New in Chess Magazine 2025/8

6 Luck Kasparov versus Anand. 8 NIC’s Café Dinner with Almira Skripchenko. 12 FIDE World Cup Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov confirmed his colossal talent and kept his cool in the final against Wei Yi. The third qualifier for the Candidates tournament was Andrey Esipenko. 20 Celeb 64 Victor Wembanyama. 38 Interview Caruana Looking back on a successful and rewarding year, Fabiano Caruana reflects on the fragmented chess world that we find ourselves in. How many World Championships, circuits and tours can chess fans handle and understand? 46 Tournament Roundup Starting with this issue, Boris Gelfand, the 2012 World Championship finalist, will keep track of what is happening on the chessboard. He will highlight the most interesting games and endgames that are not featured in our tournament reports. 54 Unforgiving Passion Daniel Naroditsky passed away on October 19, 2025, at the age of 29, in his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was the resident grandmaster at the Charlotte Chess Center. Peter Giannatos, the founder and CEO of the Center, accepted our invitation to share his memories of ‘Danya’. 57 A Very Public Feud Naroditsky suffered from allegations by Vladimir Kramnik, as did David Navara and others. What happened? 64 Interview Granda Zuniga Julio Granda from Peru reached a peak rating of 2699 without ever studying in earnest or preparing for his games. 72 Is it a Human or a Machine? The creators of AlphaZero are again using chess as a laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. 74 James Altucher My first OTB Grandmaster win. 76 The Scoresheet Mikhail Tal-Robert Byrne, 1966. 78 How to Improve Rating goals can sharpen your focus and accelerate your progress. 81 The Killer Blow Puzzles selected by Jacob Aagaard. 84 The Model Game In the Dutch Defence, Black tries to gain space at the expense of weakening the kingside. 88 Sadler on Books Velimirovic’ name is immortal in the collective chess memory. 96 Jan Timman Attacks may flourish brilliantly or flounder tragically, but dynamic and tactically rich chess is always fascinating to watch. 106 Just Checking What would Andy Woordward love to learn?