01-01 Cover - February 2021_Layout 1 16/01/2021 15:52 Page 1 03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/01/2021 14:42 Page 3 Chess Contents Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc † Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein Editorial....................................................................................................................4 Editors: Richard Palliser, Matt Read Malcolm Pein on the latest developments in the game Associate Editor: John Saunders 60 Seconds with...Barry Hymer....................................................................7 Subscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington The co-author of Chess Improvement is clearly enjoying his chess Twitter: @CHESS_Magazine Twitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm Pein Nepo Nails It...........................................................................................................8 Website: www.chess.co.uk Dubov and Nepomniachtchi sacrificed in the Russian Championship Subscription Rates: Champions!..........................................................................................................16 United Kingdom Gawain Jones and Michael Adams have both claimed inaugural titles 1 year (12 issues) £49.95 SPTW in Europe..................................................................................................18 2 year (24 issues) £89.95 Lorin D’Costa reports on the European Online Women’s Club Cup 3 year (36 issues) £125 How Good is Your Chess?..............................................................................21 Europe Daniil Dubov’s reputation is riding high, as Daniel King explains 1 year (12 issues) £60 2 year (24 issues) £112.50 Beyond the Board .............................................................................................24 3 year (36 issues) £165 Sean Marsh reports from the London Chess Conference USA & Canada ChessPlus!............................................................................................................25 1 year (12 issues) $90 Wood Green were stunned by ChessPlus Kingston in the 4NCL final 2 year (24 issues) $170 3 year (36 issues) $250 Parallel Processing............................................................................................26 ...by way of Chess Curiosities and The Times, by James Plaskett Rest of World (Airmail) 1 year (12 issues) £72 A Witness to History.......................................................................................30 2 year (24 issues) £130 Ben Graff was honoured to talk with Genna Sosonko 3 year (36 issues) £180 An Unusual Year .................................................................................................32 Distributed by: Keith Arkell explains how he adapted to life in 2020 Post Scriptum (UK only), Quiz Solutions ....................................................................................................34 Unit G, OYO Business Park, Hindmans Way, Dagenham, RM9 6LN - Tel: 020 8526 7779 How did you get on with Graham Phythian’s Christmas Quiz? LMPI (North America) Find the Winning Moves.................................................................................36 8155 Larrey Street, Montreal (Quebec), Can you do as well as the players in the British Online Championship? H1J 2L5, Canada - Tel: 514 355-5610 The Diceman Cometh ......................................................................................40 Views expressed in this publication are not Steve Firth discovers chess is a game of chance necessarily those of the Editors. Contributions to Never Mind the Grandmasters...................................................................42 the magazine will be published at the Editors’ Carl Portman has had much to ponder of late discretion and may be shortened if space is limited. Sacrificing the Exchange ...............................................................................44 No parts of this publication may be reproduced Bill Forster has been weighing rooks against minor pieces without the prior express permission of the publishers. All rights reserved. © 2020 Readers’ Letters ................................................................................................47 87-year-old Michael Hemming has impressed with the knight’s tour Chess Magazine (ISSN 0964-6221) is published by: Chess & Bridge Ltd, 44 Baker St, London, W1U 7RT Women on Fire! .................................................................................................48 Tel: 020 7288 1305 Fax: 020 7486 7015 David Levens presents some fine attacking play Email: [email protected], Website: www.chess.co.uk Home News..........................................................................................................50 FRONT COVER: David Howell triumphed at Hastings and Andy Horton annotates Cover Design: Matt