Den stora schacktråden

This week we are joined by a legend of the game, one of the best players in the world in the 1970s and 1980s, Swedish champion, and legendary positional player, GM Ulf Andersson. Ulf doesn’t play as much as he did at his peak, but he still exudes passion for chess, and has accumulated a litany of stories about his games with fellow legends. Ulf regales us with stories about his clashes with Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer, Viktor Korchnoi, Bent Larsen, and so many others. At the age of 71, his memory for these encounters is flawless, and he shares many details about his elite GM peers. Ulf still follows modern chess closely, and also discusses his favorite modern players and games, and describes his daily life today.

Magnus Carlsen takes on Hikaru Nakamura today in Reykjavik, Iceland, as the 8-player FIDE World Fischer Random Championship begins. For the first three days the players are split into two groups, with the other group headed by Defending Champion Wesley So and World Championship Challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi.

At first it appeared that So had just blundered horribly, but arbiters were summoned and a discussion took place. Apparently So had initially believed he could castle out of check in the final position, but even if Fischer Random castling looks different, the rules governing it are the same as in classical chess – one cannot escape a check by castling. Once So realized his error, he resigned the game.

I would actually appeal this one. To complete the castle one only needs to move the h8 rook not the king, but hey I am not a lawyer.