This Issue:
8 Move for Equality
In The Good Knight in Oslo, Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri recorded a video with a global message.
10 NIC’s Café
Dreamlike experiences for an 8-year-old refugee from Nigeria and a 42-year-old grandmaster from Estonia. And why talking during the game may help.
12 Nakamura turns back the clock
At the U.S. Championship in St. Louis, Nakamura regained 15 rating points and earned $50,000 with his fifth national title. Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Yu claimed the women’s title with a stunning 10/11.
15 Celeb64: Ennio Morricone
20 Fair & Square
What’s chess got to do with Brexit? And Woody Harrelson has a bad addiction.
28 Gold for Russia
At the World Teams in Astana the Russian men coasted to a convincing victory, for a good part thanks to another brilliant performance by rapidly rising star Vladislav Artemiev.
44 Bill and Bobby
As he revisits the life-long friendship between Bobby Fischer and Bill Lombardy, Joseph G. Ponterotto points out many remarkable and sometimes uncanny parallels between their lives and personalities.
55 Maximize Your Tactics
Find the right moves.
56 Game Changer
Jacob Aagaard explains what he dislikes and likes in the bestseller Matthew Sadler and Natasha Regan wrote about AlphaZero.
62 Master of Prague
Nikita Vitiugov was the first winner of the top group of the new Prague Chess Festival.
76 Judit Polgar
Moves that your opponent didn’t see coming, can be strong and effective purely because of their psychological impact.
80 Secrets of Opening Surprises
Jeroen Bosch dissects a daring try in the Torre Attack.
84 The Blitz Whisperer
Maxim Dlugy thinks that Fabiano Caruana is a much better blitz player than people think and shows you the evidence.
92 Valentina’s Day
Never a dull moment at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Valentina Gunina won the inaugural Cairns Cup, a new all-female tournament named after Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield (maiden name Cairns).
98 Sadler on Books
A fine best games collection by Michal Krasenkow, a high-level opening guide by Ivan Sokolov and more new books to fill your shelves.
102 Hidden Traps and Tricks
Jan Timman presents tactics and fascinating endings that he spotted in recent tournaments.
106 Just Checking
Which book would Pontus Carlsson give to a dear friend?
