Luke McShane is chess columnist for The Spectator.
White to play. Sindarov-Sarin, World Team Championship, Jerusalem 2022. Sindarov has an extra pawn and a dominant position. Which move did he play to ensure a quick knockout? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 5 December. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address. Last week’s solution 1 Be5+! Bxe5 2 Qxe8+ or 1…Rxe5 2 Qf6+ and mate follows next move.
The young team from Uzbekistan, who took gold medals at the Olympiad in Chennai, came close to repeating that achievement at the World Team Championship in Jerusalem last month. They cruised through the group stage, quarters and semis, and met China in the final, who got there despite fielding none of their elite players, such as world No. 2 Ding Liren. The match promised to be close, and it was China who triumphed. Their star player was Jinshi Bai, who scored 8.5/11, including this crucial win from the final. Bai Jinshi-Shamsiddin Vokhidov World Team Championship, Jerusalem, Nov 22 In the diagram position, 34 Qa7 Rc8 is balanced, but Bai found a clever counterblow. 34 f4! The point is that 34…Rxb6 35 fxe5 Rxc6 36 exf6+ Kh6 37 Rd7 wins. But 35…Ng4!
White to play. Erigaisi-Mamedyarov, MeltwaterChampions Finals 2022. Erigaisi’s next move wrapped up the game in style. What did he play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 28 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1…Qe1+! 2 Nxe1 Rxe1 3 Bf1 Bxc4 4 Qxc4 Nxc4 wins, e.g. 5 g3 Nd2!
When Magnus Carlsen renounced his world championship title earlier this year, one of his stated goals was to focus on other events, without bearing the burden of preparation for a regular title match. The Meltwater Champions Tour is an important battleground for the Norwegian, and he showed devastating form at the Tour Finals in San Francisco earlier this month. Initiated by Carlsen during the pandemic, the elite series of rapid tournaments is mostly played online, although four out of eight players travelled to San Francisco for the finals. This was the only decisive game from Carlsen’s first-round mini-match against the runner-up.
Black to play. Schwetlick-Lecroq, 32nd Correspondence World Championship. White’s last move, Qd1-b3, is a blunder that can’t have been endorsed by a computer. What did Black play to force resignation? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 21 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address. Last week’s solution 1…Qh2! wins. Carlsen’s 1…Qc2 (or 1…Qd3) allows 2 Re7+ Ka6 3 Ra7+ Kxa7 4 Qe7+ Ka6 5 Qa7+ Kxa7 stalemate.
‘In fact it is now conceded by all experts that by proper play on both sides the legitimate issue of a game ought to be a draw…’ Those words were written by Wilhelm Steinitz, who became the first world champion after beating Johannes Zukertort in 1886. But their 20-game match saw 75 per cent decisive games, a quantity of bloodshed that would be unimaginable in the 21st century. By comparison, Magnus Carlsen has played five world championship matches, in which less than 25 per cent of the classical (slow) games were decisive. It is not a matter of style, but rather of skill – the fact is that modern players make far fewer mistakes.
Black to play. Fedoseev-Carlsen, Fischer RandomWorld Championship, 2022. 1…Qd3, 1…Qc2 and1…Qh2 all create deadly threats, but only one ofthese wins. Carlsen chose wrongly. Which move should he have chosen? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 14 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Rg6+! fxg6 2 Qh8+! Kxh8 3 Rxf8# Or 1…hxg6 2 Qg7# Last week’s winner G.
The chess lexicon has adopted a useful word from German, fingerfehler, fehler meaning mistake or error. Sometimes, the hand does not obey the brain. Imagine that you are busy contemplating A, followed by B and then C, and engrossed by the consequences of C. Meanwhile, the hand is eager to get involved, and picks up the piece to make move C. Standard competition rules are that once you’ve touched a piece, you must move it, so even if you catch yourself before executing the move, the damage from picking up a different piece may be terminal. Mercifully, I don’t recall ever doing this, but I’ve come close enough to know that the phenomenon is real.
Just a fortnight ago, I had the pleasure of introducing a friend to the ‘Immortal Waiting Game’, Michael Basman’s victory over the Swedish grandmaster Ulf Andersson, played at Hastings in 1975. Basman landed in a passive position out of the opening, and began to shuffle back and forth, so that at move 23 his pieces were in the identical state they had been in at move 11. It was a psychological masterstroke. Andersson, a distinctly patient player, girded himself to attack, only to waver and botch the execution so badly that Basman turned the tables and won the game. On 26 October, Basman died from cancer at the age of 76.
White to play. Basman-Balshan, Israel 1980. How did Basman decide the game in his favour? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 7 November. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Rg8! Rb1+ 2 Kh2 Rb2+ 3 Kh3 (White’s rook prevents g5-g4+) Rb1 4 b8=Q!
