When Andy Murray revealed son Teddy beats him at chess: ‘Difficult losing to 5-year-old when middle of game he’s asking you to wipe his bum’

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tennis great Andy Murray makes the ceremonial first move in the game for Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov against Nikolas Theodorou at at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium. (PHOTO: London Chess Classic)

Andy Murray was invited as a guest for the fifth round of the London Chess Classic to make the ceremonial first move in the game between Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Greek GM Nikolas Theodorou at Arsenal FC’s Emirates Stadium. Murray, who played 1.e4 in a game where the Uzbekistan grandmaster won, does play some chess at home, courtesy his five-year-old son Teddy, who Murray senior said was “massively into chess”. In fact, the former tennis player said that his son had already started humbling him in games at home.

“My 5-year-old boy has gotten massively into chess,” Murray had told the BBC in an interview earlier this year. “I’m not a particularly good chess player but I’ve got quite an analytical mind. I enjoy the game and watching him learn. It’s difficult losing to a five-year-old when in the middle of the game he’s asking you to come and wipe his bum, essentially. It’s humbling for my intelligence.”

During the live broadcast of the fifth round on Monday, Murray was also revealed as a fan of British grandmaster David Howell, who is now famous for his insights in commentary on Chess.com.

GM Stephen Gordon, who was doing commentary on the official event stream broadcast on YouTube, said while seeing Murray making the ceremonial first move: “Tennis legend, the greatest British tennis player of all time Andy Murray is in the building! I understand he may be a bit of a GM David Howell fan!”

The story goes that Murray had contacted Howell after seeing him on the BBC2 series Chess Masters. Howell is the current English number-one and was in attendance.

The London Chess Classic event, which is Britain’s most prestigious chess tournament, is organised by the Chess in Schools and Communities which offers a $25,000 top prize. But players like Abdusattorov and Alireza Firouzja are playing hoping to secure a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament in Cyprus. India’s R Praggnanandhaa is playing in the open section rather than the elite section.

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