Competitive solving of chess problems is a world pretty well hidden to most people, and, you might think, limited to the old fogies of the chess world – and that last bit is largely true. John Nunn (70) and Jonathan Mestel (68) have featured prominently in the British Chess Solving Championships, the final day of the latest of which ended on 21/02/2026 when it took place at Harrow School. This can be seen from the list of those tasking first three places to be found at https://www.theproblemist.org/wcbcsc/wcbcsc.pl?type=prizes.

The 6-round final day is preceded by a “starter problem” which sorts out the wheat from the chaff: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/winton-british-chess-solving-championship-2025-2026/. Then there is a postal round to which “seeds” are admitted directly (https://www.theproblemist.org/wcbcsc/wcbcsc.pl?type=seeds). A Minor competition for weaker entrants is incorporated into the event.

The 2025-26 Winton British Chess Solving Championship was won by John Nunn, but more interestingly the Minor event this year was won by

12-year-old Maksym Kryshtafor of York (via Ukraine).

The 2025-26 starter problem, published in May 2025, was the following (White playing up the board):

White to move and mate in 2

For the solution, see https://www.theproblemist.org/wcbcsc/archive.pl?years=2025-2026&url=2526starter.

Chess “problem” positions are typically ones which would not arise in normal play. If the position is plausible, then it is more likely to be labelled a “study”.

Brian Stephenson mention as developer of the above-quoted The Problemist website and, amongst other, were founder members of Darnall & Handsworth Chess Club in Sheffield.