Chess

Tomorrow, at a secret location in London, a match will take place that will settle an issue that has split the chess players of this country for as long as anyone can remember. The match is between a team of players who were educated at Oxford or Cambridge University, and those who, to put it at its most polite, were not. To be less polite, the captain of the Oxbridge team has been referring to the opposition as "the illiterates" though they prefer to style themselves "professionals".

The question of whether education is good for your play has been seriously debated in British chess circles for a century or more. In the early years, a balance was maintained between gentlemen and players, but in the late Sixties and Seventies, Oxbridge dominated British chess.

The rise of Tony Miles (Sheffield University), Nigel Short and Michael Adams (both from Ididntgoto University) shattered all that, and, the current match celebrates the first ever world ranking list in which the top three British players, Adams, Sadler and Short, are all non-Oxbridge. The captain of the Oxbridge side, David Norwood, is confident of victory, however. At least one of the opposing side believes that his plan is not to tell them where the match is being played.

Our men's chess may have changed greatly in recent years, but this is nothing compared with the transformation that has taken place among our women players. Their third place in the European team championships last month are their best result ever, and establish them for the first time as a real force. Here is a nice win by our top board from that event.

White's 19.Qxg7! was a fine surprise. At the end, 29...Ng6 30.gxf5 is hopeless.

White: Susan Lalic

Black: Elena Titova-Boric

1 e4 e6 16 Ng5 Qe7

2 d4 d5 17 Nh7 Rg7

3 Nc3 Bb4 18 Ba3 Qd8

4 e5 c5 19 Qxg7 Nxg7

5 a3 cxd4 20 Nf6+ Qxf6

6 axb4 dxc3 21 exf6 Nf5

7 Nf3 Qc7 22 Bc5 a6

8 Qd4 cxb2 23 h3 b5

9 Bxb2 Ne7 24 g4 hxg4

10 Bd3 Nbc6 25 hxg4 Nh4

11 Qg4 h5 26 f4 a5

12 Qxg7 Rg8 27 Kf2 a4

13 Qf6 Nxb4 28 f5 exf5

14 0-0 Nxd3 29 Kg3 resigns

15 cxd3 Nf5