Jacob Aagaard

Forward Chess

The New in Chess Group buys a minority stake in Forward Chess

After the merger between Quality Chess, Everyman Chess (Now Popular Chess), and New in Chess, the landscape of chess publishing has changed. The goals of the merger have been to learn from each other while maintaining separate identities and keeping the diversity of books released intact.  We want our content to be available in whatever format readers wish to access it. Our books will be available in paperback and hardback, on Kindle, at Chessable, Chesstempo, and Forward Chess. In the search for efficiency as a path to longevity for our companies, we decided to partner with Forward Chess, purchasing a minority share. This has three practical effects. The New in Chess App will close at the end of this year. Customers who have purchased the magazine and books on the New in Chess App in the past will still have access to the books on Forward Chess. We are in the process of converting 52 New in Chess books that were on the App but not on Forward Chess. The highly competent New in Chess175

GM Jacob Aagaard

Upcoming camp and tournament in Roquetas in Spain

New in Chess is among the sponsors of a camp and tournament in Roquetas in Spain, starting 3rd May (arrival for camp) and 9th May (arrival for the tournament). Both can be found at kctchesscamps.com. You can participate in one without participating in the other. Or both, of course. The tournament was renamed Saturday when we heard the tragic news of the untimely death of one of the arbiters of the event, Malaysian FM Peter Long. Peter was one of my closest friends. The tournament will be called: The Peter Long Memorial – 2nd Killer Chess Training The Open Participation fee for the camp is €1,250, while the entry fee for the tournament is €100. The early bird discount has expired, but the hotel has highly affordable rates as well. In other news, we have published a number of books in the last few weeks: Mastering Chess Exchanges by Jacob Aagaard and Renier Castellanos Chess Opening Repertoire: Accelerated Dragon by Nigel Davies Learn from the Legends 2 by Mihail Marin Chess Opening Repertoire:175

Happy New Year - an update from Jacob Aagaard

Happy New Year!

Three weeks in 2025 and I thought it was time for me to update you a bit on what is happening with the New in Chess Group. But first, I want to say a few words about New Year’s Resolutions. In 2023, I decided to hit 10,000 steps on average and succeeded, so in 2024, I decided to practice guitar for at least 20 minutes each day. I used an App created by a music student called Andante to keep track, which is very basic and has a few flaws (if you go to another time zone, your stats get all mangled up, and rather than having a day being 6 am-5.59 am, it runs from Midnight, which is inconvenient to night owls). When a friend decided to get serious about chess, I asked him to use the same app to keep track. His streak is way past 300 days now – while I crashed and burned at 120 or so. While I stopped using the app, once the streak died, it helped me get into a much better practice regimen. So, I failed to keep the streak and use the app – but I got into the habit of practicing the guitar, which175

GM Jacob Aagaard

High rating at advanced age

A friend told me recently that he did “not understand why you are not 2600.” Obviously, this was a flattering reflection on my understanding of chess and ignoring my main weaknesses, such as a lack of reasonable openings, lack of physical fitness and lack of time to train – and also some motivation in developing my own chess, rather than that of my students. And finally, age. Let’s not talk about me and why I am so obviously far from 2600 and instead look at the players over 50 who actually are over 2600. Of these nine players, we need to exclude two from the list. Anand has played 1-2 Bundesliga games a year. We will discuss the flaws of the rating system at a later date, but for now, let’s ignore the top-rated player, as we would ignore Garry Kasparov, as he does not play tournaments (there are 19 inactive players over 2600). We can also exclude Afromeev (look him up for a laugh if you please).  This leaves us with seven players over the age of 50, with a rating over 2600. Shirov175

GM Jacob Aagaard

Quality Chess India

In 2017, I went on a trip to 11 Asian Cities: Mumbai, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Thailand Open, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta, KL again, and finally, Tehran.  The story is fun; I had issues finishing THINKING INSIDE THE BOX and thus booked a book tour with Sagar, Amruta, and Peter, forcing me to finish the book. Of course, this psychological trick does not work on a grandmaster, and I went on a book tour without a book. Many photos from the trip ended up in the book, published a few months after the tour. At the first stop in Mumbai, an illegal print copy of CALCULATION was put in front of me to sign. I explained why I could not sign it. Then, in Ahmedabad, another illegal copy was put in front of me; I explained why it was illegal and signed it. By New Delhi, I just signed them. Conversations with Sagar during the trip about how impossible it was for Indians to get hold of legal copies of our books and to afford them led to a joint effort. Quality Chess175

