Chess
Magnus Carlsen: AI Levels the Preparation Field, and the Classical Crown Loses Its Weight
IM Andrew Martin's Scandinavian Defense: A One-Hour Course, an Overreach, and a Misplaced Headline
The Scandinavian Defense in 60 Minutes: The Real Value of an Opening Course and a Crack in the Headline
The Empty-Stand Effect: How European Football Learned to Play Chess Without the Crowd
An Eleven-Year-Old, a 2504 Performance, and the 3.Bc4 Move at the Samarkand Olympiad
Bent Larsen on the Cover, 27 Miniatures Inside
Magnus Carlsen: AI Levels the Preparation Field, and the Classical Crown Loses Its WeightMoscow, November, and a Sentence I Had to Read Four Times Outside the window,...
Carlsen: 'AI shows humans are not that good' — but what does the data actually say?In an interview with Spanish newspaper AS in October, Magnus Carlsen made a...
European Club Cup: The 2715 Number and the Trap of Paper BeliefWhen I opened the round-two standings of the European Club Cup in Budva, the...
Bodhana Sivanandan, the Modern Italian and the Inconsistency That Needs ClarificationIn chess, instructional opening videos are often marketed as practical...
IM Andrew Martin's Scandinavian Defense: A One-Hour Course, an Overreach, and a Misplaced HeadlineAn October night in Saint Petersburg, no snow yet but the wind already biting...
The Scandinavian Defense in 60 Minutes: The Real Value of an Opening Course and a Crack in the HeadlineI opened that promotional page at ten in the evening, just after leaving the...
The Empty-Stand Effect: How European Football Learned to Play Chess Without the CrowdWithout a crowd, European home teams lose 18% of their win rate. That is the...
Benko's First Move: When Advertising Copy Can No Longer Hide the BoardI sat in the fourth row of an open chess tournament in Da Nang, where there...
The Scandinavian Defense: When Elegant Speed Challenges Central MightThere is a moment in the world of elite chess that I still remember vividly. ...
Najdorf Update: Daniel King and Five Hot Variations in Modern Chess TheoryWhen I received a notice about a new chess product titled "New ideas in the...
The 5.e5 Move and the Strange Comforts of Superstition in ChessIn the winter of 2026, at a small chess club on Tverskaya Street in Moscow, I...
ChessBase Expands FritzTrainer: Kostya Kavutskiy and the Chess Instructional-Content RaceOn the ChessBase homepage, the FritzTrainer line has just gained two new...
An Eleven-Year-Old, a 2504 Performance, and the 3.Bc4 Move at the Samarkand OlympiadIn Samarkand, in the seventh round of the 2026 Chess Olympiad, on board one o...
From 9...a5 to the FIDE Presidency: The Chess Game of a Mismatched ArticleThe clock on my Shanghai apartment wall read 3 a.m. when my hand stopped midw...
Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, 6/7 and a 2504 performance: 3.Bc4 is no jokeThe game on board one reached move three, and the only new thing on the board...
Bent Larsen on the Cover, 27 Miniatures InsideThe white pawn steps to b3. To most chess players, that is an odd move, almos...
Carlsen says 'I'm a fan' of Praggnanandhaa: when format decides the storyThere is a line I have heard over and over these past few days, and every tim...
Najdorf: Black's Decision Map and the Never-Ending Update Loop of Chess TheorySixty minutes. That is the entire runtime of the latest update in the Power...
9...a5 against the Bayonet Attack: When a King's Indian Opening DVD Sells Understanding Instead of VariationsAt a small chess club on Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg, I sat watching a...
Türkiye's 14-Year-Old Chess Player, 8 Points in 10 Games and the Unverified 2,731 FigureThe final game closed. Board one of the Turkish team did not lose a single ga...
The Spatial Map: Why 9...a5 Is Not the Antidote to the Bayonet AttackFourteen seconds — enough to redraw an entire defensive map. For a new chess...
An 11-Year-Old WGM Record and a 60-Minute Opening Course: Two Stories That Never MeetTwo in the morning. I open the piece, read the headline, then scroll down...
ChessBase Magazine #225: A Hidden Sicilian Inside a Product CatalogueMoscow, a weekend evening. I open the file I have just downloaded, and the...
Savitha Shri B and the move 45.Rd1: Rejecting the draw, embracing chaos to rescue India in the penultimate round of the 2026 OlympiadSamarkand, Round 10 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad. On the women's board between...
