New In Chess 2025/5

6 Juga’s Queen Trap
While visiting Norway Chess, Juga launched her most ambitious music video so far, Queen Trap.

8 NIC’s Café
David Navara, Demis Hassabis, Bernie Sanders and Daniel Dardha.

12 Your Move
A truly incredible move.

25 Celeb 64
Milos Forman.

14 Norway Chess
Norway Chess 2025 will be remembered for Magnus Carlsen’s frustrated bang on the table after he dramatically lost from a completely winning position against World Champion Gukesh. A determined Carlsen went on to win first prize anyway in the wildly exciting final rounds.

46 Rewriting chess history
The prevailing ideas about the development of chess largely originate from the books of giants such as Lasker, Réti and Euwe. Willy Hendriks makes a case for a modern evolutionary perspective on chess history.

58 Did Keres Donate Four Points?
The four games that Paul Keres lost to Mikhail Botvinnik in the 1948 World Championship Tournament have raised questions that have never been really answered. Estonian Aleksander Veingold looks at the evidence.

64 Tournament Roundup
With his third tournament victory in 2025, Praggnanandhaa has taken what looks like a decisive lead in the FIDE Circuit. The Indian player, who will turn 20 on August 10, is very close to securing a spot in his second Candidates tournament. He won the UzChess Cup in Tashkent.

70 James Altucher
Magnus Carlsen played my line.

72 How to Improve
One-on-one tutoring is highly effective. A good chess coach will teach you things you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.

75 The Killer Blow
Puzzles selected by Jacob Aagaard.

77 Fair & Square
Magnus Carlsen: ‘Can’t I just buy an island and then get WiFi and play chess from there?’

78 The Model Game
Modern top players use the Caro-Kann Defence to play for a win with Black.

82 The Scoresheet
Carlsen-Caruana, Stavanger 2025.

84 Sadler on Books
Five-star reviews for new books about chess greats Alexander Alekhine and Viktor Korchnoi.

90 Jan Timman
In an afterthought to his obituary of Boris Spassky, Jan Timman revisits three most remarkable games from the 10th World Champion’s early career. Altogether Spassky only collected a measly half point, but he might just as well have won all three of them.

98 Just Checking
Who is Nate Solon’s favourite chess player?