Chess
Containment
‘Exchange chess’ (also known as bughouse) is the chess equivalent of a three-legged race. It is played in teams of…
Calculated risks
Two years ago, the brilliant young Polish player Jan-Krzysztof Duda made a baffling decision. In the second game of his…
The Fide World Cup
As I write this, the Fide World Cup is underway in Sochi, the Black Sea resort in Russia which hosted…
The king of no castling
In the body of chess rules, castling is a clumsy protuberance. Once per game, you get to move king and…
Kasparov’s tailspin
In a game between top players, the opening moves signify not only the battleground they have embraced, but also the…
Lock-picking
In his autobiographical book Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman! the late American physicist Richard Feynman described how he amused himself…
The new youngest grandmaster
Abhimanyu Mishra became the world’s youngest grandmaster last month, at 12 years and 4 months old. The boy from New…
Firestarter
It’s a joy to watch a player like Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who can light a fire with his bare hands. Where…
How to lose
Millions of people would see losing to Anand as a privilege rather than a disgrace. So it is simply astonishing…
Macaques and defence
January normally brings cheerful photos from the Gibraltar Chess Festival, where visiting chess-players get an impromptu snap with the Barbary…
The back-rank mate
Compared with Anastasia’s mate, or an epaulette mate, the humble back-rank mate is named without imagination or whimsy. It is…
Hybrid chess
Chess was played by cable in the 19th century because… well, why not? And because everything old is new again,…
Daredevil kings
The fifth match game between Potter and Zukertort, played in London in 1875, saw a dogged struggle. The final position…
Indian variant
Modern chess includes a panoply of ‘Indian’ openings, which share a common root in the starting moves 1 d4 Nf6…
What’s it worth?
The rule of thumb for weighing up piece exchanges says that pawns are worth one, knights and bishops three, rooks…
Dead brain cells
As round 14 of the Candidates tournament unfolded, I had the feeling of watching an anti-climactic post-exam bender. Ian Nepomniachtchi…
Irresistible force
The Candidates tournament resumed on 19 April in Yekaterinburg. Eight players competed for a €500,000 prize fund, but only one…
The Polgar Challenge
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, at 15 years old one of India’s most exceptional young players, emerged as the winner of the Polgar…
European Online Club Cup
Since the start of the pandemic, opportunities for serious competition between players ranked outside the world’s top 20 have been…
Unfair play
Twenty players were disqualified from the Fide World University Online Championships, out of almost 900. Does that call for moral…
Fortune favours the brave
If you wish to unsettle your opponents, first attack them and second, play the moves quickly. It’s far from easy…
Everybody must get stoned
Have you ever played the Frankenstein-Dracula variation? The Monkey’s Bum? The Nescafé Frappé Attack? These are all real chess openings,…
When the universe winks
I write this with a sunny feeling. That’s partly because spring is upon us, but mostly because I have just…
Armenian champions
In the 21st century, which country has won more international chess Olympiads than any other? Russia? USA? China? None of…
Play from home
Is working from home the future of a productive society, or a fleeting aberration? Nobody knows yet, but a significant…
