Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2024 i British Chess Magazine

This year it was his debut at the Global Chess League. Playing for Triveni Continental Kings, he won six games, drew one and lost three – making him the top scorer on the so-called Icon board. BCM sat down with Alireza during the GCL in London, where he shared his thoughts on the tournament’s unique format, the state of chess tournaments, and his personal journey in the sport. Firouzja, known for his meteoric rise through the chess ranks, appeared relaxed and thoughtful, offering both praise and critical reflection on the direction chess is taking in its new era. British Chess Magazine: First of all, how does it feel to be playing in the Global Chess League here? What do you make of the entire concept? THE FORMAT WITHOUT TIME INCREMENT…

Dear readers, As of 1st November this year, the subscription rates for BCM will be adjusted to £64 for UK subscribers and £96 for those outside the UK. This decision comes after careful consideration, and we make this announcement with a heavy heart, fully aware of the financial pressures many of our readers face. Having held our prices steady since 2015, we are now compelled to reflect the substantial rise in production costs that we can no longer absorb. In addition to subscription changes, we will soon be updating the pricing of other BCM products. Full details will be available on our website in the coming weeks. We’ve worked hard to defer these adjustments for as long as possible, and we hope our readers will understand the necessity of this…

In this stunning book, Laszlo Jakobetz resurrects the legacy of Hungary's enigmatic chess maestro with unparalleled detail and affection I first visited Hungary as a teenage student, President of London University Chess Club. We were certainly one of the pioneer club sides to make a chess tour of what used to be called Eastern Europe, and we lived a wonderful, multi-dimensional learning experience. In Budapest, that beautiful city on the Danube, our games were followed by superb Hungarian players, endgame study composers, problemists and numerous connoisseurs of Caissa. For me, already deeply immersed in trying to understand what was really going on inside the so-called “Soviet bloc” countries, the opportunity to be in a country which had fought so hard (and alas unsuccessfully) to liberate itself from the yoke was…

Raymond Keene OBE is uniquely placed to write up the interaction between those two titans of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Napoleon Bonaparte and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The former was the most powerful statesman and warrior the world had ever witnessed, up to that time; the latter was the epitome of European culture, with his Faust epic considered the greatest creation of German literature. Both loved the game of chess.…

The pawnless ending of queen and bishop versus queen is generally a draw. It’s not even a difficult one to draw; if I got it in a game and had the extra bishop, I wouldn’t bother playing on—I’d just offer a draw. However, there are plenty of positions that are exceptions, enough of them that study composers have been able to construct surprising win studies. The first research on this was in the 19th century, notably by L. Centurini and J. Berger, whose names are given to the mating mechanisms they discovered. Now Paul Byway has sent me three interrelated studies he has composed using the Berger and Centurini mates. Two of them form a pair, in that the only difference in the positions is a minor shift of the…

This is a game with a dazzling finish. White comes up with a plan focused on putting pressure on Black’s d7 square. Black hit a critical point where a different move would have made it more of a fight, but that happens all the time, especially in amateur play, so learn from the attacking idea in this game. There are some suggestions at the end that are worth paying attention to. Wei Yi (2675) - A. Haast (2352) [B48] Tata Steel Group B Wijk aan Zee, 2015 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘c6 5.♘c3 ♕c7 6.♙e3 a6 White has a choice of very popular moves such as ♙d3 and Be2 and the most popular: ♕d2; however... 7.♕f3 Regular readers of this column will recall the Nightmares in the…

The year 1924 was a pivotal one in the chess world, marked by debates over who would challenge José Raúl Capablanca for the world championship, the emergence of future legends, and the passing of some of the game’s greatest pioneers. While Rubinstein and Alekhine’s records sparked conversations about their worthiness to face Capablanca, the death of stalwarts like Joseph Henry Blackburne and Curt von Bardeleben marked the end of an era. At the same time, a young Mikhail Botvinnik was starting to turn heads, and David Bronstein’s birth gave the chess world a glimpse of its creative future. Let’s dive into the highlights of a century ago, where chess legends clashed, and new talents emerged on the scene. 6276 The We know the answer in 2024, but a century ago…

This year – 2024 - we celebrate twin cultural centennial birthdays. It is the 100th anniversary of Surrealism (brought into the world at the Hotel de Ville in Paris, by Andre Breton, and poets Phillipe Soupault, and Robert Desnos) – and July, 1924 also in Paris marks this year as the 100th anniversary of FIDE, The International Chess Federation as the governing body of the sport of chess. Let us consider these moments in Paris through the creation of FIDE and of Surrealism – two elegant expressions of the human imagination and intellect. Chess captured the imagination of many artists in the 20th century. It eliminated boundaries between bohemia and the bourgeoisie, becoming a way for artists to test their mettle against chess masters, many even becoming masters themselves. Chess…