At the beginning of 2017 Siegfried Hornecker, who later wanted to be called Sarah, published his first "Study of the Month" on the ChessBase website, which has appeared regularly ever since. These were knowledgeable and entertaining columns in which Hornecker introduced a wide audience to the world of studies, compositions and problems. However, it has now been announced that Hornecker died on Saturday 22 March, shortly after his/her 38th birthday, as a result of sepsis. An obituary by Martin Minski. | Photo: Martin Minski
In his World Chess Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi, which made him the 17th World Champion in the history of chess, Chinese Grandmaster Ding Liren won the sixth game by threatening a checkmate with rook and knight. Let us see how that checkmate was utilized in endgame studies. | Photo: Midjourney
In the World Chess Championship, which still was running while this article was written but will be over when you read it, Ding Liren won the sixth game by threatening a checkmate with rook and knight. Let us see how that kind of checkmate was used in endgame studies. | Photo: Midjourney AI
Tim Krabbé's book "Schaakkuriosa" showed a study by the Bulgarian chess composer I. Ionchev, flawed but nevertheless interesting. Yours truly tried to follow in his footsteps. Nadareishvili explored the same concept, and it might be unfair to associate the name with Ionchev as he was neither the first, the last, nor the most important one to show it - only the most famous. | Photo: Pixabay
The International Solving Contest (ISC), traditionally held on the last Sunday of January, has marked the beginning of solving seasons for almost two decades. It’s a hybrid competition, with the same groups of chess problems and endgames distributed around the world to be solved at the same time. This year, it attracted 601 solvers from […]