Remmelt Otten

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

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

Natasha Regan and Matt Ball

NIC Podcast #16 - Natasha Regan and Matt Ball

This week’s New In Chess Podcast episode features an interview with Natasha Regan and Matt Ball. Natasha Regan is perhaps best known for co-authoring “Game Changer,” a book about Google’s AI-powered AlphaZero chess engine, with grandmaster Matthew Sadler. This year, Natasha collaborated with Matt Ball to create “Zwischenzug!”, a book entirely dedicated to the concept of the zwischenzug, also variously known as the in-between move, intermediate move or intermezzo. They dive deep into the concept and draw parallels with related ideas in different abstract strategy games, such as go and shogi. What are “tenuki” and “aji”? Does the applicability of such concepts carry over into chess as well? Interviewed by Remmelt Otten, Natasha and Matt answer these and many more questions! The concept of the zwischenzug is best explained by this simple diagram below, which is also discussed in the podcast. As always, please send your feedback to podcast@newinchess.com. Tip for the listener: to browse more175

GM Sergey Tiviakov

NIC Podcast #9 - GM Sergey Tiviakov

This week's episode of the New In Chess Podcast features an interview with Dutch grandmaster Sergey Tiviakov. A talented player in his youth, Sergey studied under former World Champion Vasily Smyslov along the likes of Vladimir Kramnik. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he won the U-18 world title and later emigrated to the Netherlands, where he would win multiple national championships as well as a European Championship in 2008. Sergey's dominance in tournament play culminated in a baffling 110-game unbeaten streak, a feat surpassed by only some of the greatest players of all time. Sergey's book, “Rock Solid Chess”, has received unanimous praise from critics, including the very best players in the world, for its novel insights. Sergey describes his chapter on opposite-coloured bishops as a personal favourite. Additionally, the book takes a different approach to engine analysis: where some annotators would be happy to call a -0.05 evaluation a dead draw, “Rock Solid Chess” tries to look175

GM Ivan Sokolov

NIC Podcast #6 - GM Ivan Sokolov

Today’s episode of the New In Chess podcast features an interview with Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov. Ivan is a former Dutch and Yugoslav chess champion who holds victories over several former World Champions, including Kramnik, Anand and Kasparov. He has also been highly successful as a chess trainer, currently coaching the Romanian national team and having previously worked with the Iranian, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbek teams, the latter winning the 2022 Chennai Olympiad under his guidance. He is also a prolific author of chess books on a variety of technical topics. His most recent release, "Winning Chess Middlegames: An Essential Guide to 1.e4 Pawn Structures", is a sequel to the 2009 original, with stronger computer analysis and a heavier focus on open and half-open games. Together with Remmelt Otten, Ivan discusses his playing and coaching career, his greatest victory, the careers of Alireza and Pragg, and much more.  Timestamps:00:00 - 02:30 Intro02:30 - 05:14 His coaching career175

GM Davorin Kuljasevic

NIC Podcast #3 - GM Davorin Kuljasevic

Today’s podcast features an interview with Croatian GM Davorin Kuljasevic. In addition to his accomplishments as a player, Davorin has achieved notable success as a chess trainer, having developed the talents of several grandmasters in his 16-year coaching career. He has also authored several bestselling books, including "Beyond Material" and "How to Study Chess on Your Own". Together with Remmelt Otten, Davorin discusses his latest book, "Ding Liren's Best Games: A Chess Biography of the World Champion". He also goes into detail about his career as a player and coach, and talks about his future projects.  Timestamps:0:00 Intro2:37 What sparked Davorin’s interest in Ding Liren?3:58 Was Davorin surprised by Ding’s lack of activity after winning the world title?6:20 How Davorin started following 16-year old Ding in 20088:20 Ad break8:56 What makes Ding special?11:00 Ding’s active king play, famous king walks13:14 Can fearless play be taught?15:00 Ding’s immortal game16:28 What did Davorin175

Max Euwe's Best Games by Jan Timman

Max Euwe's Best Games - by Jan Timman

Our recent publication might look like a book by a Dutch author about a Dutch chess player published in the Netherlands. But don't be fooled. This book is anything but provincial. Our best-selling author Jan Timman, a former #2 in the world ranking, has put his heart and soul into this Best Games collection of Max Euwe, the World Champion of 1935-1937. What makes the book so unique is that Timman knew Euwe personally. Euwe handed Timman his first prize when he won the Dutch Junior Championship. Euwe took Timman under his wing and introduced him to legends such as Keres and Smyslov (see picture). And Timman and Euwe played for the same team in the Dutch national league.  Timman wanted to pay tribute to Max Euwe, the 5th World Champion, the widely respected FIDE President, and the prolific chess author. What was missing was an outstanding collection of the greatest games of this 'efficient, man-eating tiger' as the American chess master175

Chess Amateur vs Professional: The Difference

How does a 10-year-old book reach #1 in the Amazon top-100 Chess Kindle list?

