Chess: Spot Black’s winner with just king, queen and knight against king and queen
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Magnus Carlsen has had several setbacks since the world champion’s 30th birthday celebration in November on a beach in the Seychelles coincided with his losing to America's No2 Wesley So in an online final.
The month of December brought uneven form, while the No. 1’s return to over-the-board chess at Wijk in January saw the Norwegian slip to sixth place at the “chess Wimbledon”, highlighted by a loss to Russia’s Andrey Esipenko, 18.
This week, Carlsen is in action at the $100,000 Opera Rapid, part of the year-long $1.5m Champions Tour, where he seems back to form and has used two very offbeat openings, 1 e3 and 1 c4 c6 2 Qa4.
Play continues with knockout rounds until Sunday, February 14, with games starting at 4pm GMT daily on chess24.com and free grandmaster commentary by England’s David Howell and Jovanka Houska.
Meanwhile, Carlsen’s Play Magnus Group, quoted on the Oslo market, is taking over New in Chess, widely regarded as the best chess magazine. Carlsen himself has been a subscriber for more than 20 years.
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Ruslan Scherbakov vs Alexander Panchenko, European Club Cup 1995. Black to move. Queen and knight against queen is normally a draw, but not here. Can you find Black’s winning move?
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