Chess
Condottieri
The recently concluded European Club Cup, held at Porto Carras in Greece, resembled late medieval Italian warfare — populated by…
Ship ahoy
The Evans Gambit was invented by a British naval officer of the early part of the 19th century, Captain W.D. Evans,…
Eastern promise
The Batumi Olympiad ended as a great success for the teams from China, which captured the gold medals in both…
Role model
World champion Magnus Carlsen is not competing in the Batumi Olympiad (of which more next week). Doubtless he is conserving…
Batumi Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad for national teams is now underway in Batumi, Georgia. Over 200 teams are competing and the lavish…
Interregnum
The only official interregnum in the reigns of the world chess champions was that between the death of Alekhine in…
Caruana chronicles
In the run-up to the Carlsen-Caruana World Championship match set for London in November, I will be previewing their prospects.…
Peaceful solution
In the recent super-tournament in St Louis, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Lev Aronian opted to share the laurels. According to…
Shak attack
The Azeri grandmaster Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has been distinguishing himself recently at both classical and speed chess time limits. Last month…
Royal road
The mathematician Euclid once boldly informed King Ptolemy Soter I of Egypt that there was no royal road to geometry.…
Luke’s gospel
Perhaps the outstanding clash of the recently concluded British championship in Hull, supported by Capital Developments Waterloo Ltd, was the…
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…
Rice gambit
The recent successful revival of the musical Chess, by Sir Tim Rice and the men of Abba, featured some genuine extracts…
Fiend from Hull
This year’s British Championship commences today in Hull. Among a powerful field, which includes Michael Adams and defending champion Gawain…
Mental sport
Sporting commentators frequently resort to chess metaphors to convey the flavour of a particular contest. In the case of football, chess tends…
Leningrad Lip
This description of Viktor Korchnoi was coined (an oblique reference to Muhammad Ali’s nickname of Louisville Lip) by Ian Ward…
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…
The Caruana conundrum
Over the course of this year Fabiano Caruana has scored splendidly in tournaments with classical time limits, notching up first…
Altibox
Fabiano Caruana has won the elite Altibox tournament ahead of world champion Magnus Carlsen. This result might appear to give…
Viktor the Terrible
Viktor Korchnoi is the subject of a poignant new book from the distinguished pen of the Dutch grandmaster and former Soviet…
Title background
Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be contesting their World Championship match in London in November. As I mentioned last…
Sherpa
My Great Predecessors is an indispensable guide to the achievements, style and best games of the former world chess champions.…
Short shrift
On 10 May, Britain’s most famous grandmaster, Nigel Short, chose the pages of the Times to announce his surprise candidacy…
Musical chairs
Chess, the musical by Sir Tim Rice and the male half of ABBA, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, runs at…
Biblical
Matthew Sadler was the star of the evening on the night of the Royal Automobile Club annual dinner which I…
