Macauley Peterson

Macauley served as the Editor in Chief of ChessBase News from July 2017 to March 2020.

As producer of The Full English Breakfast chess podcast, he hosted and published over 50 episodes, including before podcasting was en vogue. He was also an Associate Producer of the 2016 feature documentary, "Magnus".

Previously, Macauley served as the Content Director for chess24.com (April 2013 — June 2017), founded Chess Digital Strategies LLC (2010) which provided media production, consulting and web services for companies and organizations involved in professional chess, such as the Saint Louis Chess Club, where he produced over a dozen live webcasts from 2009 to 2013. He got his start as a "media specialist" for the Internet Chess Club from, 2007-2010.

In 2007, he was voted "Chess Journalist of the Year" by the Chess Journalists of America. His written work has appeared in Chess Life and uschess.org (U.S.A.), New in Chess (Netherlands), Schach (Germany), "64" (Russia), Chess (U.K.), and Jaque (Spain) and a few other places.

In 2006, he completed work as an editor on Adam Nemett's independent feature film, "The Instrument", which appeared at the 2005 Dances With Films festival, in L.A., and was part of New York's Anthology Film Archives' New Filmmakers series, and he has produced the DVD releases of A Turnpike Runs Through It (2008), and Excess Hollywood (2006), for the Princeton Triangle Show.

Education

Princeton University - A.B. Philosophy, 2001
University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) - M.A. Film Studies, 2007
Bucerius Law School (Hamburg) - Master of Law and Business 2020 (expected)

Recent news

Dorsa Derakhshani: From Iran to the USA (Part 2)

3/29/2020 – IM Dorsa Derakhshani is a third year undergraduate at Saint Louis University on a chess scholarship. Being in St. Louis she's a 'regular' at the Saint Louis Chess Club, and has recorded several lectures for their extensive YouTube channel. Continuing from part 1, after arriving in the USA, Derakhshani has been finding her footing academically, and continuing to feed her chess passion, as she looks forward for building a future in the States.

Dorsa Derakhshani: From Iran to the USA (part 1)

3/8/2020 – Dorsa Derakhshani is an Iranian International Master who immigrated to the United States in 2017. She is a third-year student at Saint Louis University on a full chess scholarship, and plans to go to medical school. On this International Women's Day, the story of a young woman who made international headlines for her brave stance in favour of women's rights and personal freedom.

March FIDE ratings

3/1/2020 – With the 2020 Candidates looming, there were few tournaments held in February to attract the world's top grandmasters, with two notable exceptions in Prague and Saint Louis. Alireze Firouzja (pictured) was the winner at the Prague Masters and Humpy Koneru took the second annual Cairns Cup. Gibraltar was also rated in February and provides the only change to the top 10: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave notched up one spot back to number eight, while Shakhriyar Mamedyarov slips to the tenth position after withdrawing prematurely due to illness. | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

Iranian arbiter Shohreh Bayat settles in the UK for now

2/24/2020 – A subplot of the recent Women's World Championship in Shanghai and Vladivostok was the plight of accomplished arbiter Shohreh Bayat from Iran. She was the target of political and religiously-motivated media critiques in her home country when she was photographed, while working as the chief arbiter in Shanghai, wearing a loose-fitting hijab — too loose for conservative observers in the Islamic Republic. That led her to fear for her safety and forgo her return ticket home in favour of a detour to the U.K. In a tearful interview, she recently recounted her story for the BBC.

Coronavirus keeps Wei Yi grounded at home

2/7/2020 – The Chinese grandmaster is healthy, but the virus' spread has forced the cancellation of many international flights and, for the second year running, Wei Yi has had to pull out of the Prague Masters just days in advance. He will be replaced by the current top junior in the world, GM Alireza Firouzja from Iran, who now lives in France. An open question is whether the Coronavirus outbreak may impact other top Chinese players heading for next month's Candiates Tournament in Russia. | Photo: Niki Riga

February FIDE ratings

2/1/2020 – Fabiano Caruana did phenomenally at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee and was able to reduce his Elo distance to World Champion Magnus Carlsen from 50 to 20 points — Carlsen now stands at 2862 and Caruana at 2842. Ju Wenjun remained Women's World Champion, and world number two. Firouzja won the Juniors battle in the Tata Steel Masters, and Zhansaya Abdumalik maintains a healthy lead in among the top girls. | Pictured: Caruana watches the game Firouzja vs Dubov | Photo: Alina l'Ami

Grandmasters clash in Gibraltar

1/25/2020 – The Gibraltar Chess Festival is one of the strongest open tournaments in the world but only after three rounds did we see the GMs begin to separate from the pack, five of whom maintained a perfect score. After four rounds the five dropped to one: Ivan Cheparinov. The festival also has an interesting program of side events. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, currently number eight in the world, gave a masterclass (pictured) after round two, which you can relive at your leisure. | Photo: Niki Riga

Ju Wenjun remains World Champion

1/24/2020 – The 2020 Women's World Championship came to a dramatic finale on Friday with a four-game rapid tiebreak. After a pair of draws, Ju Wenjun struck first with a win in the third game. But unlike in the final classical game, Goryachkina was not able to equalize the score and force the tiebreak into the blitz phase. Ju hung on for a draw, winning the tiebreak, the match and thereby retaining her title as Women's World Champion. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

