Issue 51

21 October - 3 November 1997

Staff Newspaper of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine

Grandmaster no flash in the pan

Dr Jonathan Mestel, international grandmaster of chess playing and a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, has won an international chess problem solving championship.

This win, in Croatia last month, ensures a second international grandmaster title, at chess problem solving - a unique achievement.

"Having a second grandmaster title made some national headlines. It was seen as something strange because I am the only person in the world to have done it," he commented. "But I don't think it is that big an achievement." He reasons that very few people practise both chess playing and problem solving to competition standard therefore nobody has reached grandmaster status before.

Dr Mestel likened the differences between chess playing and chess problem solving to the contrast between a sporting contest and an appreciation of the game. For a problem solving competition, composers artificially construct problems on a chess board and stipulate the number of moves a competitor can make to reach checkmate. "Chess problems are the purest, most beautiful part of chess," remarked Dr Mestel. "Positions are composed, usually with a theme or idea, where things really work beautifully." He explained chess problems are tackled on two levels: "You are analysing the position - if I go there then he goes there and so on - but you're also trying to spot the idea or theme behind it".

All problem solving grandmasters in Britain have a PhD or equivalent in mathematics, which Dr Mestel described as significant: "Chess problems have a unique solution... so there is the possibility of mathematical type analysis". He also identified a determination to succeed as necessary for success in both fields: "There is a discipline involved in chess problem solving and mathematical research. You need to be driven to find a solution and to get a great sense of achievement having overcome a problem. You waste time, you throw paper all over the place, then suddenly there is a breakthrough".

Dr Mestel has played chess since he was six, when he was taught by his father. "He was not particularly interested in the game and we haven't played since I was seven - it ceased to become appropriate," he commented. He was on the national team for about 15 years but hasn't played for England for six years. "I actually play worse now than I did five years ago," he said, explaining, "I've been overtaken by younger full-time professional players as I don't practise and don't work at it."

Dr Mestel is pleased to have achieved a second grandmaster title and appreciates the beautiful ideas that chess poses but ultimately is unsure what attracts him to the game. "I like games, intellectual ones, and as games go it's a very good one. But why does anyone play a sports game? It's a challenge and there's an artistic element, but I'm not really sure."

(c) Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, 1997
Last Revised: 21 October 1997