Between the chessboard and the mirror: The phenomenon Divya
Over years of working with girls at the chessboard, I noticed a quiet, though unwritten rule: the more natural charm and charisma, the less chess obsession, systematic hard work – and often even pure talent. And then comes Divya Deshmukh.
A nineteen-year-old girl who seems to know nothing of this rule. Beauty, indescribable charisma – and alongside that, enormous talent and hard work, which I see only exceptionally among girls. This teaser is an invitation to an article about the recently concluded Women's World Cup in Batumi, where the Indian star shone in a way that can perhaps only be compared to the miracle of „Gukesh 2024“. Naturally, I devoted most space to the winner, and this time I did not divide the material chronologically but thematically…
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AI has brought past masters to life so realistically it sends chills down the spine
Yes, I know. The video series I present will not appeal to most chess players. Many young players live under the illusion, among other things, that chess is played much better today. Nevertheless, I have found that quite a few readers who know the history of our beautiful game in more detail will appreciate the videos below. They have not succumbed to this mirage, and the videos are intended precisely for them. I am not alone in feeling chills down my spine while watching the „animated photographs“ of world champions! I think everyone will find their favourite here. And dear readers „of my blood type“, do you know the history of the world championship matches in detail? From the beginnings in 1886 up to the present? At the start of this post, I have therefore included perhaps the clearest video on this topic… Continue reading
Is all this coincidence, or are we living in a simulation?
How many times have you encountered an endgame of rook and bishop versus rook in practice? Personally, never once, and if I recall correctly, not even in thousands and thousands of blitz games! My small survey among acquaintances also showed that most are no different. But why do I mention this? From 13th to 27th June – that is, within 14 days – the likeable super-grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov faced this endgame three times in the span of 33 played games!! Could this be a coincidence? And if you still ‚believe in coincidences‘, what do you think is the probability of such an event?... Continue reading
Inventory for the 19th birthday. Bucharest and Stavanger: Gukesh’s toll to fame or maximalism?
The youngest world champion experienced his first serious failure after winning the title at the Bucharest tournament! It is not just about scoring below 50% but at least two distinctly warning signs in those two lost games – and there could have been more… roughly the same number as missed opportunities. I will focus on Gukesh’s games and say straight away that the whole tournament seemed, as they say, bland and uninspiring. Only 14 decisive games, 5 draws within 30 moves – some even in well-known theoretical positions. Yet everything could have been different if Gukesh had not paradoxically seen so much behind the board in the first round and the win slipped through his fingers against the eventual winner. At the time of writing this article, the traditional supertournament is taking place in Norway. And what did the draw not want? Right in the first round...
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The invincible queen?
With little interest from the "West", the Women's World Championship match took place in the first half of April in Shanghai and Chongqing. Well, no wonder. It was a match between Chinese female players; after all, the Chinese public probably followed almost as "attentively" the nearly endless freestyle tournament hosted at the same time in Paris. The match was supposed to consist of 12 games, but this time the world champion Ju Wenjun set such a pace that it ended after just 9 games. I certainly would not have paid so much attention to the fight for the women's chess crown if it were not for the high technique in the endgames that Ju Wenjun (with only one exception) demonstrated. The world champion, who has reigned since 2018, is slowly becoming the Magnus in female form. Coincidentally, the two most beautiful examples concerned the topic analysed on our pages: the battle of bishop versus knight… Continue reading
The fourth musketeer
Everyone knows that Dumas’ Three Musketeers were actually four, so as an analogy for the Indian heroes Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi, this analogy could not be used. Until recently! After the Masters tournament of this year’s Prague festival, the situation is different. The fourth musketeer has apparently been found! The 25-year-old, until recently not very well known to the wider chess fan community, Chithambaram Aravindh won the tournament with such ease and performance that there is no doubt. But that is not all. One of his brilliant sacrifices is probably among the most beautiful we have seen at the chessboard this year so far. And since we are talking about sacrifices, why not take a closer look at this beloved ornament of chess. Not only by sacrifices and beauty does a chess player live! Associations and analogies are admittedly more hidden helpers behind the board, but no less important… Continue reading
Gukesh’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