Women's World Championship: Goryachkina forces a playoff

1/23/2020 – With one regular match game to be played the momentum was very much on the side of current World Champion Ju Wenjun, who won back-to-back points in games 9 and 10 then easily made a draw in game 11. Her challenger Aleksandra Goryachkina came into game 12 in Vladivostock knowing that she had to win at all costs. And she delivered! With the match now tied at 6:6, the World Championship will be decided in a tiebreaking series of rapid (and even blitz) games on Friday starting at the same time: 5:30 UTC (6:30 CET, 12:30 AM EST) with commentary by GM Nigel Short & GM Hou Yifan. | Photo: Eteri Kublashvili (FIDE / official site)

Rilton Cup: Moradiabadi finds success under pressure

1/13/2020 – The "Rilton Cup" in Stockholm experienced its 49th edition over the turn of the new year. Grandmaster Elshan Moradiabadi led a group of five players after seven of nine rounds, and held on to finish with a winning score of 7.0/9, narrowly edging out Arseniy Nesterov on tiebreak. Moradiabadi sent us a pair of annotated games, and explained how he had to battle to keep his concentration following the sudden military escalation between his native country, Iran, and his adoptive country, the United States, which he now calls home. | Photos: Lars OA Hedlund

January 2020 ratings

1/1/2020 – Happy New Year! World Champion Magnus Carlsen heads into 2020 with a 50 Elo point lead in the classical ratings and a 45 point lead on the rapid list. Yet, despite winning the recent World Blitz Championship in a playoff over Hikaru Nakamura, the American clings to a 13 point margin atop the world blitz rankings. Alireza Firouzja, who gave both a run for their money in Moscow, is now #1 on the Juniors rankings. | Photos: Amruta Mokal / Jingda Chen on Unsplash

December ratings: Carlsen retakes rapid #1

12/1/2019 – The December rating list is out, with Magnus Carlsen back at number one in rapid, in addition to classical chess. Hikaru Nakamura, however, remains atop the world blitz rankings. They pair will have a chance to clash in both rapid and blitz formats later this month in Moscow. Alexander Grischuk (pictured) is now nearly sure of a 2020 Candidates qualification spot after his win in the Hamburg Grand Prix tournament. | Photo: Valeria Gordienko

GCT: Aronian snags Superbet Rapid & Blitz

11/11/2019 – Levon Aronian only finished in 5th place with 10 points from 18 games in this weekend's blitz tournament, but when combined with his 10 points in the rapid, his total tally tied him for first place with Sergey Karjakin, who won the blitz portion jointly with Le Quang Liem scoring 11/18. In the resulting playoff, Aronian scored a full point in the second game to snare the overall victory in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

November ratings: World Cup and Grand Swiss

11/1/2019 – The November rating list is out and reflects the performances of two of the most important tournaments on the calendar this year: The World Cup and the Grand Swiss, both qualifying events for the 2020 Candidates tournament which attracted a massive turnout of elite players. Every member of the top 40 was in action in the rating period except for the retired Vladimir Kramnik, Richard Rapport and Veselin Topalov. | Pictured: World Cup winner Teimour Radjabov, runner-up Ding Liren, third place finisher Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and fourth placed Yu Yangyi at the close of the Khanty-Mansiysk festivities. | Photo: FIDE

October ratings: Women's Grand Prix in the spotlight

10/1/2019 – The October rating list is out and with most of the world's best occupied in Khanty-Mansiysk at the World Cup (which is not yet rated), the changes there will only be reflected in November. Therefore the women are in focus this month, as most of the best were busy doing battle on the outskirts of Moscow in the first event of the newest FIDE Grand Prix. A notable exception is China's Zhu Jiner who was busy too, but in her home country, where she quietly slipped into the Top 10. | Pictured: The closing ceremony of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Skolkovo, Russia | Photo: Boris Dolmatovsky

Chess in The Atlantic

9/27/2019 – The American magazine The Atlantic has published an interview with the Hungarian chess players Judit Polgar and Anna Rudolf in its series "The Friendship Files". Once Judit Polgar was Anna Rudolf's idol; now they are both friends. Earlier this week the magazine also featured a short film by Jenny Schweitzer Bell, and produced by Jennifer Shahade, called "Kid Chess Champions Share Their Secrets" which features a dozen cute kids who participated in the massive National Scholastic Championship in the USA. | Photo: Anna Rudolf

Advantage Humpy at the Women's Grand Prix

9/21/2019 – Women's World Champion Ju Wenjun faced her World Championship rival Aleksandra Goryachkina today in Skolkovo at the FIDE Women's Grand Prix. A long battle ended in a draw, leaving Humpy Koneru alone at the top of the standings heading into Sunday's final round. But Ju has her fate in her hands as she's Humpy's opponent in what could be a thrilling finale. | Photo: David Llada / FIDE

September ratings: A 2800 trio solidifies

9/1/2019 – The eleven rounds of the Sinquefield Cup have already been incorporated into the latest FIDE rating list, published today. World Champion Magnus Carlsen continues to reign supreme at number one in the world rankings with 2876 Elo points, and Fabiano Caruana (2812) and Ding Liren (2811) remain in second and third places respectively. The gaps have narrowed, however: Carlsen and Caruana each lost 6 Elo points in the Sinquefield Cup, while Ding Liren ticked up the same amount. | Pictured: Garry Kasparov gives remarks at the Sinquefield Cup prize giving, one of five players in this frame who are or have been over 2800. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour
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