Because the Botez sisters mention it in the description of a YouTube video. With BotezLive, they have more than 1 million subscribers. They educate and entertain the 'new' chess players. Chess used to be a game dominated by grumpy old males, spearheaded by a charismatic and sexy world champion from Norway. It has turned into a game for everyone. The new players start watching on TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube. They play on Chess.com, our new parent company. And eventually, some of them will enter a tournament, find a club, and buy a chess book. In the video, Andrea Botez shows the difference between a Chess Amateur and a Professional with the help of Woman Grandmaster Dina Belenkay. Dina uses an exercise from 'the book about strategy every Russian kid has studied', called Techniques of Positional Play, by Valeri Bronznik and Anatoli Terekhin, published in English by New In Chess. PS: New In Chess has three other titles in the Kindle top-10, all well suited to adult improvers: 1001 Chess Exercises175

The Hidden Laws of Chess

The Hidden Laws of Chess

Mastering Pawn Structures Most of our books are written by experienced authors and established names - for example, the recently published new books by Willy Hendriks and Herman Grooten are their third publication for New In Chess. Their experience shows. The Ink War and Chess Endgames for Club Players are highly accessible, entertaining and instructive. We rarely decide to publish a debutant - when the author has convinced us that he has a story to tell and something new to add to the ever-expanding library of chess books. The Dutch coach and International Master Nick Maatman did convince us, not only with his charm but also with the content of his book proposal.  Nick has beaten grandmasters in tournament games, and he is a sparring partner of super-GM Jorden van Foreest. So he knows all about the level of understanding of titled players. But as a coach of regular club players, he also got to know what amateur players lack in knowledge.  Nick was looking for ways to bridge175

The Ink War

The Ink War

The Ink War - Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess With his third book, Willy Hendriks will cement his reputation as one of the best chess history writers. Eight years after his award-winning Move First, Think Later, and two years after his thought-provoking On the Origin of Good Moves, Willy Hendriks is back with another captivating and well-researched gem.In The Ink War - Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess, IM Hendriks once again offers his unique perspective of the 19th-century chess world and the birth of modern chess. He tells the story of the rivalry between William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, the world's strongest chess players in the late nineteenth century. They fought on the chessboard and in various chess magazines and columns, and their verbal war culminated in the first match for the World Championship in 1886. Their battle became so fierce that it was eventually named The Ink War.This story is about who was the strongest player and about 175

The Chess Battles of Hastings

The Chess Battles of Hastings

This new book brings tribute to the oldest still-running chess tournament in the world. No other chess event has such a long and rich history as the annual gathering 'in between the years' at the English seaside resort of Hastings. Countless chess players, professionals, and amateurs alike have celebrated Christmas and welcomed the New Year in Hastings while battling it out on the chessboard. The German author of this book, Jürgen Brustkern, visited for the first time at the 1977/8 Congress when he was sixteen. That year former World Champion Tigran Petrosian was playing, but it was Roman Dzindzichashvili who won. 'Jürgen was spellbound', writes GM Stuart Conquest, who lived in Hastings in those years as a youngster, in his foreword to the book. 'So it was that for one young German this out-of-season seaside Sussex town became a home from home, a winter pilgrimage to be made annually. Since that time Jürgen has attended the Hastings Chess Congress on over forty separate occasions175

The Most Exciting Chess Games Ever – Part 4

The Most Exciting Chess Games Ever – Part 4

Part 4 of the first New In Chess Masterclass is now available as a free video on YouTube. Grandmaster Matthew Sadler has a look at a game of one of his teammates on the English team. Nigel Short survives a horrible position versus the strong Chinese grandmaster Li Chao and eventually catches the full point with a magnificent counterattack.  The game was played in 2016 at the Olympiad in Baku. This game is one of 45 games in the book The Most Exciting Chess Games ever. Part 4 is the final part of the Masterclass. All four are now available. The first video is 45 minutes, and the other parts are around 30 minutes each.