Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i British Chess Magazine

Once a pastime for the elite, chess has evolved into a bustling ecosystem reflecting societal shifts and shaping new paradigms The notion of an ecosystem has been around for a long time. But in recent years, the term has been applied to just about anything and everything. From something that in its origins was mostly employed as a broad tool for examining natural environments, it has been transformed into a way of describing interactions of all sorts, and of “testing” how good the entities involved really are at making the most of those interactions. Since chess, within the past five years, has undergone multiple tsunami of change, surely it’s the moment to ask ourselves: what does the chess ecosystem (CES) look like today? And how does today’s picture/moving panorama differ…

In a remarkable display of persistence and skill, England's senior chess teams captured triple gold at the 2024 European Senior Team Chess Championships held at the picturesque Terme Čatež in Slovenia This prestigious event saw England’s over-50 and over-65 teams overcoming formidable competition to achieve a clean sweep of titles. The results are a continuation of England’s great performance in recent years. In a way, it would seem that the bright moments of British chess are still coming from the previous generations than the current top players. THE OVER-50s The over-50 squad, comprising grandmasters John Emms, Glenn Flear, Keith Arkell, Nigel Davies, and Stuart Conquest, showed resilience and vigour by rebounding from an unexpected defeat to Montenegro in the second round (2.5:1.5). They then secured as many as five consecutive…

1 Leonid Lyubashevsky and Leonid Makaronez (Israel) Mate in 3 ORIGINAL 2 Paul Michelet (London) Mate in 6 ORIGINAL 3 Stanislav Hudak (Slovakia) Helpmate in 3 – 2 solutions ORIGINAL 4 Ljubomir Ugren (Slovenia) Helpmate in 7 ORIGINAL SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS Firstly, apologies for an error in the Problem World diagrams in March 2024. In the first problem, by David Shire, a white bishop at g8 was omitted. Apologies indeed to the composer and to readers who must have been bemused by this error. This month’s problems I’m going to repeat what I said at the start of the last Problem World: “as usual, we start with the shortest direct mate problem, but this time the three-mover, typically for its composers, requires you to find a neat key move, against…

A unique tournament in Casablanca featured four top world players - Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura and Bassem Amin - using a rapid format with historical starting positions selected by Grandmasters and by public vote To celebrate the 100th anniversary since its inception, FIDE is organising many events throughout the world. One of these was the commercial and exhibition-style tournament in Casablanca (18-19 May), won by Magnus Carlsen. To ensure maximum visibility, the invited players were former World Champions Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, “the streamer” Hikaru Nakamura and the best African player Bassem Amin. The time-control was the ever more popular rapid 15 minutes + 10 seconds per move. However, the spice of the tournament was the format! The players competed in a double-round robin with each round…

Some time ago, I remember a young and promising GM “crying” on social media, in all seriousness, how the public cannot possibly understand the agonising pain of losing 20 rating points and dropping below 2600. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry from such a deification of the rating numbers. And yet, for active players, the rating numbers control us. Everybody is addicted to those numbers, to a bigger or lesser extent. Even Carlsen, who recently said he would like to remain number one with a solid advantage over the rest. We are all trapped inside our own small circles, from the beginners who want to cross 1100 to the elite who want to cross 2800. Let’s mention again Carlsen, who not so long ago set himself the aim…

As my loyal readers know, I love using old games as well as modern games. I’ve pointed out that the ideas carried out in older games are not infrequently easier to understand than modern chess games. That’s why so many amateurs get lost in the early middle game. It’s best to learn the foundational concepts before trying to mimic today’s greats. Moderns do play clear plans, but you have to dig for them. This game, from the legendary Carlsbad, 1929, tournament, has had more than its share of commentators: Nimzowitsch and Tartakower among them. For these two GMs of the avant-garde school to take a special interest in this game made me wonder what caught their eye. White develops an attack against a castled king that is not on h7,…

BCM Interview: Tarik SENHAJI, Organiser of the Casablanca Chess Week Tarik Senhaji is the director of the Casablanca Stock Exchange, and he has a strong passion for chess. In an interview for the British Chess Magazine, Senhaji talks about the Casablanca Variation – a new chess concept which he invented together with his Moroccan compatriot, GM Hichem Hamdouchi, as well as about the Casablanca Chess Week which gave a breath of fresh air to chess in Africa and globally. BCM: How did you come to the idea of organising the Casablanca Chess Week? Tarik Senhaji: We started the Morocco Chess Week as a popular chess festival in 2022, aimed at engaging the wider public through a variety of activities such as conferences, chess in the park, and community outreach. However,…

The question on whether chess is interesting to watch given that players take a long time between moves is the core problem with chess becoming a spectator sport. Of course, I’m talking here about classical chess, not rapid or blitz, which are more easily “sold” as we have seen in recent years, with a huge rise in the number of rapid and blitz events. The answer to the question from the subheading is: you don’t. Unless you’re a strong chess player yourself and have the time to immerse yourself in the game in progress. The key word here is the conjunction “and”. Because, in order to be appreciated, chess must be understood and that understanding requires the time to put in the effort. The main issue that prevents the “casual…