6 NIC’s Café
Pia and Anna Cramling made a guest appearance on Swedish national TV to present an award to Olympic gold medallist Sarah Sjöström.

10 Pragg shows nerves of steel
The 87th Tata Steel Chess Tournament was an exciting new episode of ‘India’s Got Talent’ with no fewer than five Indian contenders in the Masters
In the tiebreaker ‘Pragg’ kept his cool, as he bounced back from a loss in the first blitz game to score one of the biggest successes in his career.

31 Fair & Square
‘There is more to life than great chess’, muses Ivan Koubek in Sally Rooney’s new best-seller Intermezzo.

33 Celeb 64
James Dean took private chess lessons.

39 The Killer Blow
Puzzles selected by Jacob Aagaard.

44 Interview: Vladimir Fedoseev
As he was approaching thirty, Vladimir Fedoseev gave his career a fresh boost. Stepping away from the fickle world of open tournaments, he chose to focus exclusively on competitions that genuinely stimulate his zest for adventure and the unusual.

56 Freestyle Chess
Unfazed by the public fight between FIDE and the German organizers of the Freestyle Grand Slam, local hero Vincent Keymer won the first leg of a new tour in the Weissenhaus resort.

60 $100 million
Harley Miller of the American venture capital firm Left Lane Capital has invested in volleyball, football and now freestyle chess. ‘I don’t see why we couldn’t get $100 million media rights deals.’

70 How to Improve
A painful category of mistakes is the self-inflicted error. The opponent is not even threatening anything, but with your own move, you opened up a deadly possibility and handed your opponent an easy win.

74 The King’s Indian
When it comes to emotional attachment, no opening comes close to the King’s Indian Defence! It’s difficult to play, your always live on the edge, but sometimes you get rewarded with spectacular wins. Daniel Naroditsky has played this opening all his life.

80 The Scoresheet
Gukesh won the first classical game he played as World Champion. His scoresheet can be read as an emotional seismogram.

82 100 Studies and 50 Mistakes
Matthew Sadler awards three new books the maximum five stars. A history of chess in Nazi Germany, a selection of 100 endgame studies by Jan Timman and a new improvement manual by Jesus de la Villa.

88 A man of many devices
Jan Timman pays tribute to Robert Hübner, the greatest chess player Germany ever produced after Lasker. Despite his ambiguous attitude and seeming lack of ambition, Hübner managed to have a very successful career in chess.

98 Just Checking
What would people be surprised to know about coach Ramesh?