6 The Lost Tradition

As grandmasters have left in large numbers, Putin’s senseless war in Ukraine alsoaffects the Russian chess tradition and the future for their emerging stars.

8 NIC’s Café

Why wouldn’t you use chess engines to make hospital ERs more efficient? And, yes, itseems like Alireza Firouzja is heading for the catwalk.

10 Welcome back!

The Tata Steel Chess Festival celebrated the 85th jubilee edition with recordattendance and a dream victory by Anish Giri. Finally, after five second places, theDutch number one lifted the winner’s trophy in Wijk aan Zee at ‘the Wimbledon ofChess’.

17 Celeb64: Willie Nelson

44 Fair & Square

45 When they were young

Can you identify the junior portraits of these 12 grandmasters?

46 Interview: Anish Giri

The winner of the Tata Steel Masters reveals his ambitions and expectations, as he speaks freely about his current focus on classical chess, Magnus Carlsen (of course), swapping seconds and the evolution and future of our game.

54 Moving up

The Tata Steel Challengers was a two-horse race with Mustafa Yilmaz and Alexander Donchenko setting a stiff pace. On the final stretch, the German GM broke away.

62 Adult improvement

James Altucher doubts that chess will teach you a lot about business, but he does feel that business has taught him a lot about chess.

66 Flawless in tiebreak

Levon Aronian rolled back the years by claiming victory in the WR Chess Masters in Düsseldorf. Truth be told, he had to win the event twice after a false draw claim cost him dearly.

72 Interview: Bruce Pandolfini

Thanks to his talent for hard work and his love for the game, Bruce Pandolfini can look back on a totally unique career. It all started with the Fischer-Spassky match in 1972, and it never stopped.

81 Maximize Your Tactics

Find the right moves.

82 Hall of Fame

Judit Polgar visited St. Louis to be inducted in the World Chess Hall of Fame. And bumped into chess players on practically every corner.

87 What would you play?

Test your decision-making skills with Thomas ‘Toolbox’ Willemze.

92 Sadler on Books

Matthew Sadler read two new books that closely examine the development of chess ideas in the 18th and 19th century, challenging many a commonly held view. ‘Both fantastic books that should definitely land on your must-read lists!’

98 Rook around the clock

Jan Timman draws lessons from instructive rook endings from the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.

105 They are The Champions

Emmanuel Jimenez is the national champion of Costa Rica.

106 Just Checking

What is Jonathan Tisdall’s life motto?