Chess
Chigorin lives
Nigel Short, who challenged Garry Kasparov for the world title in 1993, has made a reputation for employing slightly offbeat…
Brief encounter
Books on the world championship matches used to appear regularly, with some having multiple written accounts. In recent years, though,…
Father William
The American grandmaster William Lombardy died last week (4 December 1937–13 October 2017). He was an amazing talent in his…
Prodigy
Twelve-year-old Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa scored a sensational result in the recent Isle of Man Masters. At the age of ten years…
Historic
Congratulations to the organisational team of the Isle of Man Masters, which concluded last weekend. They assembled what must have…
Gamesters of Triskelion
The triskelion, or three-legged emblem, has been on the coat of arms of the Isle of Man since the late…
Bronstein’s legacy
Last week I focused on the games and somewhat tragic career of the ingenious David Bronstein. Before his time the…
Study in obsession
Genna Sosonko is a writer and grandmaster who straddles two great chess cultures, Holland and the USSR, his chosen and native…
David and the Giants
The overall scores of the exceedingly strong combined rapid and blitz tournaments in St Louis were as follows: 1. Aronian 24½;…
Hou dares wins
Hou Yifan, the leading female grandmaster, is beginning to place strain on Judit Polgar’s record as the best woman chess…
Philidor’s heir
There was a time when France was the dominant power in world chess. When Howard Staunton commenced his remarkable series…
Magnum opus
A new book on the ingenious Hungarian master Gyula Breyer ranks, in my opinion, at the very top of chess…
Test of time
Last week I pointed to the fact that games played at accelerated time limits are acquiring an official imprimatur that…
Classical conundrum
The great Mikhail Botvinnik excoriated chess played at fast time limits. Botvinnik believed that classical chess at time limits of,…
British championship
This year’s British Championship starts on Saturday and is endowed with an outstanding prize fund supplied by Capital Developments Waterloo…
New in chess
New in Chess is one of the world’s leading chess magazines. At one time or another, every contemporary champion and…
Queen’s gambit
International master Andrew Martin is the head of the English Chess Federation Academy. He is well qualified for this post,…
Judgment of Paris
This year’s Grand Chess Tour started in Paris, continues in Leuven (Belgium) and will go on to St Louis and…
Sporting life
Can chess and bridge be considered sports? According to a European Court of Justice judgment earlier this month, bridge is…
Great Tigran’s heir
Tigran Petrosian is the great chess hero of Armenia. World champion from 1963-1969, his best games exhibit a profundity which…
Stavanger
The powerful tournament in Stavanger, Norway, draws to a close at the end of this week. World champion Magnus Carlsen…
Parliamentary moves
With the election dominating the news, this week I focus on the strongest chess player to have entered Parliament. Marmaduke…
Vote Basman
To the best of my knowledge, Michael Basman is the first officially titled chess master to ever stand in a UK…
Thoroughly modern
In 1972, in collaboration with George Botterill, two-times British champion, I published a revolutionary book on 1 … g6 which…
Trumpeting success
Regular readers will recall my column of 15 April in which I speculated on the future of the eccentric Fidé…
