Chess
Bunratty
This year’s tournament at Bunratty in Ireland was the celebratory 25th in the series and I was invited to deliver the…
Another Troy
One of the sharpest lines in the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 f5) is widely…
Knight outriders
A good rule of thumb is to avoid sending off knights to excursions at the edge of the board, where…
Chess on the Rock
The Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian has won first prize of £25,000 in the important Tradewise Masters which has just finished…
Hypnosis?
Various champions have been accused of hypnotising their opponents, including Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Tal and, not least, the reigning world…
Frankenchess
A remarkable event took place in London towards the end of last year, when the AlphaZero computer program took on…
Willing to wound
‘Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike,’ wrote Alexander Pope about Atticus. Those lines more or less describe the…
On speed
Although it does not have the prestige of the Classical World Championship (to be staged in London in November), the…
Game of the year
It is traditional that in my first column of the new year I review the previous 12 months and select…
Grand prix
The London Classic is over and full reports in this column will follow in the new year. Meanwhile, we now know…
Books of the year
The English Chess Federation has awarded its Book of the Year prize to Timman’s Titans: My World Chess Champions by…
London Classic
The London Classic gets underway this weekend in Olympia. The line-up is formidable, including the world champion Magnus Carlsen, his…
Alekhine’s heir
Garry Kasparov was without a doubt Alekhine’s creative heir. The 1985-2000 world champion said himself that he became entranced at…
Alekhine’s anniversaries
Alexander Alekhine was one of the two world champions (the other being his fellow native Russian Mikhail Botvinnik) who won,…
Master class
While researching some early games in the Bf4 version of the Queen’s Pawn openings favoured by world champion Magnus Carlsen,…
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…
