6 Lasker’s Last Stand
A stellar line-up for the New York International Chess Tournament 1924.
8 NIC’s Café
As the Candidates raged in Toronto, Magnus Carlsen found himself mixing with the Hollywood A-listers.
12 Your Move
Was Nakamura blundering, or giving rook and bishop odds?
14 Toronto Candidates
In a breathtakingly close finish, 17-year-old Gukesh edged out top-favourites Caruana, Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi to earn the right to challenge Ding Liren.
23 Celeb 64
Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind.
42 Tan Zhongyi
32-year-old Tan Zhongyi finished 1½ points ahead of her closest rivals to win the Women’s Candidates Tournament.
45 Fair & Square
Carlsen: ‘Anybody who is going to be classical world champion who is not me, is always going to be a bit weird.’
46 Interview Gukesh
Brilliant play, iron self-control and unflinching determination were the hallmarks of 17-year-old Gukesh. ‘I am sure no one has higher expectations than what I have of myself.’
54 Poker
Jennifer Shahade, Almira Skripchenko and Qiyu Zhou, all three national champions, play chess and professional poker.
62 Chess as a business
In Europe, chess clubs are usually not-for-profit entities, but in the United States some are run professionally. One of the most active is the Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina.
66 David and Leela
Grandmaster David Navara defeated the chess engine Leela 7-3 with a stunning performance in a knight odds match on Lichess. There is hope for humanity, tweeted Anish Giri.
68 James Altucher
How to beat your kids at chess.
70 The Model Game
Arjun Erigaisi demonstrates how to play the trendy Semi-Tarrasch with White in a game that has helped him to reach the top 10 of the world ranking list.
75 Maximize Your Tactics
Nine puzzles, selected by Maxim Notkin.
76 Zwischenzug!
In the new book Zwischenzug! the authors introduce aji, a word used in Go. Aji is used to describe the ‘latent possibilities’ in a chess position that may come to life at a later point in the game.
82 The Scoresheet
Donald Byrne-Bobby Fischer, New York 1956, in Fischer’s handwriting.
84 Sadler on Books
Books dedicated to adult improvement can have long-lasting value. Especially the human thought process around the moves hasn’t changed as much in the past thirty years as you would think.
90 Jan Timman on Nepo’s escapes
Ian Nepomniachtchi’s dream to qualify for the world championship match for the third time in a row remained alive till the very last rounds of the Candidates.
98 Just Checking
Geert van der Velde: books by Coetzee, Murakami, Rothfuss, Herbert and Silman.
