LIFE
fighters and imaginative tacticians such
as the grandmasters Rapport of
Hungary, Vidit of India, and our own
David Howell, who is known for
struggling for victory to the bitter end.
Meanwhile, here is one of the meagre
harvest of decisive encounters from the
draw-encumbered event at St Louis.Nepomniachtchi-Anand: Sinquefield Cup,
St Louis 2019 (diagram 1)White’s defensive plan here involves giving up
the bishop for the h-pawn and then liquidating
the queenside pawns to arrive at an endgame
of rook and knight versus rook which is a draw.
62 Bb8+ Kg4 63 Rg6+ Kh5 64 Rg8 Ne3
65 Rg3 Nd5+ 66 Kb3 Kh4 67 Rg8 Nf6 68
Rg6 Ng4 69 Rg8 Rh7 70 Kc4 h2 71 Bxh2
Nxh2 72 b5 The black pieces are now so far
from the queenside that White should be able
to complete part two of his plan. 72 ... Ng4
73 Ra8 axb5+ 74 Kxb5 Nf6 75 a5
Angling to play a6. 75 ... Nd5 Threatening a
knight fork on c7. 76 Ra7 Kg5 77 Kc4
A tragedy for White, who blunders just as the
draw was within grasp by 77 Kc5 Rd7 78 Ra8,
when a6 will soon follow. For the conclusion
see today’s puzzle.The classical section of the elite Grand Tour
event in St Louis, which ended earlier this
week, resembled a peace conference rather
than a chess tournament. Well past the
halfway stage, less than 10 per cent of the
games had been decisive. Something must
be done about this tendency and there are
various solutions.
The first and most obvious is to switch to
considerably faster time limits. There has
been a nod in this direction by Grand Tour
organisers, with their addition in St Louis
of both a rapid and blitz section. Ramping
up time limits, however, means sacrificing
the games’ quality, which diminishes as the
time limits decrease.
The next solution is to turn to shuffled
baseline chess — Fischer Random or
Chess 960 — where the pieces are arrayed
by chance at the start of the game. To me,
all such aleatory distortions are heresy. If
our traditional chess array needs adjusting,
then by all means turn to Xiangqi or Shogi,
respectively Chinese and Japanese chess.
Indeed, both are excellent mind sports, on
a par with draughts (at the less complex
end of the difficulty spectrum) and Go.
In my opinion the most satisfactory
solution would be for organisers and
sponsors to abandon the obsession with
aiming for the highest possible rating
average for tournaments. Not only
does the high average strength of the
participants mean that the possibility of
draws increases, but because it is always
the same magic circle of competitors
repeatedly clashing, they become
accustomed to the opposition and begin to
exhaust their fund of creative new ideas.
Furthermore, defensive technique at the
elite level is now so refined that even
seriously advantageous positions are hard
to convert to victory.
The answer, surely, is to leaven the elite
composition of top events with noted
In Competition No. 3113 you were invited to
submit an acrostic poem about a politician in
which the first letter of each line spells the
name of that politician.
While most of set your sights on modern-
day politicians, David Silverman (as well as
his poignant prizewinning haiku) penned a
double-dactylic portrait of Caesar Augustus:
Cheesius Maximus:
Augustus Caesar
Empowered the People and
Senate of Rome.
Annexed Hispania;
Raided North Africa;
Authoritarian —
Unless at home...
Ian Barker earns an honourable mention,
the winners below take £20.Joyless autumn day:
Falling like cherry blossom,
Killed from grassy knoll
David SilvermanWily old warhorse, you made your name great
In leading your country to fight against Fate.
No other could match you in those darkest years;
Serenely you offered us blood, sweat and tears.
Though much, you asserted, was owed to so few
Our honour and freedom are owing to you.
Never again in our country’s lifespan
Can we be in debt for so much to one man.
Heroic in danger, you stayed calm and bold,
Unruffled by horrors; this message you sold:
‘Regardless of losses we’ll never give in,
Campaigning on beaches, at last we will win.’
Hell opened before us but still you stood tall
It seemed we were crushed, on the brink of a fall.
London was burning in that desperate hour.
Liberation you won for us. Such was your power.
Frank McDonaldMany have made a witch of her and yet
Abroad she was admired. If she said NO
God could not change her mind when it was set.
Guts and determination made her go
Into the fiercest fights with will to win;
Everyone knew her lips meant what they said.
This lady would not turn, her greatest sin,
Her biggest asset too. She always led
As if she knew her course with certainty.
Today we lack the spirit she displayed.
Can it be doubted her tenacity,
Her steel resolve would come to Britain’s aid?
Europe would find in her no mellow May
Resigned to deal our sovereignty away.
Max RossJacob, no one doubts you’re very grand —
A guide to style? Let’s ‘meet with’ words you’ve
banned,
Condemned as ‘unacceptable’ and dire:
Oikish ‘Mr’ — always use ‘Esquire’,
Before this, let me say ‘I’m pleased to learn’
Reports that claim you’ve ‘noted my concern’,
Especially as we’ve ‘got’ to ‘ascertain’
Each reference to Queen Victoria’s reign.
So could you help us to communicate?PUZZLE NO. 569
Black to play. This is from Nepomniachtchi-
Anand, St Louis 2019. How did Anand exploit his
opponent’s lapse? Answers to me at The Spectator
by Tuesday 3 September 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 Bh3
Last week’s winner William Jolliffe, Oxford
Chess
Peace conference
Raymond Keene
Competition
Initial impressions
Lucy Vickery
Diagram 1