Chess

AFTER 11 years of ever-expanding service, Bill Hartston has sped on to pastures new, leaving a variety of potentially blank spaces in this newspaper, this one of which I'm to fill.

This is the first time that I've had the privilege of writing a daily chess column and I beg your indulgence for what I expect to be a fairly steep learning curve, as I put the structures into place to report promptly on news in the chess world.

Like any strong player, I have a strategic plan, though no doubt it will undergo various modifications owing to the tactical exigencies of everyday chess life. A lot of the chess activity in this country takes place at the weekends: there are weekend and one-day tournaments, National Club matches and so on. Other things being equal, I'm therefore designating Tuesdays and Wednesdays as local news days. Organisers are more than welcome to submit tournament or match reports for use on those days. The best route is by e-mail to jspeelman@compuserve.com since I will be able to process these, even if I'm abroad.

Meanwhile,Thursdays and Fridays will be more international. As for Mondays and Saturdays, I shall attempt to remain flexible.

Taking over, as I am, from a man who represented England on top board at a variety of important events - something I've never done myself - it seems only right and proper to follow the spirit rather than the misleading words of Mark Antony's encomium. Here then, in praise of Bill, is a crushing win against one of the world's then top players.

After a roughly equal opening, Portisch's 17...Bxa4 in the diagram was too greedy: 17...f6 was correct. White's attack developed with alarming speed and 20. Bc1 followed by 21.Qh5 set up a fatal sacrifice on h6.