The Spectator - October 20, 2018

LIFE

Kc8 26 Qe6+ Kc7 27 Qe7+ Kb6 28 Bc5+ Kb5

29 Nd4+ Ka4 30 Bb3+ Rxb3 31 axb3 mate. 26

Qxd5+ Ka6 27 Qc4+ Kb7 28 Qe4+ Nc6

29 Ne5 Ka6 30 Qc4+ Ka7 31 Bc5+ Rb6

32 Bxb6+ Bxb6 33 Nxc6+ Bxc6 34 Qxc6

Black resigns

This Saturday the powerful Isle of Man

tournament commences with a line-up

that includes Lev Aronian, Maxime

Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, Wesley So

and the two ex-world champions

Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan

Anand. This week’s puzzle is taken from

last year’s event.

The Evans Gambit was invented by a
British naval officer of the early part of
the 19th century, Captain W.D. Evans, who
invented a form of ship’s lighting which
was given an award by the Tsar of Russia.
Captain Evans’s gambit is highly suitable
at club and county level and in the
19th century it captured the scalps of
many great masters, including Johannes
Zukertort and Adolf Anderssen. For the
latter, see this week’s game. In modern
chess it has been employed by Garry
Kasparov, and even Viswanathan Anand
and world champion Magnus Carlsen have
fallen victim to its intricacies.
The Evans has recently received a boost
from MEGA, the Make the Evans
Great Again campaign, introduced by
the erudite and witty author of the
@HowardStaunton Twitter feed. I highly
recommend this feed for its extraordinary
knowledge of chess history and tradition,
and for its stunningly convincing
recreation of the authentic voice and style
of that Victorian chess champion and
polymath Howard Staunton.

Kolisch-Anderssen; London 1861;
Evans Gambit

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4 Bxb4 5
c3 Ba5 6 d4 exd4 7 0-0 dxc3 8 Qb3 Qf6 9
e5 Qg6 10 Nxc3 b5 This is in Anderssen’s
counterattacking style but 10 ... Nge7 is safer. 11
Nxb5 Rb8 12 Qe3 Nge7 13 Qe2 Qh5 14
Ba3 Bb7 15 Rad1 Nf5 This overlooks the
following combination (see diagram 1). 16
Rxd7! Kxd7 17 e6+ Kc8 After 17 ... fxe6 18
Qxe6+ Kd8 19 Rd1+ wins. 18 exf7 Ba8 19
Nxa7+ In keeping with the swashbuckling style
of the play so far but 19 Qe6+ Kb7 20 Rb1 was
immediately terminal. 19 ... Nxa7 20 Qe6+
Kd8 21 Rd1+ Nd6 22 Rxd6+ Further
exuberance but 22 Bxd6 actually mates far more
quickly. 22 ... cxd6 23 Qxd6+ Kc8 24 Be6+
Kb7 25 Bd5+ (see diagram 2) 25 ... Qxd5
The black king is chased to its doom after 25 ...

In Competition No. 3070 you were invited to

provide a poem with the title ‘When I Grow

Up I Want to Be [insert name here]’.

Performance poet Megan Beech was so

incensed by the abuse heaped by Twitter

trolls on her idol Mary Beard that she wrote

a poem called ‘When I Grow Up I Want to

Be Mary Beard’ (‘an academic and a classy

lady to boot’). Which is what gave me the

idea for this challenge.

Another classicist, the esteemed Peter

Jones, was the object of W.J. Webster’s affec-

tion. Otherwise it was an eclectic entry that

ranged from the Dalai Lama to Donald

Trump. Commendations to Alan Millard,

Douglas G. Brown and Paul Carpenter, who

wants to be Rod Liddle when he grows up.

The winners earn £25 each.

I think I’d like to be the Dalai Lama —

Someone whose purpose is to make life calmer

Beyond the Twitter-world’s fake news and drama,

Conspiracy-mad theories of Big Pharma

And social media’s role as an alarmer;

Like one whose peaceful habits are as armour,

As tuned into the seasons as a farmer,

Who sees the earth as one large diorama

To be respected (therefore, not a harmer)

Taking life’s journey quiet as a palmer

And focused on creation of good karma,

Gentler and less exotic than a llama,

As careful of all things as an embalmer,

With courtesy and kindness a disarmer —

Yes, there’s a model, truly grown-up, charmer.

D.A. Prince

When I grow up I want to be

Beelzebub incarnate,

the fires of Hell would set me free

from a semi-detached in Barnet.

I’d lead all innocents astray

and fan the flames of lust;

depravity’s the devil’s way;

it’s healthy and robust.

I’d violate humanity,

corruption would be rife,

inciting the inanity

of conflict and of strife.

Then strip the planet — ha! too late,

there goes my fiendish fun,

the world turned to a hellish state?

The job’s already done.

Sylvia Fairley

I want to be an expert in some field,

To take a sphere of thought and make it mine:

That’s the kind of power I’d like to wield,

Where sage and teacher seamlessly combine.

Not science, since the numbers numb my brain,

But some past time when great ideas were bred

In ghostly tongues whose meanings I’d make plain,

And show that what’s still read is never dead.

I would not take a modish, lofty view,

Awarding ancient cultures beta plus

For incorrectly thinking that they knew

PUZZLE NO. 528

White to play. This position is from Khmelniker-
Harari, Isle of Man 2017. How did White make
the most of his passed c-pawn? Answers to me
at The Spectator by Tuesday 23 October or via
email to [email protected]. 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 Qxe8+
Last week’s winner Antony Heal, London
SE23

Chess

Ship ahoy

Raymond Keene

Competition

Mary, Mary...

Lucy Vickery

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DW)WDpiW

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0WDWDW0W

PDWDWDPD

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Diagram 1

Diagram 2