Publisher: New in Chess, 2017, Pages: 106, Paperback
More than Black and White
A rather splendid chess set made in Augsburg in 1720 is currently on sale in Paris.
NIC's Café
Morphy's watch. John Cage plays Marcel Duchamp. Karl Marx plays Friedrich Engels. William Golding blunders into a knight fork.
Your Move
Both Bogdan Lalic and Sergey Tiviakov claim long unbeaten streaks. Readers from Sweden and Germany share their thoughts on a chess table and on time-trouble.
Infographic
Which players had the lowest error-rate in a complete tournament? A surprising list.
Fair & Square
What Sir Tim Rice, Frances Harding, Howard Stern, Norbert Wiener and others said about chess.
The greatest Chess Maecenas of all time
Monaco-based Joop van Oosterom was a Maecenas extraordinaire, spending an estimated 50 million euros on his beloved game. Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam writes a revealing portrait of the reclusive Dutch billionaire. With special contributions by Judit Polgar, Vladimir Kramnik, Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian and Alexander Morozevich.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave reports from Sharjah
'Gens circumspecta sumus' seemed to be the motto of the Grand Prix in Sharjah, the first of a cycle of four tournaments that will decide on two coveted spots in the 2018 Candidates' tournament. With game notes by Grischuk, Mamedyarov and MVL himself.
Celeb 64
Viola Davis, chess player.
Maximize Your Tactics
Train your tactical skills with Russian expert Maxim Notkin
Nigel Short
Our columnist ponders an momentous question: could Wayne Rooney become a Grandmaster? The greatest British player of the 20th century on the importance of chance and pedigree in reaching the top.
Parimarjan's Chess Gym
Parimarjan Negi on time-trouble. Learn when it's your enemy, and when your friend.
Another Chinese champion
Tan Zhongyi knocked out the top seeds to become Women's World Champion in Tehran. A full report by Peng Zhaoquin.
Judit Polgar's column
The Queen of Chess teaches how to trap a Queen.
S.O.S.
A second move-deviation in the Alekhine Defence! Jeroen Bosch points out the frivolous and fun move that will appeal to Alekhine players (and will baffle their opponents).
Shenzhen enters chess scene
China's number one Ding Liren prevailed in the Longgang Masters. An on-the-spot report by Erwin l'Ami with additional annotations by Anish Giri.
Raymond Smullyan
Hans Ree remembers the American philosopher and retrograde lover who died on February 6.
Profile: Vladimir Fedoseev
Vladimir Barsky on the 22-year old Russian who won the Aeroflot Open in Moscow. How far will his ultra-aggressive style take him? Fedoseev himself annotates two of his memorable recent wins.
Sadler on Books
Matthew Sadler reviews four books: 'Key Concepts of Gambit Play' by Razuvaev, 'Training with Moska' by Moskalenko, 'Chess Strategy for Club Players, New and Extended Edition' by Grooten and 'Luther's Chess Reformation' by Luther.
Jan Timman's column
Recent endgames of Wesley So against Carlsen and Caruana reminded Timman of an instructive endgame he had in 1976.
Just Checking
How many friends do you think Ian Nepomniachtchi has on Facebook?
Contributors to this issue
Erwin l'Ami, Vishy Anand, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Barsky, Jeroen Bosch, Vladimir Fedoseev, Anish Giri, Alexander Grischuk, John Henderson, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Dylan McClain, Alexander Morozevich, Parimarjan Negi, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxim Notkin, Judit Polgar, Hans Ree, Matthew Sadler, Yu Shaoteng, Nigel Short, Jan Timman, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Peng Zhaoqin
