New In Chess 2026/1

6 Freestyle
Magnus Carlsen wins his 21st World Championship, his first in Freestyle.

8 NIC’s Café
Drones from Ukraine, a spy from the GDR  and Marcel Duchamp.

14 Uzbek success at Tata Steel
Friends and rivals Nodirbek Abdusattorov (21) and Javokhir Sindarov (20) seemed to be heading for an all-Uzbek tiebreaker. But in a final and decisive show of grit and class, ‘Abdu’ forged ahead to claim the trophy.

20 Nodirbek Abdusattorov
An interview with the winner: ‘Wijk aan Zee has always been very special to me’.

30 Tata Steel games
Game analysis by the top players: Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Anish Giri, Matthias Bluebaum, Jorden van Foreest, Vladimir Fedoseev and Andy Woodward.

41 Celeb 64
Tom Stoppard, British playwright.

56 Matthias Bluebaum
An interview with the 28-year-old German grandmaster who qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.

64 Fifth Double Crown for Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen (35) won his sixth rapid World Championship title and his ninth blitz title. How can we explain Carlsen’s domination of the Rapid & Blitz World Championships? The simplest answer may also be the truest: he is frighteningly good at chess.

74 Boris Gelfand’s selection
Boris Gelfand has selected the most interesting games of the last few weeks.

92 Fair & Square
Julian Barnes and John Nunn.

93 The Killer Blow
Puzzles selected by Jacob Aagaard.

96 Hastings
Jon Speelman reflects on chess in the 20th Century. In this issue: A tribute to Hastings 

102 James Altucher
Win, Lose or Draw.

104 The Scoresheet
James Thompson-Paul Morphy, 1857.

106 Yes, opening novelties!
Another new column, on opening theory. Is it still possible to play a novelty? Yes, says opening expert Nikolaos Ntirlis. He will present four fresh, practical ideas in each issue.

112 The Model Game
Playing gambits is good advice for improving players. And the Benko is an excellent example for Black.

116 The worst placed piece
This new column by Renier Castellanos focuses on improvement. The author is a coach at the Killer Chess Academy and has a deep understanding of how club players can improve their chess knowledge.

122 Sadler on Books
High praise for a new book about Captain Mackenzie’s chess adventures.

130 Jan Timman
The collapse of the Soviet Union was a heavy blow to the chess infrastructure of the superpower that dominated our game for many decades.

138 Just Checking
Mauricio Flores Rios, bestselling author.