Chess
No garlands
At St Louis, world champion Magnus Carlsen met with unexpected setbacks in both the rapid and blitz sections. In both…
Zugger zugged
The German expression zugzwang means ‘compulsion to move’ and is most often seen in the endgame. Consider the following position…
Adams Avalanche
Mickey Adams won the British Championship, which finished last week in Torquay, for the seventh time. Leading scores (out of…
Game plan
What distinguishes the expert from the amateur in chess is partly tactical fluency, but also the ability to map out long-term…
Black Death
There are comparisons to be made between tennis and chess. Player X (aka White) serves. Player Y (Black) responds. The…
Tal story
Sixty years ago, the great Mikhail Tal won the Candidates tournament by a massive margin to qualify for a world…
Howard Staunton
Staunton was the most successful British player of all time, winning three matches against European masters in the 1840s which…
Tigran, Tigran, burning bright
This year Tigran Petrosian would have celebrated his 90th birthday. The Armenian grandmaster and world champion was noted for the…
King’s Indian
The King’s Indian Defence is one of Black’s most dynamic reactions to closed openings such as d4/c4 and Nf3. Black…
Fortune’s wheel
The elite tournament at Stavanger in Norway has resulted in yet another victory for the world champion Magnus Carlsen. The…
Morse and Lewis
The Isle of Lewis chess pieces are one of the proudest possessions of the British Museum and also the National Museum…
Spirited
An unusual tournament has taken place at the Lindores Abbey Whisky Distillery in Scotland, namely a double-round competition between four…
Holy Grail
Gawain Jones has fought his way to the no. 1 position on the UK ranking list by a series of recent…
Goring the gambit
One of the most irritating defences to meet when playing 1 d4 as White is the Benko Gambit (1 d4…
Ivory gates
This year’s Grand Chess Tour kicked off in the Ivory Coast with a significant innovation, the first ever tournament in…
Revolutionary
The French Defence appears to be somewhat cautious in nature but can in fact lead to disruptive middlegame clashes. It…
Déjà vu
In my column of 20 April I reported on the overwhelming victory by world champion Magnus Carlsen in the elite Gashimov…
Venit, vidit, vicit
India is quite possibly the birthplace of chess, with the four branches of the ancient Indian army, infantry, cavalry, chariots…
Carlsen the Great
I cannot conceal the feeling over the years of Magnus Carlsen’s leading position at the head of world chess, that…
Be prepared
Last week I wrote about Cyrus Lakdawala’s new book, which provides an aggressive repertoire based on the solid move 1…
Advance planning
One way to improve your results is to develop a specific opening repertoire and learn it thoroughly so as to…
Fischer favourite
A favoured line of the great Bobby Fischer was to meet both the French Defence (1 e4 e6) and the…
Family silver
The World Team Championship in Astana, Kazakhstan, finished last week with a victory for Russia but with an outstanding team…
Oxford win
The annual Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge ended in a surprisingly narrow victory for the dark blues. Their team…
Bunratty
The Bunratty tournament in Ireland is one of the highlights of the chess year and always attracts an impressive field.…
