Raymond Keene

Matthew Sadler’s retirement from full-time international chess is one of the great losses to the British game. Occasionally, the one-time prodigy emerges, usually to make a massive score in a rapid or blitz event in the vicinity of Holland, where he now works and lives. It is also fortunate that he still competes in the Four Nations Chess League.   This week’s game is a Sadler victory against a former two-times World Championship candidate, Jon Speelman.   Sadler-Speelman: 4NCL 2017; French Defence   1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 Qd7 The usual move here is 4 ... c5 with an immediate challenge to the white pawn centre. Speelman may have chosen the text in the erroneous belief that Sadler would have been less well prepared for it.

White to play. This position is a variation from Hou Yifan-Ju, Gibraltar 2017. Hou lost this game to her compatriot. The puzzle shows what might have happened if her opponent had gone wrong. How can she conclude her attack? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 21 February or email victoria@spectator.co.uk. There is a £20 prize 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 ...

The Tradewise tournament at Gibraltar has gained a colossal reputation and is even challenging the traditional tournament at Wijk aan Zee (see last week’s column) in terms of playing strength. This year the tournament was graced by our very own Michael Adams and Nigel Short, as well as such illustrious denizens of the international arena as Vassily Ivanchuk, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura. Astonishingly, Nakamura succeeded in winning the event for the third year running, having triumphed in a play-off after an initial triple-tie for first place. His first-prize reward was a handsome £23,000.

My two previous articles dwelt on Richard Réti’s introduction of the so-called hypermodern systems. Characterised by the double fianchetto of White’s bishops, Réti swept to victory with his invention against both Bogolyubov and Capablanca, as detailed in my columns. A fortuitous coincidence with the publication of Réti: Move by Move by Thomas Engqvist (Everyman Chess) was the victory by the young Hungarian Richard Rapport against world champion Magnus Carlsen at the recent Tata Steel tournament at Wijk aan Zee in Holland.   The tournament was won by the resurgent former Philippine, now USA grandmaster, Wesley So, who appears to have become invincible in his latest competitions.

The new book by Thomas Engqvist, Réti: Move by Move (Everyman Chess), about the hypermodern leader Richard Réti, is so significant that it deserves further examination.   Perhaps Réti’s most celebrated victory came against Capablanca, who had come through his 1921 world title contest and the subsequent great tournament of London 1922 without losing a single game. When Réti defeated Capablanca with his new opening system at New York 1924, it was the first game lost by Capa in eight years. It created a sensation.

White to play. This is from Réti-Tartakower, Vienna 1910. Can you spot White’s beautiful tactical coup? Answers to me at The Spectator by Tuesday 24 January or via email to victoria@spectator.co.uk. 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 ...

The London Classic is over with the final scores being as follows: Wesley So 6/9; Fabiano Caruana 5½; Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura 5; Anish Giri 4½; Lev Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Michael Adams 4; Veselin Topalov 2.   This result means that Wesley So not only wins the London leg of the Grand Tour, but also takes first prize in the overall contest. The Grand Tour organisers have now announced the full lineup for 2017, with the nine permanent competitors being as follows: Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Vladimir Kramnik, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Sergei Karjakin, Viswanathan Anand and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Magnus Carlsen has retained the World Championship but only after Sergei Karjakin, the challenger, missed some glorious opportunities. In game 9 Karjakin, already a point ahead in the match, built up a formidable attacking position, only to miss the coup juste at the critical moment.   Karjakin-Carlsen, New York (Game 9) 2016 (see diagram 1)   In the diagram position, Karjakin played 39 Bxf7+ which fizzled out to a draw after 39 ... Kxf7 40 Qc4+ Kg7 41 d5 Nf5 42 Bc3+ Kf8 43 Bxa1 Nxh4+ 44 Qxh4 Qxd5 45 Qf6+ Qf7. What Karjakin missed was 39 Qb3 when all the variations work in his favour, e.g. 39 ... Nf5 40 Bxf7+ Kg7 41 Rh3 (forced) 41 ... Qe7 (threatening ...Nh4+) 42 Bg8 Nh4+ 43 Rxh4 Qxh4 44 Qf7+ Kh8 45 Qxc7 Kxg8 46 d5 which should win.

Probably the most spectacular game played in the past year was the brilliant win by Gawain Jones in the Olympiad. Gawain, a devotee of the King’s Indian Defence, succeeded in fashioning a masterpiece very much in the style of those King’s Indian heroes David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal and Leonid Stein.   Nguyen (Vietnam)-Jones (England): Baku Chess Olympiad 2016; King’s Indian Defence   1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 0-0 5 Nf3 d6 6 h3 e5 7 d5 Na6 8 Be3 Nc5 9 Nd2 Nh5 This is highly unusual. In previous play, Black almost invariably secured the position of his queen’s knight with 9 ... a5.

Black to play. This position is from Topalov-Nakamura, St Louis 2014. Black seems to be in big trouble, but how did he turn the tables? We regret that because of the Christmas printing schedule, this is not a prize puzzle.