Chess players tend to fidget while they think. They crack their knuckles, stir their coffee, and bounce their legs. I have watched Boris Gelfand and Daniil Dubov twiddling a captured pawn in their fingers, with notable dexterity, despite being deep in thought. It’s a common tic, so when Sam Sevian reached out to pick up a piece while contemplating the position shown in the first diagram, I presume the motion was entirely unconscious. But it was odd for several reasons. First, it wasn’t Sam’s move, and the unwritten etiquette is to refrain from fiddling while the opponent is thinking. Stranger still, his outstretched hand didn’t settle on a stray pawn.
White to play. Salov-Horvath, Groningen 1983. In this treacherous rook and pawn endgame, White found the only winning move. What did he play? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 31 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Nd5! Qxd2 2 Nc7#. But not 1 Nb5 Qb6!
White to play. Mamedyarov-J. Polgar, Fide World Blitz, Dubai 2014. Black is lagging in development, and her last move, 10…Nb8-d7, gifted White a tactical opportunity. Which move won the game for White? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 24 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Be2!
‘I can comprehend Alekhine’s combinations well enough; but where he gets his attacking chances from and how he infuses such life into the very opening – that is beyond me. Give me the positions he obtains, and I should seldom falter. Yet I continually get drawn games, even out of the King’s Gambit!’ Those words of admiration for the fourth world champion are usually attributed to Rudolf Spielmann, a strong contemporary of his in the interwar period. I am struck by the same sense of awe when I watch Shakhriyar Mamedyarov play. The grandmaster from Azerbaijan was at his sparkling best in the early rounds of the Aimchess Rapid, the latest online event in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour.
White to play and mate in two. Composed by Bruce Leverett, Chess Life, 1968. What is White’s first move? Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 17 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1…b5! cuts off the Qa5. 2 Qd8 Qe5+ 3 g3 Qa1 wins e.g.
Vishy Anand’s eyes lit up as he described a beautiful variation from his game with Shakriyar Mamedyarov, played at the European Club Cup in Mayrhofen, Austria this month. The first diagram shows a variation which could arise if Mamedyarov had tried 33…Bg5!? 34 Rxc4 Bxe3+. (See left game) 35 Kf1 is tempting, since 35…Bxc4 36 Qa4!, threatens to capture the Bc4 and put Black in check at the same time. But 35 Kf1 d2! is a powerful spoiler, since after 36 Ra1 Bxc4+ the mighty pawn and bishop pair are a match for the queen. Placing the king on g2 or h1 leaves it vulnerable to a check from d5. Anand had planned to play 35 Kh2! Then, after 35…Bxc4 36 Qa4! disrupts Black’s coordination. He saw that Black might try 36…Bf4+ 37 Kg1 Be3+. But then 38 Kf1!
Black to play. Giorgobiani-Sivanandan, Fide Cadets U8 Girls Championship, 2022. Black has a subtle winning move in this position. What is it? (The game continued 32…Rf1 33 Qd5 and Black won after a long fight.) Answers should be emailed to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 10 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1…Qb1!
Judit Polgar, the strongest female player of all time, conducted an enchanting interview in the commentary room during the Chennai Olympiad. Her interviewee was Charvi Anilkumar, an eight-year-old girl from Bangalore. Asked about her dreams and ambitions, she announced confidently, ‘I need to play in men’s section and I need to be a grandmaster, and world champion!’ Polgar was evidently delighted and expressed her hope to one day see Charvi playing alongside men in the Open section of a future Olympiad. When she was an active player, Polgar was the top-ranked woman in the world from the age of 12, but she avoided women’s tournaments. Her pursuit of stronger opposition saw her peak at no. 8 on the international rating list.
The latest flashpoint in the Carlsen-Niemann saga took place in the sixth round of the preliminaries at the Julius Baer Generation Cup, one of the online events in the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. Ten days earlier, 19-year-old Hans Niemann had beaten Magnus Carlsen over the board at the Sinquefield Cup. Carlsen’s shock withdrawal from that event got the rumour mill spinning, which only accelerated after Niemann’s admission that he had cheated online at ages 12 and 16, although he insisted that those incidents are behind him. In the Generation Cup, Carlsen made just one move against Niemann before resigning, clearly in protest.
Black to play and win. A variation from the game Aronian-Ivanchuk, Julius Baer Generation Cup, September 2022. Ivanchuk could have reached this position, where he can now win at least a knight by force. What should Black’s next move be? Email answers to chess@spectator.co.uk by Monday 3 October. There is a prize of £20 for the first correct answer out of a hat. Please include a postal address and allow six weeks for prize delivery. Last week’s solution 1 Qa6! Then 1...Kxd2 2 Qh6#, or 1...cxd2 2 Qa1# or 1...