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NIC Podcast #85: GM Peter Svidler

NIC Podcast #85: GM Peter Svidler

My guest in the first New In Chess Podcast of 2026 is Peter Svidler. It’s a special moment. Two years ago, Peter was my very first guest in the inaugural episode of the podcast and I am delighted that he’s returning. Peter can look back on an incredible career as a player and he is one of the most knowledgeable and versatile experts in the world of chess. He is a three-time Candidate for the World Championship, an eight-time champion of Russia, and a World Cup winner. Among his many further successes are five gold team medals at the Olympiad.Over the past years, as he began to play less, Peter has become one of the most popular and loved chess commentators in the world. In fact, it’s fair to say that he was one of the commentators that took chess broadcasts to a new level and did a lot for the professionalization of our game.  For all these reasons, Peter is a perfect guest at the start of 2026, as we look ahead to a well-filled chess year that no doubt will bring us many highlights.First175

GM Matthew Sadler

Forgotten Genius

Velimirovic is a player whose name will always remain immortal in the collective chess memory. But he had a career that was characterized by strange hiccups and odd twists of fate, robbing him of many opportunities. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#8 I left you on a cliffhanger in the last issue with my finger poised over the ‘order’ button for both volumes of Forgotten Genius – The Life and Games of Grandmaster Dragoljub Velimirovic by Georg Mohr and Ana Velimirovic-Zorica. Well, the story continues happily, as I did order them and loved them both!The book is co-written by the Slovenian player and journalist Georg Mohr and Velimirovic’s daughter Ana. Mohr also co-wrote a volume on Velimirovic’s contemporary Albin Planinc, reviewed in a previous issue. Ana’s involvement adds a special touch to these two volumes. She not only had a large collection of photos and cartoons of her father (many of which appear in both volumes) but also Velimirovic’s175

NIC Podcast #84: GM Matthew Sadler

NIC Podcast #84: GM Matthew Sadler

In this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast, my guest is English grandmaster Matthew Sadler. Matthew is a two-time British Champion, a streamer, a YouTuber, an expert in chess engines, and a very successful author.  From his books, I only have to mention Game Changer, co-authored with Natasha Regan, on AlphaZero’s groundbreaking chess strategies and the promise of AI, which was one of the most successful and talked about books of the past years. But I might also mention its sequel, The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement, and the book he wrote together with Steve Giddins, Re-engineering the Chess Classics.These days Matthew is an IT Consultant, but he makes no secret of the fact that he fills his spare time with as much chess as possible. And although the FIDE rating list no longer has him as an active player, his FIDE rating still hovers eerily close to 2700. In fact, Matthew might very well be the strongest amateur chess player in the world.And last but not least, Matthew is the175

NIC Podcast: GM Anatoly Lutikov

NIC Podcast: GM Anatoly Lutikov

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features a narration from The Essential Sosonko, a collection of chess portraits and personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Ghenna Sosonko. The subject of this week's story is Russian grandmaster Anatoly Lutikov (1933-1989).   "Luka" is another lesser-known name in the Essential catalogue, but his story is no less interesting. Coming from a working-class background, Genna describes how "with his independent character, recklessness, and his entire manner of behaviour, he somehow did not fit in with the academic regime of tournaments on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and theoretical lessons on Fridays. His sole trainer became play itself."   Lutikov's recklessness translated to the chessboard, where he was an attacking player feared by everyone in the Soviet chess elite, and beyond. When a fifteen-year old American boy named Bobby Fischer visited Moscow for a series of blitz matches, he crushed several masters in a row before the "big175

The Real Paul Morphy on PowerPlayChess!

The Real Paul Morphy on PowerPlayChess!

GM Daniel King publishes a variety of interesting chess materials on his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess, ranging from puzzles to book reviews. Recently, he interviewed our author Charles Hertan about his biography of perhaps the most enigmatic chess player in history: Paul Morphy. Watch the interview below, or click here to watch it on YouTube! 

