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The Guardian
04-04-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Women's chess takes centre stage with World and European titles up for grabs
Women's chess takes centre stage this week. In Shanghai and Chongqing, there is an all-Chinese 12-game match for the women's world crown between Ju Wenjun, 34, the holder, and Tan Zhongyi, 33, the challenger. The pair are closely matched on ratings (2561 to 2555) and level on head-to-head. The prize money pool is $500,000. Thursday's game one, with Ju playing White in a Sicilian Defence, was a routine draw by threefold repetition in 39 moves. There is live commentary from 7am BST each day from the all-time No 1, Judit Polgar, and England's popular Jovanka Houska on YouTube. Saturday is a rest day, game three (of 12) is on Sunday. Ju and Tan are effectively playing a rematch, as Ju won her first world crown in 2017, qualifying to challenge reigning champion Tan and then defeating her in the title series. Next, Ju successfully defended her title in a 64-player knockout in 2018. Since then, after Fide changed the system for deciding the challenger, Ju has won championship matches against Russia's Aleksandra Goryachkina in 2020, and against her compatriot Lei Tingjie in 2023. The women's world title was launched in 1927, and its first 17 years were dominated by Vera Menchik, who won every championship tournament and match between 1927 and 1939 by wide margins, outclassing her rivals. Menchik spent most of her life in London, and was tragically killed at age 38 by a German V1 bomb which hit her Clapham home in 1944. There have since been 10 memorial tournaments in her honour, the latest just two weeks ago. From 1950 to 1991 Soviet players monopolised the event, led by the Georgians Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze, both of whom also scored notable successes against male grandmasters. Gaprindashvili's shared victory at Lone Pine 1977 was among her best achievements. From 1991 onwards has been the Chinese era, with 15 of the last 20 champions, led by the all-time No 2 woman, Hou Yifan. However, Hungary's Polgar, the only woman to play in an open world championship tournament, never competed for the women's title. Ju has successfully defended her crown three times already, so will be the favourite against Tan. Her creditable results against male grandmasters, particularly at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee 2024 where she beat Alireza Firouzja and drew with Ian Nepomniachtchi, Gukesh Dommaraju and Ding Liren, show that she ranks among the all-time top six or top 10 women. The European Women's Championship is currently under way in Rhodes, Greece, with a prize fund of €60,000, and qualifying 10 players for the Women's World Cup. England is fielding six players, the three-time British women's champion Lan Yao and five schoolgirls. The English Chess Federation international director, Malcolm Pein, explained that as it was the last participation financed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's £500,000 grant for English elite chess, which has been terminated this week, he decided to use it to support future talents. Lan won an impressive game in round one, showcasing the power of a queen and rooks on open attacking lines, but lost to the Netherlands star Eline Roebers in round three. Meanwhile, BBC Two's programme Chess Masters: The Endgame reached its fourth episode (of eight) at 8pm on Monday. Viewing figures, supplied by Broadcast, have stabilised. Numbers are marginally up, from 655,000 to 660,000, representing 5.4% of the viewing audience against 5.0% the previous week. The Magnus Carlsen memory test in episode three will be repeated for the new contestants in episode six. Carlsen takes on The World on Friday, a repeat of historic challenges by Garry Kasparov and Vishy Anand in which up to 70,000 players participated. It will be Freestyle Chess at one move a day. The game starts at 11am BST. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion You need to be a member of to vote for The World's moves. The game is open to all free and premium members and a free account can be made here. The website currently has 71,000 players signed up, but anticipates hitting the system limit of 100,000 opponents before the game starts. Matthew Wadsworth qualified as a grandmaster last weekend, when the Cambridge economics graduate, 24, shared first prize with 7/9 at Bad Wörishofen, Germany. He is England's third new GM in the last 12 months, following on from Ameet Ghasi and Shreyas Royal. Wadsworth already had the three required GM norms, but still needed to improve his Fide international rating from 2491 to 2500. He had a setback in round seven (of nine) when he lost to the Armenian top seed, so rounds eight and nine became must-wins. After winning both, his rating jumped to 2499.9 which Fide's newly published April rating list has rounded up to 2500. To replay Wadsworth's decisive game, go to the menu at the extreme right below the board, scroll down, and click fast or slow replay mode as preferred. Click the symbol at the right of h8 for the game with computer analysis. White's 24 b4! gave Wadsworth a clear advantage, although the later error 36 Kh1? gave Black a missed chance to get back into the game with 36…Nxe4! 3966: 1…Ng6! with the main line 2 fxg6 (other moves also lose) Bxh3+! 3 Kxh3 Qh5+! 4 Kg2 Qh2+ 5 Kf1 g2+ 6 Kf2 g1=Q mate.