GM Swayams Mishra

NIC Podcast #47 - GM Swayams Mishra

This week’s episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Indian grandmaster Swayams Mishra. A FIDE trainer since 2018, Swayams is already a decorated chess coach, having worked with the Indian national team for several years and coaching their women’s team to gold at this year’s Olympiad. His private coaching has also been successful: having cultivated over thirty FIDE norms from his students, he was recently responsible for giving Britain its youngest ever grandmaster, when prodigy Shreyas Mishra achieved the title at 15 years and seven months. Other notable players who have achieved success under Swayam’s tutelage include five-time Indian Women’s Champion Padmini Rout and promising young talent Ethan Vaz, among many others. Jacob Aagaard is hosting this week’s episode, and he does so with a reason; while Swayams eventually achieved great success after transitioning into coaching, he was once a promising young player with a coach of his own: Jacob Aagaard. This shorthand175

New In Chess Group

Singapore - update from Jacob Aagaard

I am in Singapore for a training camp with a private student and to be part of a four-man team that will give a training camp to some of the region's biggest talents during the start of the World Championship Match. The other trainers will be long-term friends Boris Gelfand, Pavel Eljanov, and Thomas Luther.  I tend to overprepare for big group camps. I find it helpful, even if things often take a different turn once things begin. At least I am mentally prepared. So, I have been spending a lot of my time thinking about the camp and less of it thinking about the World Championship.  But everyone comes with a prediction these days, and I do not want to be different. There are only two reasonable predictions. It will be close, or Gukesh will win by a significant margin. Most have hedged their bets, saying both. I shall refrain from cowardice and predict a blowout +2 or +3 win for Gukesh that never feels competitive. I also expect Ding to retire after the match, should he lose. It has175

GM Jacob Aagaard

Youth and the top 25

I am writing this on a Friday night, travelling in the United States. By the time the post is up, I am sure the current top 25 will have moved a bit… I was asked on Twitter if the current wave of young players was a record, so I decided to look into it a little bit. I thought about approaching the World Ranking list in a slightly different way. Let’s presume that simple access to events is a big factor in how early someone can reach a high level. Faustino Oro has defeated Carlsen in bullet online. Kasparov played a simul game against Karpov at 12. Carlsen defeated Karpov in blitz and had a winning position against Kasparov in rapid aged 13. But in general, these are the exceptions. It is quite likely that the no 5 junior in 1974 never saw Fischer at all, let alone played with him. Development in chess requires access to high level opposition. My other theory is that it may become easier to make the initial steps to Grandmaster, but that the level at the absolute top simply increases with175

GM Jacob Aagaard

The Average age of 2700 players is now below 30

I have been tracking the average age of the top 25 and top 100 for perhaps a decade (without taking notes, which is not very scientific). The narrative was always: “Chess is getting younger” – but the data never really supported it. 10 years ago, the average age of top 10, top 25 and top 100 was all between 30. I checked every few years, and until maybe 2 years ago, this outcome was stable. Then the average age jumped over 31 for the first time! Chess is getting younger indeed. After 5 rounds of the Olympiad, I looked at the list again. My main interest was surrounding the rating gain of the over 2700s playing in the event. Usually, opens are difficult for these guys, as they struggle to beat 2600s. But in the Olympiad, the dynamic is often different and more unpredictable. Incidentally, after 5 rounds it was +2.26 rating points if we ignore those on 0. But another phenomenon occurred at the same time. Over 2700 there are 31 players (ignoring Radjabov at 2700 and predicting that he may175

GM Jacob Aagaard

The FIDE title system

The FIDE title system is an odd system, and I would like to give a few thoughts on it, after listening to Judit Polgar repeating an argument a lot of people share, including some of my friends fighting for women’s place in chess – that women’s titles might not be helping. I prefer to stay neutral on politics that don’t affect me. So, while the US election obviously will affect everyone, changes to women’s rights in the chess world are less likely to do so. In the legal system, they call this “standing”. I have found big women’s prizes to be odd. I do not mind minor prizes for juniors, seniors, women’s, locals, rating prizes and friends of the arbiter. But when they are similar to the prize for winning the event, it signals that the players are players are playing different events from each other. I guess theoretically it could negatively affect me, but again, it never has. It is a discussion you have to be a few drinks in to take seriously, and I quite alcohol a decade ago. Women’s titles175

GM Vishnu Prasanna

NIC Podcast #34 - GM Vishnu Prasanna

Vishnu Prasanna is an Indian chess grandmaster who has been coaching professionally since 2016. His individual, group and online camps have been attended by hundreds of Indian and international players, and helped cultivate some of India’s brightest young talents. First among them is of course upcoming world title challenger Gukesh D, whose ability as a young player was greatly fostered under Vishnu’s mentorship. These days, Vishnu and his wife continue to own and operate their own chess school. Vishnu’s coaching methods emphasise consistency while also focusing on the psychological aspect of the game, thereby continuing to inspire young chess players in the city of Chennai and beyond. Interviewed by his friend and our fresh host Jacob Aagaard, Vishnu goes in-depth on his life as a chess professional, the growth of Gukesh, and the city of Chennai.  Timestamps (Spotify)00:00 – Intro04:10 – Chennai as a chess city (CLIP)05:42 – The importance of Vishy Anand for the city of Chennai07:18175