London Chess Classic 2023. Bartel’s next move yielded a crushing advantage. What did he play? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 8 January. 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
Michael Adams described his victory at last month’s London Chess Classic as ‘probably my best ever result’. Rated fourth in the world in his prime, Adams has won countless tournaments, but was delighted that, at the age of 52, he could still triumph against a much younger field. The top seed was the Indian teenager
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Edith Baird, Illustrated Sporting and DramaticNews, 1890. Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Wednesday 27 December. There is a prizeof £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 King
1 One top player, besides admiring his trainer’s creativity, noted that they had a shared appreciation of 1980s music. Who was the player and his trainer? 2 How to Win at Chess is a new book for novice players, which became a New York Times bestseller. Which popular YouTuber wrote it? 3 One episode of the
White to play and mate in two moves. Composed by Werner Speckmann, Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1980. This problem has two solutions – can you find both? Then move White’s king from e5 to g8 and find two more solutions (again, mate in two). Please note that there is no prize for this week’s puzzle due to
The Sinquefield Cup in St Louis ended last week in victory for Fabiano Caruana, who thereby took first place in the 2023 Grand Chess Tour, extending his impressive run of form this year. Caruana’s victory pushes his rating back over the 2800 mark, securing his place just behind Carlsen in the rating list. The event saw