Chess
5.e5!: The Italian Game's Modern Branch, Club-Level Traps, and the Data Vacuum
Bent Larsen in the Headline, Prague 2026 in the Manifest: Auditing the Ledger of ChessBase Magazine #225
No Moves, One Verdict: Israel's Round 6 Forfeit in Samarkand and Chess's Unwritten Scheduling Clause
A World Champion on Board Four: Three Ways to Read India's 5/5
5.e5!: The Italian Game's Modern Branch, Club-Level Traps, and the Data VacuumAt a club room in Purana Paltan, Dhaka, last winter I watched a...
No Moves, Only a Verb: The Liang–Niemann Result and Chess's Promotion MachineLet me start with a number, because without numbers the rest of this story is...
A Crack in the Wall of Theory: The Closed Sicilian, a Model Game, and the Invisible Cost of Chess PreparationThe clock ran down, and only a faint tick-tick lingered in the stillness of t...
Bent Larsen in the Headline, Prague 2026 in the Manifest: Auditing the Ledger of ChessBase Magazine #225Hook: A Name With No Receipt I opened a headline. "Learning strategy from Ben...
Six Videos, Seven Openings: Where Black's Defensive Notebook LeaksLast December at a club rapid event in Dhaka, a teenager sat at board two wit...
The Scandinavian Defense: A 60-Minute Promise and the Invisible Trap of the Chess Education MarketSeptember 2026, Batumi. At the 43rd Chess Olympiad I was on the coaching staf...
The Scotch Folder: An Old Course Wrapped in an October 2026 FIDE Ratings HeadlineOctober 2026. A familiar headline: “FIDE Ratings - October 2026.” Anyone...
The 60-Minute Elephant Gambit: An Unfinished Promise in the Chess Training MarketA chess training product's promotional copy landed on my desk last week. The...
28.5 = 28.5 in Samarkand: India's Third Straight Gaprindashvili Cup and the Quiet Arithmetic of Two Lost CrownsIn the hall at Samarkand, as the final-round boards came down, two numbers sa...
5.e5!: A Move That Borrows Erigaisi's Name and Leaves the Proof Box EmptyWHITE: Arjun Erigaisi. BLACK: Laohawirapap. On move five, White's e-pawn step...
Samarkand in the Headline, King's Indian in the Body: A Ledger of Source IntegrityA headline surfaced in my feed the other day: Samarkand R7 (open): Uzbekistan...
The 9...a5 Antidote, the Neural Engine's Shadow, and the Ledger of Bangladesh's Five GrandmastersLast month I was sitting in the hall at Purana Paltan with my laptop open...
No Moves, One Verdict: Israel's Round 6 Forfeit in Samarkand and Chess's Unwritten Scheduling ClauseFrom a corner of a bedroom in Mymensingh, an old laptop sits open beside a 4G...
The Folder Nobody Opened: Bangladesh's Chess and the Patron DroughtSeptember 2026. A rented room outside Dhaka, a laptop in front, a microphone ...
The Round Where the Clock Started and No Move Was Played — Samarkand's Forfeit and Chess's Consent-Based SchedulingThe Round Where the Clock Started and No Move Was Played The first move was...
The Scotch Ledger: Kasparov's 2026, Mikhalchishin's '60 Minutes', and a Name With No RatingA product page. At the top, a headline: "Egon Mattaaq: His tournament debut a...
A World Champion on Board Four: Three Ways to Read India's 5/5Half past midnight in Penang. The rain has just stopped outside, but the cloc...
No Moves, Only a Verb: The Liang–Niemann Result and Chess's Promotion MachineLet me start with a number, because without numbers the rest of this story is...
A Crack in the Wall of Theory: The Closed Sicilian, a Model Game, and the Invisible Cost of Chess PreparationThe clock ran down, and only a faint tick-tick lingered in the stillness of t...
Bent Larsen in the Headline, Prague 2026 in the Manifest: Auditing the Ledger of ChessBase Magazine #225Hook: A Name With No Receipt I opened a headline. "Learning strategy from Ben...
Six Videos, Seven Openings: Where Black's Defensive Notebook LeaksLast December at a club rapid event in Dhaka, a teenager sat at board two wit...
The Scandinavian Defense: A 60-Minute Promise and the Invisible Trap of the Chess Education MarketSeptember 2026, Batumi. At the 43rd Chess Olympiad I was on the coaching staf...
The Scotch Folder: An Old Course Wrapped in an October 2026 FIDE Ratings HeadlineOctober 2026. A familiar headline: “FIDE Ratings - October 2026.” Anyone...
The 60-Minute Elephant Gambit: An Unfinished Promise in the Chess Training MarketA chess training product's promotional copy landed on my desk last week. The...
28.5 = 28.5 in Samarkand: India's Third Straight Gaprindashvili Cup and the Quiet Arithmetic of Two Lost CrownsIn the hall at Samarkand, as the final-round boards came down, two numbers sa...
5.e5!: A Move That Borrows Erigaisi's Name and Leaves the Proof Box EmptyWHITE: Arjun Erigaisi. BLACK: Laohawirapap. On move five, White's e-pawn step...
Samarkand in the Headline, King's Indian in the Body: A Ledger of Source IntegrityA headline surfaced in my feed the other day: Samarkand R7 (open): Uzbekistan...
The 9...a5 Antidote, the Neural Engine's Shadow, and the Ledger of Bangladesh's Five GrandmastersLast month I was sitting in the hall at Purana Paltan with my laptop open...
No Moves, One Verdict: Israel's Round 6 Forfeit in Samarkand and Chess's Unwritten Scheduling ClauseFrom a corner of a bedroom in Mymensingh, an old laptop sits open beside a 4G...
The Folder Nobody Opened: Bangladesh's Chess and the Patron DroughtSeptember 2026. A rented room outside Dhaka, a laptop in front, a microphone ...
The Round Where the Clock Started and No Move Was Played — Samarkand's Forfeit and Chess's Consent-Based SchedulingThe Round Where the Clock Started and No Move Was Played The first move was...
The Scotch Ledger: Kasparov's 2026, Mikhalchishin's '60 Minutes', and a Name With No RatingA product page. At the top, a headline: "Egon Mattaaq: His tournament debut a...
A World Champion on Board Four: Three Ways to Read India's 5/5Half past midnight in Penang. The rain has just stopped outside, but the cloc...