GM Matthew Sadler

Extraordinary inventiveness

It started with his childhood coach, who mentioned the games of Sergio Mariotti, or ‘The Italian Fury’. This led to reading two books about Albin Planinc, a genius of the same category who has almost been forgotten. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#7 This month’s column is a little different because due to a logistical mix-up, I ended up a little short of books! So I’m focusing this time on the books I’ve bought recently myself, my reasons for doing so and what I’ve discovered!The first set of books I’d like to discuss are Apologia of the Unexpected – Selected Games of Albin Planinc by Pablo Iglesias (Amazon, self-published) and Forgotten Genius – The Life and Games of Grandmaster Albin Planinc by Georg Mohr and Adrian Mikhalchishin (Thinkers Publishing). As you may gather, I’ve developed an interest in the games of this Slovenian Grandmaster (1944-2008) who for a brief period (1968-1975) dazzled the chess175

NIC Podcast #82: GM Jan Timman

NIC Podcast #82: GM Jan Timman

In this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast, my guest is Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman. Jan returns to the podcast to talk about his latest book, Timman’s Studies, an impressive volume of 455 pages in which he presents his collected endgame studies and explains how they originated.Of course, Jan Timman is primarily known as the most successful Dutch chess player of the past fifty years; a world-class player who won countless elite tournaments around the world and rose to second place in the world rankings, behind Anatoly Karpov, in 1982.However, in recent years, after Covid, Jan’s appearances as a player had become less frequent, and a few weeks ago he announced in an interview with Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, that he has ended his active career as a player. Of course, he still follows chess closely – and he stresses that this is classical chess and not rapid chess, even if Magnus Carlsen plays, and certainly not Freestyle chess. As Honorary Editor, Jan also continues to write175

NIC Podcast #81: GM Loek van Wely

NIC Podcast #81: GM Loek van Wely

In this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast, my guest is Dutch grandmaster Loek van Wely. Loek is a good friend of the NIC podcast and he returns to talk about the chess event that is keeping us glued to our screens these days, the World Cup in Goa, India.  An 8-time Dutch champion, Loek can look back on a rich international career. He’s won tournaments all around the world and reached as high as 10th place in the world rankings. While Loek is still active as a player, his activities are more and more shifting to coaching and training. For instance, at last year’s Olympiad in Budapest, he was the coach of the Italian team.The World Cup started almost two weeks ago and will continue for close to two more weeks. There’s a lot at stake in Goa, as the top three finishers will qualify for the Candidates tournament in Cyprus next year (28 March-15 April). There’s also an attractive prize-fund. The winner takes home $120,000 and the numbers two and three, $85,000 and $60,000, respectively175

New In Chess magazine

Six issues in 2026

It is no secret that, in recent years, magazines worldwide have been facing logistical and financial challenges. Publishers that fail to address these issues will struggle to control costs and produce high-quality content. At New in Chess, we are committed to balancing all concerns and have found a compromise that works for everyone. Our traditional publishing structure comprised eight 100-page issues. From 2026 onwards, we will publish six issues, totaling 800 pages across them. This will reduce some obvious and some less obvious expenses. The most significant savings will be in shipping costs, which is especially important for an international magazine such as New in Chess, with subscribers in the United States, South Africa, Chile, Australia, Japan, and dozens of other countries. These savings will enable us to invest in valuable new content. We will introduce a few new columns, most notably an expanded Tournament Roundup featuring analysis by a world-class player. This extended Roundup175

The Woodpecker 2 on PowerPlayChess!

The Woodpecker 2 on PowerPlayChess!

GM Daniel King publishes a variety of interesting chess materials on his YouTube channel PowerPlayChess, ranging from puzzles to book reviews. Recently, he interviewed our author Axel Smith about the second volume of his highly succesful book series, The Woodpecker Method 2! A shortened clip of the conversation can be viewed below, click here to watch the entire hour-long interview on YouTube!

