Chess
Polymath
I learn from The Problemist, the organ of the British Chess Problem Society, that the polymath Dr Jacob Bronowski also…
From Russia with love
In the James Bond film From Russia with Love there is an evil mastermind named Kronsteen. The character is in…
From Russia with love
In the James Bond film From Russia with Love there is an evil mastermind named Kronsteen. The character is in…
Caro can
The Caro-Kann Defence, 1 e4 c6, has always appealed to me. It has the advantage of staking a claim in…
Caro can
The Caro-Kann Defence, 1 e4 c6, has always appealed to me. It has the advantage of staking a claim in…
Just So
Last week in a perceptive piece for the Times, Will Pavia animadverted upon the fact that the USA appears to…
Just So
Last week in a perceptive piece for the Times, Will Pavia animadverted upon the fact that the USA appears to…
Bright blues
The boat race for the brain, as it has become known, took place at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall,…
Bright blues
The boat race for the brain, as it has become known, took place at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall,…
Varsity
On Saturday 7 March the annual Varsity Match between the teams of Oxford and Cambridge takes place. The contest is…
Gnomic
The elite tournament at Zurich, which finished last week, has adopted a system for determining the ultimate trophy winner which…
Carlsen’s special brew
Magnus Carlsen has added another trophy to his cabinet by taking the honours at the Grenke tournament in Baden Baden,…
Tradewise
The Tradewise Masters in Gibraltar has been won by the American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, with the British co-champion David Howell…
Sixes and sevens
The veteran world championship contender, Victor Korchnoi, has accused the reigning world champion Magnus Carlsen of hypnotising his opponents. Plainly unimpressed by…
Magnificent Magnus
Magnus Carlsen has won first prize in the elite Tata Steel tournament at Wijk aan Zee, Holland. Leading scores out…
London Blitz
Britain’s leading grandmaster, Michael Adams, started well in the London Classic, with a beautiful win against the rising star Fabiano…
London Rapid
The exciting American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura compensated for his somewhat lacklustre performance in the London Classic section, held at Olympia…
London Classic
The key feature of the London Classic, which finished shortly before Christmas, was the resurgence of Viswanathan Anand, the former…
Ave et vale
2014 was the year in which Magnus Carlsen confirmed his position as world champion, and also the year in which…
London greats
The London Chess Classic, graced by two former world champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as the world…
Classic
London chess fans are about to enjoy a great treat. The London Chess Classic will run from the 10-14 December…
Extinct tigers
The Tiger of Madras has gone the way of the sabre-toothed tiger. Viswanathan Anand, world champion from 2007 to 2013,…
Comedy of errors
For reasons unknown, the world championship in Sochi between Carlsen and Anand is turning into a catalogue of disastrous blunders…
Force Majeure
The common feature of the first two games of the World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen in…
Sochi Challenge
On Saturday 8 November the first game will be played in the three-week long rematch between defending world champion Magnus…
