New In Chess 2026/3

Pragg’s Fab Four Finish After six rounds he languished in last place. Winning his last four games, Praggnanandhaa shot up to first place at the spectacular Norway Chess 2026 edition in Oslo. Interview: Praggnanandhaa ‘My generation has certainly proved that we are top players. If you just see our results, we have done everything.’ Interview: Elham Amar When he became an IM at 17, he had never ever opened a chess book, never used ChessBase and had never been abroad. Four years on, Norway’s Elham Amar is a GM and has just crossed 2600. Second comes first We knew him as Sindarov’s passionate second. Now Mukhiddin Madaminov has won the UzChess Masters, ahead of several super-GMs. Blindfold anyone? Swedish GM Axel Smith explains how easy it is to play 50 opponents blindfold. He managed 49 himself. Magnus Magic in Malmõ Looking to play some classical games before Norway Chess, Magnus Carlsen hand-picked the Tepe Sigeman tournament to gain some practice. Exchange for the better When is the right moment to trade pieces or pawns and what is your objective? Life’s a Beach Boris Gelfand looks at games from around the world that piqued his interest. Keep it easy Nikolaos Ntirlis presents four practical opening ideas from current tournament practice that promise good play; two for White and two for Black. The Model Game A fine effort by British prodigy Bodhana Sivanandan. Sadler on Books From a chess biography of a forgotten master to a collection of tips first published on Twitter, Matthew Sadler shines his light on a wide variety of new books.