no. 525
White to play. This position is from Rogers-Milos, Manila Olympiad 1992. How can White do better than recapturing on c3?…
Interregnum
The only official interregnum in the reigns of the world chess champions was that between the death of Alekhine in…
no. 524
Black to play. This position is from Gurgenidze-Tal, Moscow 1957. What is the most direct way to break into the…
Caruana chronicles
In the run-up to the Carlsen-Caruana World Championship match set for London in November, I will be previewing their prospects.…
no. 523
Black to play. This position is from Potkin-Caruana, Dagomys 2010. How did Caruana finish off with a flourish? Answers to…
Peaceful solution
In the recent super-tournament in St Louis, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Lev Aronian opted to share the laurels. According to…
no. 522
White to play. This position is a variation from Caruana-Karjakin, St Louis 2018. Can you spot White’s classic mating finish?…
Shak attack
The Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has been distinguishing himself recently at both classical and speed chess time limits. Last month…
no. 521
White to play. This is from Mamedyarov–Georgiadis, Biel 2018. Many of Mamedyarov’s games feature a kingside attack based upon a…
Royal road
The mathematician Euclid once boldly informed King Ptolemy Soter I of Egypt that there was no royal road to geometry.…
no. 520
White to play. This position is from Nakamura-Mamedyarov, St Louis 2018. Unfortunately for Mamedyarov, he has just blundered in a…
Luke’s gospel
Perhaps the outstanding clash of the recently concluded British championship in Hull, supported by Capital Developments Waterloo Ltd, was the…
No. 519
White to play. This position is from Fernandez-Pritchett, Hull 2018. White found an extraordinary, problem-like move to finish the game.…
Royal shame
Nine-year-old Shreyas Royal, widely regarded as the UK’s best hope to become a future world chess champion, is being deported…
no. 518
Black to play. This is from Howell-McShane, British Championship, Hull 2018. This was the conclusion of the game that enabled…
Rice gambit
The recent successful revival of the musical Chess, by Sir Tim Rice and the men of Abba, featured some genuine extracts…
no. 517
Black to play. This position is from the classic game Réti-Alekhine, Baden Baden 1925. What was Black’s next move? It…
Fiend from Hull
This year’s British Championship commences today in Hull. Among a powerful field, which includes Michael Adams and defending champion Gawain…
no. 516
Black to play. This position is from Brown-Adams, British Championship, Bournemouth 2016. Black has various ways to force mate but…
Mental sport
Sporting commentators frequently resort to chess metaphors to convey the flavour of a particular contest. In the case of football, chess tends…
no. 515
Black to play. This is from Carlsen-Polgar, Mexico 2012. Judit had been struggling in this game but when Carlsen slipped…
Leningrad Lip
This description of Viktor Korchnoi was coined (an oblique reference to Muhammad Ali’s nickname of Louisville Lip) by Ian Ward…
no. 514
Black to play. This is from Karpov-Korchnoi, Dortmund 1994. In this unusual position Karpov has two queens but Korchnoi’s forces…
We still have Paris
The second leg of this year’s Grand Tour was contested in Paris, almost immediately after Leuven. For Paris, Anish Giri…
no. 513
White to play. This is from Nakamura-Kramnik, Paris Blitz 2018. The third victim of Nakamura’s hypnotism was Vladimir Kramnik who,…