5.e5! and the King's Walk: Alexei Sarana, Evgeny Sveshnikov and an Opening Gift for Club PlayersI was sitting in the seventh row of the eastern stand, my notebook open to a...
Gukesh's 54-move escape and the hole in India's other three boardsMove 47 was where I drew a line across the page. From move 31 I had already...
Samarkand: The Headline That Buried a GameI read that headline on a December morning, while Da Nang had not yet burned...
Carlsen: 'AI shows humans are not that good' — but what does the data actually say?In an interview with Spanish newspaper AS in October, Magnus Carlsen made a...
European Club Cup: The 2715 Number and the Trap of Paper BeliefWhen I opened the round-two standings of the European Club Cup in Budva, the...
Bodhana Sivanandan, the Modern Italian and the Inconsistency That Needs ClarificationIn chess, instructional opening videos are often marketed as practical...
IM Andrew Martin's Scandinavian Defense: A One-Hour Course, an Overreach, and a Misplaced HeadlineAn October night in Saint Petersburg, no snow yet but the wind already biting...
The Scandinavian Defense in 60 Minutes: The Real Value of an Opening Course and a Crack in the HeadlineI opened that promotional page at ten in the evening, just after leaving the...
The Empty-Stand Effect: How European Football Learned to Play Chess Without the CrowdWithout a crowd, European home teams lose 18% of their win rate. That is the...
Benko's First Move: When Advertising Copy Can No Longer Hide the BoardI sat in the fourth row of an open chess tournament in Da Nang, where there...
The Scandinavian Defense: When Elegant Speed Challenges Central MightThere is a moment in the world of elite chess that I still remember vividly. ...
Najdorf Update: Daniel King and Five Hot Variations in Modern Chess TheoryWhen I received a notice about a new chess product titled "New ideas in the...
The 5.e5 Move and the Strange Comforts of Superstition in ChessIn the winter of 2026, at a small chess club on Tverskaya Street in Moscow, I...
ChessBase Expands FritzTrainer: Kostya Kavutskiy and the Chess Instructional-Content RaceOn the ChessBase homepage, the FritzTrainer line has just gained two new...
An Eleven-Year-Old, a 2504 Performance, and the 3.Bc4 Move at the Samarkand OlympiadIn Samarkand, in the seventh round of the 2026 Chess Olympiad, on board one o...
From 9...a5 to the FIDE Presidency: The Chess Game of a Mismatched ArticleThe clock on my Shanghai apartment wall read 3 a.m. when my hand stopped midw...
Bodhana Sivanandan, 11, 6/7 and a 2504 performance: 3.Bc4 is no jokeThe game on board one reached move three, and the only new thing on the board...
Bent Larsen on the Cover, 27 Miniatures InsideThe white pawn steps to b3. To most chess players, that is an odd move, almos...
Carlsen says 'I'm a fan' of Praggnanandhaa: when format decides the storyThere is a line I have heard over and over these past few days, and every tim...
Najdorf: Black's Decision Map and the Never-Ending Update Loop of Chess TheorySixty minutes. That is the entire runtime of the latest update in the Power...
9...a5 against the Bayonet Attack: When a King's Indian Opening DVD Sells Understanding Instead of VariationsAt a small chess club on Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg, I sat watching a...
Türkiye's 14-Year-Old Chess Player, 8 Points in 10 Games and the Unverified 2,731 FigureThe final game closed. Board one of the Turkish team did not lose a single ga...
The Spatial Map: Why 9...a5 Is Not the Antidote to the Bayonet AttackFourteen seconds — enough to redraw an entire defensive map. For a new chess...
An 11-Year-Old WGM Record and a 60-Minute Opening Course: Two Stories That Never MeetTwo in the morning. I open the piece, read the headline, then scroll down...
ChessBase Magazine #225: A Hidden Sicilian Inside a Product CatalogueMoscow, a weekend evening. I open the file I have just downloaded, and the...
Savitha Shri B and the move 45.Rd1: Rejecting the draw, embracing chaos to rescue India in the penultimate round of the 2026 OlympiadSamarkand, Round 10 of the 2026 Chess Olympiad. On the women's board between...
5.e5! and the King's Walk: Alexei Sarana, Evgeny Sveshnikov and an Opening Gift for Club PlayersI was sitting in the seventh row of the eastern stand, my notebook open to a...
Gukesh's 54-move escape and the hole in India's other three boardsMove 47 was where I drew a line across the page. From move 31 I had already...
Samarkand: The Headline That Buried a GameI read that headline on a December morning, while Da Nang had not yet burned...
