Black Power
Conventional wisdom says White is better from the first move. A few noted grandmasters have challenged this assumption
Russia’s Six-Hit Champion
Russian chess champion Peter Svidler's obsession with English cricket is such that he signs off his emails with "Strauss for Prime Minister"
Judit and Holofernes
In a male dominated game it was an 15-year-old girl who became the youngest ever grandmaster. She is now chess's finest female player
The Art of the 64 Squares
While not all artists are chess players, all chess players are artists. So said Marcel Duchamp, a mean player himself
The Mind’s Eye
The mysterious phenomenon of aphantasia
Bent’s Beautiful Mistress
The Magnus Carlsen phenomenon has a precedent: that of the marauding Viking, Bent Larsen
Radio Play
Chess may not seem suited to radio, but in the Sixties the BBC broadcast special programmes featuring the world’s greatest ever players
Brutally Frank
Canada's Frank Marshall didn't succeed in conquering the world of chess, but his aggressive tactics were universally feared
Anand in Blunderland
Blunders happen even at the world championship level
War Games
Despite being a keen chess player, Napoleon Bonaparte was more a pawn than a king on the board