Content NIC’s Café Your Move Carlsen Surpasses Kasparov With a stratospheric 2994 performance at the London Chess Classic, Magnus Carlsen raised his rating to new heights to break the old record of Garry Kasparov. The new summit of Mount Ever Best is 2861. Carlsen wasn’t the only star to shine in London. Vladimir Kramnik played ‘close to my best possible chess’ and remained in contention for first place till the very last day. Endgame Magic Jon Speelman, the author of several acclaimed endgame books, examines Magnus Carlsen’s wizardry in the final phase of the game. The Lone King The sponsor of the Anand-Gelfand match, Andrei Filatov, and Israeli GM Ilya Smirin shine their light on the troubled genius of Alexander Alekhine. A Tale from 1001 Nights In Tashkent Sergey Karjakin, Alexander Morozevich and Wang Hao each collected 140 points in the second leg of the FIDE GP. In the fairy-tale surroundings of his native city, Rustam Kasimdzhanov played his best super-tournament ever. Seven Pillars of Wisdom This time Nigel Short takes you to the United Arab Emirates and happily introduces you to the past and present of chess in the region. Of Minds and World Cities Our new contributing editor Anish Giri reports  on a two-week tour that took him to the Mind Games in Beijing and the World Cities Team Championship in Al Ain. Who Leads the Deviation Dance? Luke McShane assesses the pros and cons of playing sidelines. The Verdict Jan Timman announces the winners of the study tournament organized in honour of his 60th birthday last year. And presents their compositions. Measuring Body and Mind Hans Ree imagines a future of chess as a biometric carnival. Just Checking Which three people would Malcolm Pein invite for dinner? Did they play your opening? In this issue games with the following openings were annotated by world class players: Sicilian Karjakin-Morozevich, by Karjakin Scotch Wang Hao-Kasimdzhanov, by Kasimdzhanov Slav Wang Hao-Caruana, by Wang Hao Catalan Giri-Morozevich, by Giri Grünfeld-Indian Akobian-Giri, by Giri Morozevich-Dominguez, by Morozevich Fressinet-Giri, by Fressinet King's Indian Giri-Ivanchuk, by Giri English Opening Anand-Adams, by Adams Kramnik-Carlsen, by Kramnik Carlsen-Polgar, by Nepomniachtchi Aronian-Nakamura, by Nakamura Short-Salem, by Short