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
BBC Two chess show keeps 710,000 viewers despite rocky opening week
Chess Masters: The Endgame, BBC Two's most ambitious chess programme for half a century, got off to a rocky start on 10 March, when its opening episode received some rough treatment from critics. The Guardian's Lucy Mangan called it 'so dull it's almost unwatchable'. However, fears of a second week meltdown last Monday proved overblown. Viewers totalled 710,000, still nearly 6% of the television audience, and online comments were milder, focusing on the overdramatic commentary and the hyping of the players as 'rising stars' and 'masters'. The producers would have been on safer ground using 'maestro', as the English Chess Federation allows this term for players performing at a 1400 rating level over a 12-month period. Touch a piece, move that piece, is a basic chess rule for over the board games, but in episode two a player was allowed to touch his rook, then move his king, without comment. Positively, the on demand Full Match version on iPlayer with David Howell's commentary has been highly praised, as was the BBC Four programme How to Win at Chess, a rerun of a 2009 programme with advice on improvement from GMs Ray Keene and Daniel King. This includes a rare section on chess boxing, where rounds alternate between the board and the ring until checkmate or knockout. In Monday's third episode (BBC Two, 8pm) the second group of six players join the action. The new contestants include Kel, 39, from Bolton, who is an experienced league and tournament player and probably the favourite to win the whole competition. For readers who would like to explore chess further, the English Chess Federation has an interactive map with the location of your nearest chess club, while details of clubs in Scotland, Wales and Ireland are here, here and here respectively. Jonah Willow has been England's outstanding performer in the European Championship at the Romanian Black Sea resort of Eforie Nord, scoring 4/6 against strong opposition. The Nottingham 22-year-old, who already has one GM norm from Fagernes, Norway, last year, made a fine start, defeating a low ranked player in round one, then holding his own with four opponents rated 2600 or higher, before a gritty sixth round win. Willow halved in round two against Spain's Jaime Santos, choosing a solid plan with central pressure against the Najdorf Sicilian. Then he won one of the best games of his career against Poland's Mateusz Bartel, using the rare Burn Variation of the French Defence to exploit White's inaccuracies and finishing with a clever tactic. To replay the Bartel v Willow game, click the menu at the bottom right of the link, scroll down to replay mode, then choose fast or slow as you prefer. In round four against the strong Ukrainian Yuri Kuzubov, Willow opted for a well known drawing line in the Four Knights with multiple exchanges, but in round five he was beaten by Turkey's Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, at age 13 the youngest ever 2600-rated player. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion In Thursday's sixth round Willow scored a hard-fought win where he cleverly utilised opposite coloured bishops to attack his opponent's king. With 4/6 and five rounds to go after Friday's rest day, Willow remains well in contention for his second GM norm. His tournament performance rating (TPR) is 2593, very close to the 2600 needed. Shreyas Royal, 16, England's youngest ever grandmaster, is on 3/6 after being paired with two of the top 10 seeds. The Greenwich teenager drew well with Armenia's Shant Sargsyan, lost narrowly to Germany's Frederik Svane, then had a sixth round setback against the Slovenian, Maksym Goroshkov, who sacrificed a knight for a crushing attack on the king. Yang-Fan Zhou, aiming for his third and final GM norm, has 3.5/6, although against weaker opposition. Zhou scored a good draw in round six against the Italian GM Daniele Vocatero, but his TPR is only 2430, so that his norm chances are now slender. The same goes for Sohum Lohia, 16, England's No 2 junior after Royal, who also has 3.5/6, but with a TPR of only 2146 against the 2450 needed for his third and final IM norm. 3964: 1 Qf6+! Bxf6 2 gxf6+ Kxf6 (if 2…Kf8? 3 Rxd8 mate) 3 Ne4+ Ke7 4 Nxc5 and White wins with his extra knight.
