Features: · Review

  • Karpov (Ivan Yankovskiy) surrounded by his seconds Tal (Dmitriy Iosifov), Zaitsev (Anatoliy Kot), Balashov (Mikhail Troynik, sitting) and KGB officer Maksimov (Viktor Dobronravov).

    Tolka the hero – 20 Jan 2022

    Chempion Mira is neither sound history nor works out as a sequel to The Queen’s Gambit. The Russian movie is patriotic kitsch and a monument to Anatoly Karpov who was involved as a consultant.

  • Shooting star 2021: Alireza Firouzja

    Winners and losers – 12 Jan 2022

    2021 was great for top players, online chess and FIDE, but not for otb chess and lower rated professionals.

  • “This looks very, very scary for Black.” Ian Nepomniachtchi visibly enjoyed himself while recording the course.

    Nepo’s Gambit – 19 Nov 2021

    The world championship challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi presents a Chessable course on no lesser opening than the King’s Gambit. Fernando Offermann had a look.

  • Black Diamond is simple but functional.

    Pocket sparring partner – 12 Jan 2021

    Among chess playing apps, the open source Black Diamond is your most versatile choice, but don’t expect any fancy graphics, writes Heinrich Tillack.

  • Lichess Puzzle #nRtsw

    Quantity over quality – 03 Jan 2021

    Lichess has published the world’s biggest collection of chess puzzles. Why you should not yet hold your breath, explain Stefan Löffler and Conrad Schormann.

  • Three sisters at chess by Sofonisba Anguissola (1555)

    Sloppy on purpose – 22 Dec 2020

    Why has a pricey collection of pirated and in some cases mutilated images of chess art received much praise, wonders Stefan Löffler.

  • Noam Manella, one of the two authors, presents Think like a Machine! at [ChessTech 2020][1]. [1]: http://www.chessconference.org/

    A classification of what we fail to see – 05 Dec 2020

    Think like a Machine! is a book that was waiting to be written. It features tactics that humans normally overlook. ChessPuzzle-Master Martin Bennedik loves it.

  • Lots of avatars too choose – and pay for

    Commercial vibe – 02 Dec 2020

    Chess Universe combines the look and feel of a videogame with chess instruction. But the app’s salesmanship put Sophia Rohde off.

  • Learn chess with Dr. Wolf

    Teaching through play – 21 Nov 2020

    Its didactic approach and friendly user interface set Learn Chess with Dr. Wolf apart from other chess learning apps. If only it could help beyond a 1400 rating level, writes Fernando Offermann.

  • The house of Victor, the chess cat

    A cat house – 29 Jul 2020

    Victor is a charming chess teacher, but his programme, Victor’s Chess House, runs slow and doesn’t allow to jump any single lesson, game or test, writes Philippe Kalman.

  • This is how Chessity looks for the young learner

    Frogs and robots – 27 Jul 2020

    Chessity has been developed for classroom use but its gamified chess learning works equally well in a family context, writes Jérôme Maufras.

  • Magnus Touch is presented by the world champion together with Chessable co-founder John Bartholomew.

    Too advanced – 10 Jul 2020

    The Magnus Touch has been advertised by Chessable as a landmark and the new gold standard in chess training. Jop Delemarre loves the content as a player. From the perspective of a coach he finds the strategy course lacking accessibility and didactics.

  • Tactics frenzy

    Tactics Frenzy – 22 May 2020

    Good graphics, nice gamification, well chosen exercises. Brazilian top coach Rafael Leitão finds the tactics app from Play Magnus recommendable but misses a feature that helps to train your pattern recognition.