Stormy Petroff
Alexander Petroff (1794-1867) is often remembered as the first great Russian chess master. He became the strongest player in Russia…
No. 372
White to play. This position is from Howell-Sokolov, Staunton Memorial 2009. How can White finish off his attack with a…
Arachnid
Sadly, Michael Adams, for many years Britain’s leading grandmaster, will not be playing in the British Championship, which starts next…
No. 371
Black to play. This is from Williams-Hawkins, -British Championship 2014. How can Black finish off his attack with a fine…
Fabulous Fabiano
Fabiano Caruana notched the result of his life at the Sinquefield Trophy in St Louis last year. Since then he…
No. 370
Black to play. This position is a variation from Kramnik-Naiditsch, Dortmund 2015. How can Black make a decisive material gain?…
Chinese cracker
I have a particular affection for Chinese involvement in mind sports. In 1981 I was invited as the first western…
No. 370
Black to play. This position is a variation from Hou Yifan-Kramnik, Dortmund 2015. Black is a rook down. What does…
Magnus toppled
Last week, world champion Magnus Carlsen suffered a devastating defeat in the first round of the Stavanger super tournament when…
No. 369
White to play. This is from Anand–Hammer, Stavanger 2015. White is a pawn up with a good position and his…
Tempus fugit
In serious competitive chess the play is regulated by time limits for completion of the moves. In the mid-19th century,…
No. 368
White to play. This position is from Vachier-Lagrave-Caruana, Norway Blitz 2015. How did White finish off at once? Answers to…
Dark lord
A new book, Opening Repertoire: The Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian by Christof Seilecki (Everyman Chess), focuses on the ever popular Nimzo-Indian…
No. 367
Black to play. This is from Spassky-Fischer, World Championship, Reykjavik (Game 5) 1972. This is probably the most famous ‘dark-square’…
Triple tie
This week I conclude my coverage of the Fidé (World Chess Federation) Grand Prix which finished last month in Khanty-Mansiysk.…
No. 366
Black to play. This is from Rodriguez-Xiong, California 2012. How does Black finish off? Answers to me at The Spectator…
Boris Good Enough
Boris Gulko, celebrated both as a grandmaster and a former Soviet dissident, has recently completed his great trilogy of instructional…
No. 365
Black to play. This is from Caruana-Jakovenko, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015. Black is winning -easily, but can you find the most accurate…
Shuffleduck
There are some odd opening moves in chess, such as 1 a3 and 1 g4. The former was used by…
No. 364
Black to play. This is from Westman-Walther, Havana 1966. Black has the possibility of a discovered check against the white…
Reichenbach falls
The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik recently espoused an opening system which I elaborated in a tournament in Germany in 1975.…
Puzzle no. 363
White to play. This is from Kramnik-Svidler, Russian Team Championship, Sochi 2015. The black pieces are in a tangle and…
Hypnotism
During the World Championship qualifier of 1959, grandmaster Pal Benko wore dark glasses to counter the hypnotic gaze of his…
No. 362
White to play. This position is from Tal–Benko, Candidates 1959. Black has just advanced with … e5, attacking the white knight.…
Brain games
This week I continue with my analysis of Nigel Short’s recent animadversions upon the differences between the male and female…
