Chess can be read alongside Egyptian ideas of order, judgement and self-discipline. Beginning with senet and its symbolic links to the afterlife, the text follows the later arrival of shatranj in Islamic Egypt and considers how the chessboard became a useful metaphor for ethics, strategy and human limits. These connections are treated cautiously, avoiding claims […]
Monthly Archives: May 2026
Divya Deshmukh scored a win with black in her classical game against Zhu Jiner in round five of the Norway Chess Women tournament. Deshmukh overtook former sole leader Bibisara Assaubayeva in the standings. Assaubayeva herself drew against Anna Muzychuk and lost in Armageddon. Deshmukh leads the field with 8½ points, followed by Assaubayeva on 8 […]
Wesley So and Gukesh Dommaraju won their classical games with the black pieces in round five of Norway Chess, beating Magnus Carlsen and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu respectively. Alireza Firouzja kept the sole lead after drawing his classical game against Vincent Keymer and then winning the Armageddon decider. So is now his closest pursuer, while Gukesh moved […]
In this episode of The Underdog, Robert presents a game from the 25th European Women’s Chess Championship 2026 in Batumi, Georgia. As he has done in several previous episodes, the featured game is not from the opening round but from round four. The talented Armenian player Polina Kobak faced IM Stavroula Tsolakidou of Greece, one […]
What do a teenage endgame played almost blindfolded (in every sense) in 1977 and a 239-move grandmaster game from the Czech Extraliga in 2016 have in common? In Part 6 of this series, Valery Golubenko combines personal memory, endgame tablebases, and hard logic to show how easily won positions can turn into marathon absurdities – […]
Anastasiia Hnatyshyn took the sole lead at the European Women’s Championship in Batumi after defeating Elmira Mirzoeva to reach 5/5. The 15-year-old Ukrainian WFM, seeded 76th in the 165-player field, has now scored four consecutive upset wins. Oliwia Kiolbasa from Poland and Gulenay Aydin from Türkiye stand half a point behind, while an 11-player group […]
Eight teams have qualified online for the final stage of the 2026 FIDE World University Team Championship, which will be held in Almaty from 4 to 9 August. They will be joined by eight wildcard entries in a 16-team over-the-board final. The event will feature a group stage followed by knockouts, with the winners earning […]
Elmira Mirzoeva (pictured left) of England tops the standings after four rounds of the 2026 European Women’s Championship in Batumi. She shares first place with 15-year-old Ukrainian Anastasia Hnatyshyn. Seeded 53rd and 76th respectively, the two surprise leaders are half a point ahead of the next four players. Another half point behind them is a […]
Magnus Carlsen scored his first classical win of this year’s Norway Chess in round four, beating world champion Gukesh Dommaraju with the black pieces. The remaining two games were decided in Armageddon, with Wesley So defeating tournament leader Alireza Firouzja and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu beating Vincent Keymer. Firouzja still leads by 2½ points going into the […]
The KCF Friendship Festival 2026 is already attracting worldwide attention, with players from more than 30 countries having registered a month before the first move is played. Organized by the Kasparov Chess Foundation and its partners, the festival will take place from June 25 to July 5, 2026, in the beautiful spa town of Radenci, […]