The Guardian
28-02-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Chess: England over-65s lead all the way to world senior team gold at Prague
England over-65s and over-50s had contrasting experiences this week at the World Senior Team Championships in Prague. The over-65s, led by the individual world champion, John Nunn, and with a virtuoso 7/8 performance by Peter Large, led throughout and were unbeaten with 16/18 match points, seven wins and two draws. Two German teams, Lasker Germany and Saxonia, took silver and bronze. England over-50s also led for much of the way despite a round four loss to Italy, but faltered in the final round crunch matches against USA, which they lost for the third year in a row, and Kazakhstan, where they drew. England actually had the best game points total of all the 50+ teams, and four of their five players finished in gold or silver medal positions, but it was match points that mattered. USA won gold, Italy silver, and Kazakhstan bronze, with England fourth and England's second team fifth. Contrary to normal practice, the organisers only awarded individual gold medals, not silver or bronze. Michael Adams and Mark Hebden won gold in the 50+, as did Sheila Jackson in the women's 50+ (incorporated in the open event) and Large in the 65+. Had there been silver and bronze, Stuart Conquest and John Emms (50+), Petra Fink-Nunn and Helen Frostick (women's 50+), Nunn and Ian Snape (65+) would have achieved silver, and Paul Littlewood (65+) bronze. The English Chess Federation should consider recognising their achievements by awarding its own medals to the excluded seven. In the 65+, Epsom's Peter Large was the outstanding England individual performer. The retired solicitor, who has played over 80,000 games on hit the form of his life in Prague, where his performance rating of 2494 was the second best of the competition and close to grandmaster level. Large plays in the vintage style of the golden 1980s age of English chess, with Grand Prix Attacks, Harry the h-pawn pushes, Queen's Indian counterattacks and tactical shots all featuring prominently. In his best game at Prague, he overwhelmed an Israeli IM. John Nunn, England's 65+ top board, is still a high class grandmaster as well as an eminent chess author and problem solver. The King's Indian 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 has been his favourite defence for decades. When France's GM Anatoly Vaisser tried to surprise him by the sharp Four Pawns Attack 4 e4 d6 5 f4, Nunn was ready with his own offbeat response 5…0-0 6 Nf3 c5 7 dxc5 Na6!? and swept to a stylish victory where his rooks trapped the white king on the h file. Nunn and Large were well supported by Tony Kosten, the France-based author of many opening books as well as 101 Tips to Improve Your Chess; and by the team captain, Glenn Flear, whose performance at London 1986 is still the stuff of legend. He was a last-minute replacement, got married on the tournament rest day, was the bottom seed, but won first prize ahead of the global elite headed by Boris Spassky. Fifth board Terry Chapman also has a unique place in chess history through his narrow 1.5-2.5 defeat in his 2001 two pawn odds match against Garry Kasparov, then at the height of his powers. For the England 50+ team and its selectors, the result in Prague was a contrasting disappointment. Statistically, they were unlucky. Michael Adams is a top class grandmaster who won elegantly in the final round at Prague, while Stuart Conquest, Mark Hebden and John Emms were all in good form. All four finished in gold or silver medal positions with just a solitary defeat each caused by a blunder in a near-even position, yet each of those dropped points led to a lost or drawn match. The controversial selector decision to omit the popular Keith Arkell rebounded as his replacement, Peter Wells, was out of form. However, the problems run deeper than that. The victorious USA squad, which has now won the 50+ title three years in a row, has two major assets: they are almost all not just Americans, but also grandmasters who learnt their skills in the former USSR. This team are therefore the sole remaining guardians of the historic Soviet 20th century chess supremacy, and they are zealous in its defence. Second, Senior chess in the US benefits substantially from Rex Sinquefield's largesse. The prize fund for the 2024 all-play-all US Seniors at St Louis was $75,000. which was more than 100 times the money for the 2024 British Over-50 Championship at Hull. It gets worse. The winner of the 2024 US Senior, Vladimir Akopian, was an Olympic gold medallist in his prime, No 2 for Armenia behind Levon Aronian. He did not compete in Prague, but is likely to be available next year. Another active 2600+ grandmaster, Alexander Onischuk, turns 50 this year, so that the US team is likely to be stronger still in 2026. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion For England over-50s to compete successfully at this higher level, they most probably need the world class pair Nigel Short, who last played in the 2022 gold medal team, and Matthew Sadler, who turned 50 last year and, although semi-retired, is still active in chess as a commentator and writer. However, there is a new negative factor. The £500,000 DCMS grant for elite chess, which was introduced in 2023 and has since encouraged England's best players of all ages, especially women and girls, is due to be axed completely at the end of next month. The long-term consequences of this decision are incalculable, but are likely to fall most heavily on the national teams and on the provision of coaching support for fast rising talents. Boris Spassky, the 10th world champion and loser of the most famous match in chess championship history died on Thursday aged 88. He had a severe stroke in 2010, but made a good recovery. Spassky's magnanimity in defeat against Bobby Fischer at Reykjavik 1972, where he showed himself a fine sportsman and even applauded his opponent at the end of the sixth game, made him an inspirational figure for the chess public. Spassky was ranked among the global elite from his mid-teens, but setbacks in qualifying events, notably an epic game with Mikhail Tal in 1958, delayed his reaching the top. By the time he finally won the crown, by defeating Tigran Petrosian in 1969, Fischer's inexorable rise was already under way. When they finally met Fischer lost the first game and defaulted the second, then overwhelmed the Russian with a series of wins. In his later years Spassky was content to keep his place among the elite and opted for a more peaceful style. He and Fischer played a return match in 1992, which the American also won. It was notable for the largest prize fund in chess history, $5m, provided by a Montenegro banker as part of an alleged Ponzi scheme. A fuller tribute will follow later in Guardian obituaries. 3961: 1 Nf5! If 2 Re8+ Rf8 3 Qxc4+ Kh8 4 Qf7! and wins. The game ended 1 Nf5 Qd8 2 Rxe7! Resigns. If 3 Qd5+! Qxd5 4 Nxe7+ and 5 Nxd5 wins the ending a knight ahead.
