Peter Boel

GM Viktor Moskalenko

Viktor, Viktor and… Viktor!

One of our favourite authors, Viktor Moskalenko, was awarded a prestigious prize on 6 September this year… the Viktor prize! This prize, offered by the Emanuel Lasker Gesellschaft e.V., was not named after ‘Moska’ himself, but after his legendary namesake Viktor Korchnoi. It is presented to people who have made a special contribution to the promotion of chess as a sport. There is also a ‘female’ version of this prize, called Vera (after Vera Menchik). Last year, the ‘Viktor’ had gone to the long-standing editor of the German magazine Schach, Raj Tischbierek, while the ‘Vera’ had gone to Judit Polgar. Another prize, the ‘Lasker’, went to Magnus Carlsen in 2024. The prize ceremony was held during the General Assembly of the Chess History & Literature Society, which took place in Valencia on September 5 and 6. Lasker Association board member Rebekka Schuster, who called herself one of Moskalenko’s biggest fans, gave him the prize. In her speech, she said: ‘I have played chess on a moderate175

Mark Dvoretsky

An epic fight

I’ll never forget that day in early February 1999. We, the first team of Apeldoorn, were paired against Rotterdam, the heavy favourites, fighting for the title in the second Dutch league and for promotion to the ‘Meesterklasse’. We lost that match narrowly, and I lost my game too. No, that wasn’t why the day was unforgettable. It was because of the legendary game that took place on first board. Apeldoorn chess organizer Karel van Delft had asked Mark Dvoretsky, the world’s most famous chess coach and in his prime the strongest International Master on the globe, to play a few games for our ambitious team. Mark had gladly complied – even more so when he heard that in our match with Rotterdam, Viktor Korchnoi would be playing! Dvoretsky wasn’t afraid to face Viktor, who was 67 years old at the time but still quite Terrible. The Muscovite coach saw it as a great opportunity to have a game with this top player whom he’d never crossed swords with before. And now this face-off between two legends175

Sadler and Chess Engine Openings

Great fun with the Pirc-Modern

When you see the two names Viktor Moskalenko and Matthew Sadler together in one chess article, you know you’re in for a treat. These two strong grandmasters are also two of the most infectious chess authors around. When I first got in contact with Viktor, it must have been in 2006, I knew he was a strong grandmaster and a former champion of Ukraine. When this renowned player told me he wanted to publish a book on the obscure (but Fabulous!) Budapest Gambit with New In Chess, I nearly fell off my chair. Its first edition appeared in 2007, it was a great success, and it was the start of a whole series of ‘Moska’ books that were stunning due to Viktor’s countless creative findings, the humorous way in which he presents them with a myriad of gadgets and surprising illustrations, and his all-encompassing enthusiasm. As Viktor puts it in the preface to his latest book, the updated The Perfect Pirc-Modern, ‘the path to success can only be found through creativity’. Well, these books are not only175

Manuel Bosboom - Chess Buccaneer

Yes, he did beat Kasparov – and that’s not all!

Imagine playing some blitz chess in a buzzing Amsterdam bar and then all of a sudden you face some grungy guy who once beat Garry Kasparov! It happened to popular chess streamer Anna Cramling when she went on a blitz binge of more than four hours in a pub called De Laurierboom about a year ago. There, among many others, she met and played the local chess hero Manuel Bosboom. Two of their blitz games are shown in one of Cramling’s most popular streams, ‘Guy In Bar Said He Beat Kasparov’ which has since gathered almost 10,000 likes and many more visitors. Cramling’s opponent looks shabby and quite tipsy when they play their last game, when it’s already dark outside. Despite all the beer he has consumed, Manuel is courteous and gracious (‘I like your move’) and his play shows class. Still, many of Cramling’s followers are skeptical – did this dropout really ever play the thirteenth World Champion and even beat him? Yes, he sure did – in an elite blitz tournament at Wijk aan Zee in 1999, where175