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There were three competitions in the British Chess Solving Championship. Chess problemist Brian Stephenson, who for twenty-five years directed the Championship, and has directed several World Chess Solving Championships, shows us three of the competition studies. It is your opportunity to join the competition and test your own solving skills. Or at least enjoy some very clever chess compositions.
The double check is sometimes characterised as the “Atomic Bomb” of the chessboard. Since the checks come from two different lines, these can’t be blocked simultaneously by a single move, and therefore the king has to retreat. If there is no retreat square available, then it may be checkmate out of a clear sky! | Pictured: Aron Nimzowitsch
Today is Jonathan Speelman’s sixty-sixth birthday, so he allowed himself a certain amount of self-indulgence, as he decided to present a selection of his favourite games and studies. His criterion: “A preference for either the breathtakingly simple or the mind-bogglingly complex”. Happy birthday, Jon! | Pictured: Julian Hodgson and Jonathan Speelman
Inspired by Gukesh’s remarkable win over Gabriel Sargissian in round 6 of the Chess Olympiad, star columnist Jon Speelman looked at a few more instances of cross checks and deflections that left a strong aesthetic impression. A beautiful study by the Danish composer Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen is included in the mix. | Photo: Stev Bonhage
One of the prerequisites for playing chess well is to have a decent feel for the geometry of the board. In today’s column, GM Jon Speelman explores this theme through a couple of somewhat unusual patterns — the staircase and the stairwell. He also looks at a game by Will Watson, a player once described by Boris Spassky as “a drunk with a machine gun”. | Pictured: ‘Relativity’ by M. C. Escher