In the second part of the analysis of this year’s traditional tournament in Wijk aan Zee, we will focus on the most beautiful examples, valuable theoretical novelties and new recipes against the French Defence. In what form did the world champion present himself? Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Gukesh’s play, sometimes reminiscent of a rollercoaster, invites this allegory! Chess is changing before our eyes and youth is pushing forward! Praggnanandhaa formally won in Wijk, but we would rather ask: will we see a Gukesh-Abdusattorov match?... Continue reading
Wijk aan Zee 2025: the world champion won, and left with silver
„What mysterious contradiction did the author put in the article’s title? Has he also stopped caring about truthful headlines and lies as if printing?“ a reader might ask. No! I am only referring to blitz tiebreaks, which have become part of tournaments for some time now. This year’s, again very strong, was fully dominated by youth, and despite many gross mistakes and outright lapses, it was one of the most interesting tournaments in recent years! The tension on the board in some games was palpable, and the number of theoretical novelties could not be counted on the fingers of one hand! Many were, of course, mainly curious about the play of the new world champion. Well, since in chess one can freely discuss without risk, the opinions of experts and laymen differed like day and night. In the first part, we will mainly focus on gross mistakes, the spice of chess, which is spreading and multiplying even in the strongest tournaments… Continue reading
The World Blitz Championship crowned 2 champions and 2 runners-up
So this is how the open tournament ended. Some probably already dislike even the traditional winners„ podium; gold, silver and bronze, which have been standard since 1904! Incidentally, in the women’s competition, two bronze medals were awarded. The World Blitz system also allowed many to… perfectly repeat one of the already notoriously known Berlin draws in the Spanish Game in the last rounds. And for “only” 300 CZK, spectators could watch the best chess players on the planet from very close. But let us not be only negative. After all, we witnessed beautiful dramatic battles and extraordinary performances! We continue with the evaluation and examples of the second part of the December World Championship… Continue reading
The World Rapid and Blitz Championship held a mirror to today’s world
Many beautiful moments at the chessboard, enthusiasm of hundreds of thousands of spectators, plenty of happy moments, not a few sporting and human tragedies, but above all a faithful copy of today’s world lacking empathy. A world that has gone out of joint. One case for all: The results of the 2024 Rapid World Championship are announced. The top three places are occupied by players… from which country? The largest one! Instead of the anthem familiar to us older ones, a cacophony of tones or a compilation of melodies meant to represent the FIDE anthem sounds. FIDE itself, however, has nothing to celebrate after the World Championship! If anyone totally failed at the end of the year, it was its leadership, which is also unable to present unified views externally. But let us focus more on events that interest most readers! Beautiful experiences at the board, examples and other curiosities. The first part is devoted mainly to the Rapid World Championship… Continue reading
„Gukesh, make sure you become world champion…!“ 18-year-old Dommaraju Gukesh is the 18th world champion!
„Gukesh, make sure you become world champion or we won't be friends,“ we joked with my longtime friend after he told me about the tournament in Prague this March. He ‚met' Gukesh in the restroom, who then held the door for him when re-entering the hall, and after a casual „thank you“ gave a slight nod. Visiting that room thus created a kind of bond, we mused. Readers of my pages know I noticed Gukesh a long time ago. After all, he appeared on the cover of New in Chess back in 2019. Ten months ago we already ‚had some inkling‘, but that our joke „make sure you become world champion or we won't be friends“ would take such a turn?? The following post and celebration of the new world champion I approached unconventionally, just as the nearly three-week fierce battle including the incredible finale was unusual… Continue reading
What if… memories and speculations about world championship matches
What would have happened if Rome had not won the Punic Wars, but Carthage? If parallel worlds existed, as postulated from the perspective of quantum mechanics by the brilliant physicist Hugh Everett? Are there other iterations? What if in one of them, on 13 July 2024 at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump had not turned his head at the exact moment of the assassin's shot?... And how would chess history have developed if Anatoly Karpov had won the 6th game of the 1984 match against the young Kasparov and adjusted the final score to 6-1 or even 6-0? What if the 2013 Candidates Tournament winner had been decided not by the number of wins as a tiebreak, but by the traditional Sonneborn-Berger? What if Carlsen had not equalised the match score against Karjakin until the 10th game in 2016? What if Caruana had won the study-like endgame in the 6th game of the balanced 2018 match?... On the eve of the world championship match, let us speculate, remember and of course practise… Continue reading
Chess quote
Chess is the touchstone of intellect.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chess quote
Chess, like music and love, has the power to make a person happy.
Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch