Michael Basman International Intrigue It was Hastings 1967-8 at the annual congress run by Frank Rhoden. I had not been doing particularly well after having bullied Frank into giving me a place in the tournament. ‘I’ve got to invite Keene, Hartston and Penrose,…
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Michael Basman The Slippery Slope My first step along the road to perdition came in the London Under-14 Boys Championship in 1959 (in those days girls didn’t or couldn’t play chess). It was round 5 and I was playing J.N. Eyres of Colfe’s School…
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Yasser Seirawan became World Junior Champion in 1979 and was twice a candidate for the World Championship title. He is currently commentating on the US Chess Championship, an event he has won four times. Kingpin interviewed him in 1998. What is your earliest memory of…
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With thanks to Sarah Hurst and Justin Horton. See FIDE’s website for more details.
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To mark the historic visit of FIDE President His Excellency Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to London last week, we invite readers to offer captions to these excellent photos we’ve appropriated without permission from FIDE’s website. Winners will receive the following prizes: A trip to Mars to meet the President’s…
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Tony Miles As it happens I am in a position to reveal exclusively to Kingpin readers (unless, of course, someone else actually offers to pay me) the true and tragic story of why the invincible Anatoly failed to dispose of that young upstart Kasparov. I…
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Andy Lewis A common Arimaa starting position Anyone for a variation on chess? Is chess played out? This concern has been voiced periodically over the history of the game, and the challenges has never been more profound: over-refinement of opening-theory; perfection of endgame technique;…
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Phil Crocker I feel impeccably qualified to write this article because: a) I have never written a chess book, and b) I am not a particularly strong chess player. The would-be author should bear in mind the following points: (1) The most important parts…
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Sarah Hurst was a regular contributor to CHESS magazine in the 1990s and also edited the British Chess Federation’s newsletter, ChessMoves. Her fine book Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld is now available on Kindle at a bargain price. Since 2002 she has been translating…
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Inspired by Tony Miles’ famous two-word book review, several readers have offered suggestions for chess books that should never be written. There are more on Kingpin’s Facebook page. They say that everyone has a crap book in them, so please send us your ideas! (Mig…
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