Paul Morphy, in a strange prefiguration of the later career of Bobby Fischer, was often described as ‘the pride and…

My grandmaster colleague James Plaskett has two passions, the pursuit of the mythical giant octopus (ongoing) and a fascination with…

This week I conclude my coverage of the St Louis leg of the million dollar Grand Tour.  Carlsen-So: Sinquefield Cup,…

The Sinquefield Cup in St Louis, one of the strongest tournaments of all time, has been convincingly won by the…

England’s top grandmaster, Michael Adams, exerts a powerful influence over the elite player David Navara. In rating terms Navara and…

I have never met David Smerdon, the Australian grandmaster and author of Smerdon’s Scandinavian (Everyman Chess). Last week I gave…

The Australian grandmaster David Smerdon has written a truly exciting book about some of the byways in the Centre Counter…

Jonathan Hawkins has emerged as the winner of this year’s British Championship, which finished last week at the University of…

David Howell is on a roll. At the halfway stage of the British Championship he looks set to retain his…

Alexander Petroff (1794-1867) is often remembered as the first great Russian chess master. He became the strongest player in Russia…

Sadly, Michael Adams, for many years Britain’s leading grandmaster, will not be playing in the British Championship, which starts next…

Fabiano Caruana notched the result of his life at the Sinquefield Trophy in St Louis last year. Since then he…

I have a particular affection for Chinese involvement in mind sports. In 1981 I was invited as the first western…