Tiger bites man
Viswanathan Anand left the spectators in awe at the Superbet Rapid earlier this month. The ‘Tiger of Madras’, as he…
No. 704
Black to play. Bacrot-Anand, Bastia Rapid 2001. A spectacular blow from Anand prompted Bacrot to resign. What did he play?…
No. 703
White to play. Vachier-Lagrave-Caruana, Bucharest 2022. The Bh4 can retreat to g3, f2 or e1. Which one is best, and…
Rock, paper, scissors
The Superbet Chess Classic in Bucharest concluded last weekend in a dramatic tiebreak between Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon…
No. 702
White to play. Averbakh-Zita, Szczawno-Zdroj 1950. Black has just interposed Rb6-g6, so White needs an accurate finish before e3-e2 mate…
Remembering Averbakh
Yuri Averbakh had a wry explanation for why he was made chairman of the USSR Chess Federation in 1972. There…
No. 701
White to play. Reshevsky-Savon, Petropolis 1973. Reshevsky played the awful 1 Qxg6+, and resigned after 1…Bxg6. Many moves win, but…
Gorilla tactics
There is a video in which a small group of students amble about passing a basketball back and forth. The…
No. 700
White to play and draw. Composed by Jan Timman, 2011. 1 h8=Q Rxd5 wins for Black, so how does White…
Ordination
In the dying seconds of an online blitz game, I promoted a pawn and instantly regretted it. There was nothing…
What is possible
There are lessons in chess that cannot be learned from a book. One lands, from time to time, in a…
No. 699
Black to play. Sukandar-Niemann, Reykjavik Open 2022. In this preposterous position, Black found a quick forced mate. What did he…
No. 698
White to play. A variation from Esipenko-Nakamura, Fide Grand Prix Berlin 2022. Which move would allow White to force a…
Nakamura’s place
Wesley So won the final Fide Grand Prix, which was held in Berlin earlier this month. But it was Hikaru…
No. 697
White to play. Duda-Anton Guijarro, Charity Cup, March 2022. Black’s last move, 21…Qe7-b4 was an unforced error. Which move did…
Career moves
Sergey Karjakin won’t be playing much chess for a while. Last month, the Russian grandmaster’s Twittering jingoism in support of…
No. 696
White to play and mate in two. Philip Hamilton Williams, Birmingham News, 1897. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.ukby Monday…
Varsity battle
The 140th edition of the Varsity Match took place last month at the Royal Automobile Club in London’s Pall Mall.…
England-Sweden Challenge
Three summers ago, I was invited to the Swedish city of Eskilstuna, for a brief but exciting match against their…
No. 695
White to play and mate in 2. Composed by Bo Lindgren, Probleemblad 1969. Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by…
Establishing Rapport
Richard Rapport took first place at the Fide Grand Prix in Belgrade last weekend. The Hungarian grandmaster is now almost…
No. 694
White to play. Rapport-Rogic, Austria 2010. Black threatens Qa1+ and then Rxf2+, so Rapport must strike at once. Which move…
No. 693
Black to play. Shirov-Kramnik, Groningen 1993. Shirov threatens Rg3-h3+ so Kramnik forced a draw: 1…Rxg7+ 2 Rxg7+ Kh6 3 Rg8…
Taking risks | 12 March 2022
I do not, as a rule, go looking for a fight on a Sunday morning. Chess, if it must be…
Russia in check
The Champions League final has been moved from St Petersburg to Paris and the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi cancelled.…
