Most players now do their post-game analysis with a computer in front of them. They are awfully good at showing where we went wrong. Last week David Gilbert was playing a Club match which hadn’t gone to plan. He had reached the position in the diagram as black and it seemed white was winning comfortably. David moved his King to the f8 square to avoid threats from the white Queen and resigned a few moves later in a lost position. Can you spot the move he missed?

Board Position

…Bc3 wins. White can only prevent checkmate by giving up his Queen for nothing. For example 2. bxc3 dxc3 and there is no way of stopping Qb2 checkmate. Alternatively 2 b3 is met by Qb4 and white can’t prevent Qa3+, followed by Qb2 checkmate. Come along to the Hurst Community Centre in Hurst Road on a Wednesday night from 7.30pm if you are interested in finding out more about the local chess scene.

David Gilbert