Daniel's books

Daniel's books

Dear chess friends, We have received many requests to reprint the books written by the late Daniel Naroditsky for New In Chess. We would love to do that, and we are talking to people close to Daniel to see how we can publish updated editions as soon as possible. Daniel wrote Mastering Positional Chess when he was just fourteen, and its sequel, Mastering Complex Endgames, only two years later. New In Chess was very proud to publish these two wonderful, highly readable chess improvement manuals. As Daniel wrote in his foreword, 'The purpose of reading a chess book is not only to learn from it, but to enjoy it as well!' However, Daniel himself preferred to write a new book and wanted to postpone reprinting the books from his youth until he had finished his new project, which unfortunately never materialised. Please be patient with us. If we can reprint the books, we would like to do so with a beautiful new design and after checking the chess moves with a modern engine. We might want to include175

GM Matthew Sadler

Endgame Class

A competitive sport tends to have one key element in which a professional is expected to demonstrate his class. Failing in this key discipline is more than poor: it’s almost a moral crime, something to feel ashamed about. In chess, the endgame is that element. These book reviews by Matthew Sadler were published in New In Chess magazine 2025#6 Towards the end of July, I joined Natasha Regan at the 2025 British Championships in Liverpool to commentate on the blitz and rapid junior championship events (from Under-16 down to Under-8) played just before the main event.Natasha had the lovely idea of inviting all the parents into the commentary room, and then asking the kids to come to our table after they finished their games to show us their games (if they wanted, of course!) After a few minutes of uncertainty, it really took off and we soon had long queues of proud and enthusiastic kids. As you can tell from the stream (on the ECF YouTube site), it was a pretty chaotic but very fulfilling couple175

NIC Podcast #80: IM Alvis Vitolins (2/2)

NIC Podcast #80: IM Alvis Vitolins (2/2)

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features the second part of a narration from The Essential Sosonko, a collection of chess portraits and personal stories authored by chess grandmaster Genna Sosonko. The subject of this week's story is Latvian international master Alvis Vitolins (1946-1977).   The second part of Vitolins' story goes deeply into his friendship with Karen Grigorian, who, like his brother Levon, was a strong chess master with several tournament wins in Armenia and Uzbekistan. Aside from this, Vitolins had few friends, especially outside of the chess world. It goes without saying that playing blitz with Karen was his favourite pastime. This is where the story also takes a darker turn. Like Vitolins, Karen also struggled with his mental health in a time and place where such struggles were barely indulged, let alone understood. The tragic way both men met their end makes Genna's story about Vitolins a sad one, albeit one no less worth telling. Enjoy this175

Forwardchess

Update on the process of closing down the NIC Apps

The New in Chess Group and Forward Chess have made an agreement, where we have taken a minority stake in Forward Chess, and will be closing down the New in Chess Apps. It is a process that will take a long time to manage technically. This is what you should know. The NIC Apps will be functional until the transfer is complete DON’T WORRY IF NOT ALL YOUR BOOKS ARE TRANSFERRED YET! There are 50 books that people have entitlement to on the NIC Apps, as well as past magazines, which are not yet on Forward Chess. You will be able to access them on the NIC App until all have been transferred to Forward Chess. We will give a list of these titles below, when people are back from holiday early November. We will announce the closing of the NIC Apps in good time and only when we feel in full control of the transfer of entitlements. We will also announce when all books that were on the NIC App are available on the Forward Chess App, so you can ensure that all your entitlements are fulfilled.   We175

NIC Podcast #79: GM Ruslan Ponomariov

NIC Podcast #79: GM Ruslan Ponomariov

In this week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast, my guest is Ukrainian grandmaster Ruslan Ponomariov. Born in 1983, Ruslan embarked on his career as one of the most astonishing prodigies in chess history. When he was 12, he won the U18 European Championship, when he was 14, he was the youngest grandmaster in the world, the youngest ever at that time. When he was 18, Ruslan won the FIDE World Championship by defeating his countryman Vasyl Ivanchuk in the final of the 2002 knock-out World Championship.There are many excellent reasons to have Ruslan Ponomariov on the New In Chess podcast, but the main reason this time is the victory earlier this week of the Ukrainian national team, led by Ruslan, at the European Team Championships in Batumi. A victory that made his country proud in incredibly difficult times, as Ukraine continues to suffer day in day out after Russia’s brutal invasion three years ago.It's also a highly emotional moment that offers a brief moment of reprieve for the chess175