Chess: can you checkmate Magnus Carlsen as Black? The eight-time Russian champion couldn’t

Magnus Carlsen hardly has a spare moment just now. Norway’s world champion defeated another flock of elite challengers at the weekend when the 29-year-old won the Fide Steinitz Memorial, held on the first world champion’s birth date, with a round to spare.

Carlsen had looked in trouble after the first two days when he made several errors, including the narrow escape in this week’s puzzle, to trail the Russian talent Daniil Dubov, but the champion was unbeaten on the final day.

He has announced a $1m online tour of five events, with Lindores Abbey, starting at 2pm on Tuesday May 19, the next in line. All games will be free and live to watch, with grandmaster and computer commentaries, on chess24.com. Carlsen’s main rival will be China’s world No3 Ding Liren, while the brilliant 16-year-old Alireza Firouzja is the rising star.

Lindores Abbey will be an online version of the highly successful event staged last summer in Scotland’s Lindores distillery at Newburgh, Fife.

The Carlsen tour continues from April until August and should tap the surging popularity of online chess as a spectator sport, where peak viewing audiences now reach into six figures.

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They were moving at speed in the final minute of world champion Magnus Carlsen v Peter Svidler in the online Steinitz Memorial last weekend, so the eight-time Russian champion chose the cautious Kc7 to guard his bishop. Can you find the forced checkmating opportunity that Black missed?

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