Articles
13 long-form pieces on chess — its players, its theory, its politics, and its place in the culture. Published as numbered issues, in the spirit of the chess magazines that came before the engines.
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Praggnanandhaa Wins Norway Chess 2026
Last and 5½ points back after seven rounds, Praggnanandhaa won his final four classical games — over Firouzja, Carlsen, Gukesh and Keymer — to take the title on Carlsen's home soil. He is the first Indian to win Norway Chess.
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Magnus Carlsen Cracks at Norway Chess 2026
The world No. 1 has lost twice in three classical games on home turf, sitting four points behind Alireza Firouzja after four rounds of ten.
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How to Play the Sicilian Najdorf
The most analysed opening in chess begins with a quiet pawn move. Here is what 5...a6 is really for, what each White system wants, and how Black fights back.
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How to Play the Ruy Lopez
A practical guide to the Spanish Opening — the idea behind 3.Bb5, Black's main defences, and the plans that decide the long maneuvering battles.
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Underpromotion: When a Knight Beats a Queen
Almost every promotion makes a queen. Underpromotion is the rare, deliberate exception — a knight, rook, or bishop chosen because it wins where the queen cannot.
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Every Way a Chess Game Can End in a Draw
A chess game can be drawn in six ways under the FIDE Laws: stalemate, repetition, the move-count rules, dead position, and mutual agreement. Here is each, briefly.
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Did Magnus Carlsen Retire?
No. Magnus Carlsen gave up the world championship title in 2023, but he never retired from chess — he remains the world's highest-rated active player.
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Is Atomic Chess Solved?
No. Unlike antichess, atomic chess has never been solved — its explosive captures make it a different combinatorial beast. Here is why.
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Is Chess Solved?
No — chess is not solved, and it will not be in any human-relevant timeframe. Here is the plain answer, and the numbers behind it.
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Antichess Was Solved. Can Chess Be?
In 2016, antichess was computationally solved: 1.e3 wins for White. Chess is twenty orders of magnitude larger. What would solving it actually mean?
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The Death of Opening Theory
For a century, opening theory was chess's most precious inheritance. Then engines exhausted it. What remains for the human player who still wants to study?
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Gukesh and the End of European Hegemony
At 18, D. Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion in history. The Indian generation behind him is not an accident — it is the end of an order.
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Carlsen's Abdication, Three Years On
In 2023, Magnus Carlsen walked away from the world chess championship he had held for ten years. Three years on, has the game survived without him?