Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i British Chess Magazine

Chess has a new cast of stars — and most of them aren’t grandmasters. In recent years, chess has undergone a big transformation – not just in how it’s played, but in who its biggest stars are. Moving from over-the-board to online events, the audiences and the interaction with chess have shifted from earlier times. As in most sports, chess’s brightest stars have traditionally been its top players. That’s no longer a given – influencers now outshine even the elite. Influencers like GothamChess (Levy Rozman), Agadmator (Antonio Radić), the Botez sisters and Anna Cramling all have far larger social media followings than many elite professionals. Even Magnus Carlsen, the most recognisable name in chess probably in history, trails behind Rozman on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. On YouTube, Rozman has…

To the wider world, Levy Rozman is better known under his social media name – GothamChess. Born in New York in 1995, Rozman started playing chess at the age of six and – by 2018 – he became an International Master. But his breakthrough in chess happened not over the board but – online. The chess Batman from New York has caught the public’s attention in 2020, when COVID and The Queen’s Gambit Series launched a wave of global interest in chess. His YouTube channel, GothamChess, quickly grew to become the most-subscribed chess channel in the world, with millions of followers across platforms. Known for making chess accessible and fun, Rozman has helped spark a global wave of enthusiasm for the game, especially among younger and newer players but also…

A great deal of research underpins these columns, and occasionally the effort is rewarded with the discovery of games that dazzle even decades or centuries later. Whether buried in 19th-century magazines or tucked away in old regional newspapers, such games still sparkle with tactical clarity and creative flair. This month, we feature three memorable encounters—from a swashbuckling 1853 Evans Gambit in Berlin to a sparkling correspondence finish in interwar Britain, and finally, a stunning modern miniature from the Southend Open. Each game is a reminder that chess brilliance is timeless, and often, just waiting to be rediscovered. 6288 Max Lange - Carl Mayet Berlin CC, 1853 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♙c4 ♙c5 4.0-0 d6 4...♘f6 5.d4 is the Max Lange Attack. 5.b4 ♘xb4 6.c3 ♘c6 7.d4 exd4 8.cxd4 ♙b6 Play…

Fridrik Olafsson, Iceland’s first Grandmaster and the fourth President of FIDE, has died aged 90. A six-time national champion and two-time Nordic Chess Champion, he led the global chess body from 1978 to 1982. Born on January 26, 1935, in Reykjavik, Olafsson was taught chess by his father when he was eight. His first big national success came at the age of 17, when he won the Icelandic chess championship in 1952. This would be the first of six national titles (1952, 1953, 1957, 1961, 1962, and 1969). The following year, Olafson became the Scandinavian Champion and also won a bronze medal at the World Junior Championship. He rose to international prominence at the 1955–56 Hastings Chess Congress, where he shared first place with Viktor Korchnoi. Arriving late and without…

It began as a clever chess study buried in a Reddit post. Four years later, it was being solved by grandmasters, dissected by YouTubers, and racking up hundreds of thousands of views—while its creator had no idea it had gone viral. The “Trojan Horse” puzzle, designed by Australian chess composer Ben Schultz, is now something of classic—an engine-breaking, knight-sacrificing gem that demands both human ingenuity and a bit of nerve. When Ben Schultz contacted BCM a while back with his Trojan Horse puzzle – not many people were happy to open an email with such a headline, given the ominous reputation of Trojan horses when it comes to emails. Still – after he got in touch with our editor via LinkedIn, we were delighted to read the email and to…

1 D. Gurgenidze & M. Minski Bicentennial of Independence 2016 WIN 2 U. Sayman Azerbaijan CCC 45 2015 WIN 3 V. Maksaev Rostov-250 Ty 1999 WIN 4 J. Timman Chess Life 1983 DRAW Test yourself on these four studies that were set to solvers in recent national solving championships. The first two are from the Ukrainian Solving Championship at the end of March. In spite of all the difficulties, the event went ahead and was held in Poltava, which is not very far from the current front. I guess that in a war, one tries hard to distract oneself from the awful world nearby and chess can help do that. 28 solvers took part, including many juniors, so I suppose Poltava must be considered relatively safe at present. The top…