Chess: Oxford v Cambridge reaches 150 years not out

The historic Oxford v Cambridge varsity match, the oldest fixture in world chess, reaches 150 years this Saturday when the eight-a-side teams begin play at its traditional venue, the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall, London. Its sequence has only been interrupted by world wars, and after 140 matches Cambridge are just two ahead, while Oxford are the rating favourites this week.

The debut match in 1873 was a remarkable occasion. More than 700 spectators came to watch, including the then world top two Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort and the England No1 Joseph Blackburne. Chess clocks were not invented until a decade later, so sand glasses were used for timing.

One important wider role for the match has been to produce future England internationals, including John Nunn and Jonathan Speelman who both reached the world top 10. However, in the boom years of the 1970s to 1990s the very best talents Nigel Short and Michael Adams  both preferred to bypass university.

The pattern continued in 2022, when Cambridge’s top pair Harry Grieve and Matthew Wadsworth later fought out the decisive game for the British Championship. Grieve won game and title, and currently both are campaigning to become grandmasters.

The fixture has become more cosmopolitan in the past decade, and eight countries will be represented this year.

Long ago most of the Oxford team were arts students, whereas now mathematics with eight is the runaway leader of subjects studied, followed by computer science, natural sciences and engineering two each, with just one each for classics and philosophy.

Half the Cambridge team, including all three top boards, are from Trinity, which was also the No 1 college in the Raymond Keene years of the 1960s. Decades ago, though not recently, its Oxford equivalent was Balliol, inspired by the law lecturer Sir Theodore Tylor, who as an amateur was the top Englishman at Nottingham 1936, an iconic tournament where five world champions competed.

The great and the good of English chess will come to the RAC to spectate on Saturday, while the match games will be live and free to watch online at chess24.com. Play starts at 12.30pm.

Puzzle 2509

Carel van den Berg v Erich Eliskases, Beverwijk 1959. White to move and win. In the actual game, the Dutch international master missed the decisive move and lost eight moves later.

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