John Nunn, a Grandmaster at Problem Solving and over the board play won the British Chess Problem Solving Championship for the fifth time at the final held on 14th February at Oakham School. The 2009-210 competition starts now and is again supported by Winton Capital Management.

To enter, solve the starter problem given below. White, playing up the board, is to play and force mate in two moves against any black defence. Send your answer by post with a cheque for £3.00 made payable to the British Chess Problem Society Send just White's first move, known as the key-move to

Paul Valois

14 Newton Park Drive

LEEDS

LS7 4HH

Entries should be postmarked no later than 31st July 2009. Please mention the Daily Telegraph when entering. In August all competitors will receive the answer to the starter problem and those who get it right will also receive the postal round, which will contain 8 more difficult and varied problems. In addition to this, all competitors, whether successful or not, who are not members of the BCPS will each receive a recent copy of The Problemist, the magazine of the British Chess Problem Society. In due course, the best competitors from the postal round will be invited to the final in February 2010 at Oakham School.

BCPS Starter

The Tournament of Kings sponsored by Romgaz in the Romanian resort of Bazda has the strongest field yet. Alexey Shirov shrugged off his worst every result at the top level last week, defeating Gata Kamsky with skilful play in a rook and pawn ending.

Position after 46.Rxd4; Kamsky's passed pawns are weak and can be attacked from the rear.Shirov advanced his compact formation gradually.

46...g4 47.b5 Rb2 48.Rd5 Ke6 49.Rc5 g5 50.d4 Rb4 51.Rc6+ Kd5 52.Rc5+ Ke4 53.Re5+ Kf4 54.Rd5 Rb1+ 55.Kg2 Rb2+ 56.Kg1 Rd2

(zugzwang)

57.Rc5

(57.Kf1 Rxh2; 57.Kh1 g3 58.hxg3+ Kxg3; 57.b6 Rb2 58.Rd6 Kf3)

57...Rxd4 58.b6 Rb4 59.Rc6 g3 60.h3 Ke4 0-1

Vasily Ivanchuk defended the Ruy Lopez dynamically

LD Nisipeanu - V Ivanchuk

King's Tournament Bazna (1)

Ruy Lopez

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Re8 10.d4 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.Bc2 h6 13.d5 Ne7 14.b3 c6 15.c4 cxd5 16.cxd5 Nd7 17.a4 f5 18.axb5 axb5 19.Rxa8 Qxa8 20.Bd3 Nf6! 21.Bxb5 Rc8 22.Bc4 fxe4 23.Nxe4 Nxe4 24.Rxe4 Bxd5 25.Rg4 Kh8 26.Be3 Bxf3 27.gxf3 d5 28.Bd3 Rc3 29.Bb1 d4 30.Be4 Qa2 31.Bd2 Rxb3 32.Kg2 Rb2 33.Be1 Nd5 34.Kg1 0-1

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