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Following on from the mention of Edward IV on Peer Review this week.
Richard III considered that Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid as Edward had entered into a marriage contract previously, with Lady Eleanor Butler, (probably as a pre-requisite to get her into his bed). Thus Edward's children, including the Princes in the Tower, were illegitimate, and so Edward V could not become king. Richard didn't have to worry about their claim to the throne.
On the other hand, Henry VII wanted to bolster his tenuous claim by marrying the Princes' sister, Elizabeth. She would have to be declared legitimate for this to have any point. However this would then make Edward V the legitimate king. Henry thus had a much better reason to dispose of the princes.
The Tudors also suppressed the evidence that Edward IV himself was illegitimate, again to legitimise Elizabeth.

The only problem I find with that theory, chrise, is that the princes were never seen again after the summer of 1483. If Richard didn't have to worry about their claims to the throne, as you say, he could have kept them in the Tower but allowed them to play and be seen from time to time. That would have sent out the message that he was not a murderer and he was looking after his nephews well.

Yes, orson, I have to accept that that is true, but where's the motive?

Bumping this thread to post on the chess world championship that started today.

Game 1: Nepo-MC 1/2-1/2 (45), draw by repetition. Ruy Lopez Anti-Marshall, MC sacrificed a pawn for good compensation, ultimately regaining the material (but thereby giving up the Bishop pair). Some commentators were touting a slight endgame advantage for the champion, but I don't think it was much, and by the time control (move 40) the position was essentially equal. But it wasn't a dull game.

Repeating from elsewhere, Chessbase posted a chess-themed cryptic:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/a-crossword-for-chess-fans

Wordplay shouldn't challenge the posters here, but some chess terms (and especially player names) might be unfamiliar.

Good game 1 annotation by GM Sam Shankland here:

https://www.chess.com/news/view/2021-fide-world-chess-championship-game-1-nepomniachtchi-carlsen

Surely more will follow at various sites.

Thanks Geeker,

I've had a glance at crossword and it looks good, I've got the Listener and Guardian Prize tonight but will have a go at it during the week.

I watched the game (well, most of it) live on chess.com and thought it was a steady start by both players with Nepo showing some great play in the endgame. Looking forward to what I expect to be a close match.

bumping for davel

Another excellent game that swung one way and then the other. During the middle-game it looked like Nepo was an odds-on favourite but then Magnus, as he so often does, managed to completely swing things in his favour. Even at the end, when it was 3 pawns against 2, Magnus kept pushing for the win.

For anyone wanting to watch it, you can go to YouTube and type "Chess 24 World Championship 2021" into the search box where they are showing the games live with excellent commentary and analysis by GM David Howell, IM Jovanka Houska and Kaja Snare.

World Chess Championship

I was watching another excellent Game 2 commentary on chess24 by Anish Giri and Judit Polgar. Telling close-up video of the players, permanent diagram of current position plus a separate window to show commentary analysis.

Stockfish had Nepo at +1.50 before he played c4-c3. This immediately gave away all his advantage. Very encouraging for amateur players like me, when these guys fail to convert.

Hi Paul,

I kept switching between the Giri/Polgar video and Howell/Houska/Snare one to see how the different commentators were reacting to the same moves. On the latter they had an indicator that fluctuated between the players showing the advantage and, at one point, it did look like Nepo had it in the bag.

I'm nowhere near good enough to understand the intricacies but I will go back to that c3-c4 move you mention to have another look.