Read Overseas News...................................................................................................51 Cover image: Lennart Ootes Studies with Stephenson...............................................................................53 Brian presents two lovely, award-winning studies US & Canadian Readers – You can contact us via our American branch – Chess4Less based in West Palm Solutions ...............................................................................................................54 Beach, FL. Call toll-free on 1-877 89CHESS (24377). You can even order Subscriber Special Offers online This Month’s New Releases ..........................................................................55 via www.chess4less.com New fiction from Paolo Maurensig and a new tome on Bobby Fischer Saunders on Chess............................................................................................58 John discovered the Isle of Man’s first international tournament Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Photo credits: 123rf.com (p.40), CHESS Magazine Archive (pp.26, 48), Eteri Kublashvili (pp. 8-9, 11- Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC 14, 52), Brendan O’Gorman (p.33, top), Lennart Ootes (pp. 1, 18-19), WSTCC2020.net (p.27), suppliers www.magprint.co.uk www.chess.co.uk 3 07-07 60secondsBarryHymer_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/01/2021 15:08 Page 7 Your best move? Possibly the finish to a game in the first round of the Yorkshire Open B.Hymer-R.Bryant way back in 1984. I was lucky to catch Leyland 2017 Cambridge University’s top board cold: A.Dyson-B.Hymer Harrogate 1984 Spurning a mate in three (or any number above that), I instead found the exquisite 55 Êg5?? Ëh5+! ½-½. Born: 31st December 1960, Ladysmith, South Africa. And a highly memorable opponent? In a 20...Ìg4!? (the calm 20...Îe8 or simul, Ulf Andersson. In a tournament, 20...Ëxe7 are even stronger) 21 0-0-0 Place of residence: Lancaster, England. probably Julian Hodgson in his terrifying early Ëxe7 22 Ìg3?! Ìe3 23 Ëh3?! Íxc3! 80s pomp. But as a schoolboy in Cape Town I 24 bxc3 Ëa3+ 25 Êb1 Îh6 0-1 Occupation: Semi-retired educational once came within a pairing error of playing psychologist and academic, but now working Miguel Najdorf. Or, more recently, having the courage to part-time as science consultant to Chessable. play a not-difficult but all-in move. The double Favourite game of all time? Either Mark exclam derives from the circumstances of Hebden-Colm Daly, Dublin 2007, for the Enjoyable? Hugely. Especially since I’d long since mounting mutual time trouble: brutal clarity of Hebden’s play, or Vadim given up on the dream of chess as a career! Malakhatko-Aleksandar Wohl, Tromsø 2010, for evidence of the Hippo’s bite and a superb, And home life? Now that the children have B.Hymer-O.Jackson genuine sacrifice on move 22 [Ed. – Do see fledged, much quieter... Rhyl 2018 this month’s pgn download for those games.]. But sometimes good to escape to: Our The best three chess books: For small beach shack in the Gironde, France. instruction, Bronstein’s The Chess Struggle in Practice , which even has the edge on a more Sports played or followed: I grew up in South recent book by Hymer and Wells(!). For fun, Africa, so rugby union and cricket, obviously. Bruce Hayden’s Cabbage Heads and Chess Kings or Simon Webb’s Chess for Tigers, and A favourite novel? Tough to choose one. for culture, Reinfeld’s The Human Side of Chess. Almost anything by Doris Lessing, JM Coetzee, Michiel Heyns and EM Forster. Is FIDE doing a good job? As well as they’ve done since Euwe’s day. Piece of music? Ditto. Almost anything by Pavlov’s Dog, Rodriguez, Dylan, Pink Floyd, Or your National Federation? I have and Van Morrison (I’m carbon dateable). nothing but admiration and gratitude for those who put in the hours for the good of Film or TV series? Pelle the Conqueror, Nuts chess, and largely for free. in May, Succession, and something chess- Black has just blundered terribly with themed I watched on Netflix recently – 46...Êb3-c4??, inviting 47 Îxf6!! and White’s Any advice for either? Until I’m prepared to forget the name. central connected pawns are (just) far enough put up, I’ll shut up. advanced to win the promotion race, turning all What’s the best thing about playing chess? the winning chances over to White (1-0, 57). Can chess make one happy? Is Richard Being wholly responsible for the outcome. Dawkins an atheist? But less memorable than your worst And the worst? Being wholly responsible for move? At my level, I’ve lost count of the A tip please for the club player: As one the outcome. howlers, but this takes some beating: himself, don’t stop believing. www.chess.co.uk 7 16-17 Champions_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/01/2021 15:12 Page 16 Champions! Gawain Jones and Michael Adams