Jon Speelman: Analysis and blind spots

by Jonathan Speelman
11/4/2025 – After a long break from competitive play, GM Jon Speelman returned to the board with three intense games in quick succession - each offering instructive lessons and a few painful oversights. In his latest column, he revisits the most critical moments from these battles, including a London League clash against Jonathan Parker and two 4NCL encounters, inviting readers to test their tactical vision and find the winning ideas that eluded him over the board. | Photo: John Saunders / 4NCL (2014)
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Tough battles

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

After months without any games at all (apart from an execrable blitz tournament), I played three in just over a week. All three featured very interesting positions and also blind spots, so I've decided to use them here, concentrating on the critical positions without worrying too much about the openings.

We start with a London League game against grandmaster Jonathan Parker. My team, Wood Green, are the Behemoths of the league, having won for many years in a row, though we did lose a match a couple of years ago against Hammersmith. The match against Parker's team, Cavendish, was fairly even at the top, but we were much stronger on the lower boards of the eight-game battle and won pretty easily. The fight against Hammersmith at the end of January, however, promises to be a real humdinger.

This was the critical position in which he played 19.Rae1. Can you see how I answered this and find the best move which gives him a big advantage? Obvious candidates are Rg5 and d6.

These two are from the 4NCL over the weekend.

Can you see what I played here? Also, can you find my idea after the obvious reply and the somewhat surprising retreat which we both totally missed during the game?

Here, to my shame, I managed to talk myself out of the obvious attacking options and played the pathetic 31.Rge5? (which possibly deserves a ??), though I did still win in the end.

White's whole opening has been based on the idea of attacking g7, and I considered three lines but couldn't make any of them work:

  1. 31.Rxe8+ Rxe8 32.Rxg7+ Kf8!
  2. 31.Nf5 f6 32.Bxf6 Ncf6 33.Rxg7+ Kh8 34.Rxb7 Qc8 or, as my opponent pointed out in the post-mortem, ...Qd5.
  3. 31.Nf5 f6 32.Rxe8+ Rxe8 33.Rxg7+ Kf8 34.Rxb7 and maybe Qd5 or Rad8.

Try to find the several wins that my addled brain missed, and try to decide which of these you like most.

Select an entry from the list to switch between games

In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: Invisible moves

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Topics: Jon Speelman's Agony Column
Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.