6 Illuminating Chess

Garry Kasparov just turned 60! Of course the 13th champ features prominently in a new book by renowned chess photographer Fred Lucas.

8 NIC’s Café 

What is an ill-advised way to win the Kenyan women’s championship? And we’re changing Kortchnoi to Korchnoi.

10 Fair & Square

Keanu Reeves seems to have a love-hate relationship with our game.

11 Your Move

What would Alex Sherzer do if he lost to a much lower-rated player?

12 The Last Swing

The World Championship match in Astana to fill the vacancy left by Magnus Carlsen surpassed all expectations. Ian ­Nepomniachtchi seemed to be dominating the slugfest, until Ding Liren struck with ice-cold determination in the tiebreak.

28 Infographic

Stats on the most recent and previous world title matches.

36 You Only Live Twice

With a ‘deadly uncoiling rattlesnake performance’ Hikaru Nakamura won the second event of the 2023 Champions Chess Tour. The American streamer extraordinary collected plenty of ‘content’ as he took home 30,000 dollars.

45 Celeb64: Joni Mitchell

56 Letters in a Suitcase

Viktor Korchnoi (1931-2016) not only kept the fan mail that he received when he still was a chess hero in Soviet Union; he also kept the hate mail that arrived in big quantities when he fell from grace.

62 Hat Trick

With a huge record-breaking field and ‘only’ nine rounds to find a winner, the Reykjavik Open seemed to be destined to end in a massive tie for first. Nils ­Grandelius begged to differ.

76 Adult improvement

On the occasion of the great champ’s 60th birthday, James Altucher tells you the lessons he learned from Garry Kasparov.

79 Maximize Your Tactics

Find the right moves.

80 A Romantic Touch

Judit Polgar takes a closer look at Nodirbek Abdusattorov, the leader of a golden generation of talents from Uzbekistan.

87 What would you play?

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

92 Sadler on Books

Having warmed up with an intriguing puzzle book, Matthew Sadler digs into a quartet of noteworthy new opening guides. ‘Opening theory continues to amaze with its richness!’

98 Ducking a Fight

Magnus Carlsen wasn’t the first world champion to avoid a title fight, Jan Timman writes.

105 They are The Champions

Qianyun Gong is the national women’s champion of Singapore.

106 Just Checking

Which three people would Matthew Sadler like to invite for dinner?