3/22/2026 – In this interview feature, WIM Anzel Laubscher reflects on her career in chess education, law and international development, tracing her journey from early tournaments in South Africa to her work with the FIDE Commission for Chess in Education. She discusses formative life experiences, cultural influences and her advocacy for safeguarding and inclusion in sport, offering personal insights into how chess can shape both learning and social responsibility. | Photos courtesy of WIM Anzel Laubscher

2/18/2026 – Chess has long been treated as more than a game. With its fixed rules and opposing sides, it offers a compact model of conflict, balance and choice. The board becomes a space where order and unpredictability meet, and where every move carries consequence. This article considers chess not simply as strategy, but as a reflection of the tensions that shape thought, action and the wider world. | Photo: Magnus Carlsen | Photo: Lennart Ootes (Archive)

1/1/2026 – Chess has played a subtle but persistent role in English intellectual life, serving less as a pastime than as a lens through which writers and thinkers have examined reason, language, power and uncertainty. From Victorian debates on culture to literary modernism and twentieth-century philosophy, this article traces how chess has functioned in England as a symbolic structure, a narrative device and a reflective model of thought under rules. | Image (AI generated): Uvencio Blanco

11/29/2025 – An imaginary interview with José Raúl Capablanca offers a reflective journey through the Cuban world champion's life, ideas and legacy. Presented in Capablanca's own voice, the conversation explores his childhood, style, intellectual interests and views on intuition, simplicity and the nature of chess. The piece revisits the milestones that shaped him and highlights his enduring influence on the game's philosophy. | Images (AI): Uvencio Blanco

11/23/2025 – Jacobus de Cessolis' "Book of the Customs of Men", written in the early fourteenth century, stands as one of the most influential works in the cultural history of chess. Far from treating the game as entertainment, Cessolis interpreted the board as a moral and social microcosm, using each piece to illustrate the duties of medieval society. His widely circulated treatise shaped ethical, political and pedagogical readings of chess for centuries. | Image (AI): Uvencio Blanco Hernández

10/21/2025 – From the classrooms of Trujillo to the tournament halls of Europe, Patricia Claros Aguilar has built a career defined by purpose, empathy and excellence. The Peruvian-born organiser, now based in Spain, reflects on her 25-year journey in chess - from humble beginnings to international recognition. Honoured with the 2025 Special Prize from the Chess Hall of Fame of the Americas, she shares insights on education, leadership, innovation and the unifying power of chess. | Photos: Patricia Claros' Archive

9/22/2025 – The development of chess is deeply entwined with the history of human civilisation, and its journey along the Silk Road helped transform it into a cultural treasure that transcends borders. From its early forms in India and China to its adaptations in Persia, the Islamic world and medieval Europe, chess evolved as a mirror of thought and philosophy. This account retraces its millennial path, highlighting how every move carries memory, creativity and a universal human legacy.

8/17/2025 – British writer Mary Harrington warns that the ability to think deeply is at risk of becoming a privilege in the digital age. Drawing on her own education and recent research, she links declining literacy and attention spans to the rise of smartphones and a "post-literate" culture. Her analysis suggests this shift could create a widening cognitive gap, with serious implications for social equality, democratic health, and the preservation of reflective, reasoned thought. | Photo: The Protopia Lab

3/22/2025 – The Social Chess Research Conference, held on 22 February, marked the launch of "2025: Year of Social Chess". Bringing together researchers and practitioners from around the world, the event explored the role of chess in social development, inclusion, and rehabilitation. Presentations covered topics ranging from cognitive training to chess-based addiction recovery. Organised by FIDE’s Social Chess Commission, the conference set the stage for future initiatives aimed at leveraging chess as a tool for positive societal impact.

3/27/2024 – The conference “Chess in Education - Methodology and perspectives” will take place on May 18, 2024 via online. This activity is organised by the Armenian State Pedagogical University (ASPU), the Chess Scientific Research Institute and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, and led by GM Smbat Lputian. These conferences are significant because they provide a platform to explore the relationship between chess, cognitive science and education.

3/17/2024 – The FIDE Education Commission is pleased to announce its new initiative: the launch of the FIDE Chess School Award. The award is established to enhance the quality and position of chess in the primary and secondary education systems around the world. FIDE’s wish to provide recognition and motivation for existing Chess in Education activities and programs in schools through a certification process.

12/24/2023 – From a very young age, Rita Atkins has been active in the chess community, achieving notable success in various chess tournaments, reaching the title of Women's International Master (WIM) and winning the Hungarian Women's Chess Championship in 1992. She has also been involved in teaching chess and mathematics to school children and youth. In a lengthy interview with Uvencio Blanco, she remarked: "Give it another hundred years, and there will be just as many good female players as male ones".

10/26/2023 – Stewart Reuben has officiated and/or organised several top-level chess events held in Great Britain and other countries, including the World Chess Championship, the British Chess Championship and a number of Hastings Congresses. Also an author and a poker player, he even met and played Bobby Fischer: “Each game he won, he gained $1. Had I ever won one, I would have received $10”. | Photo: John Upham

9/1/2023 – In a wide-ranging interview, Casto Abundo talks about his lengthy career as a chess organiser, his work alongside Florencio Campomanes and the time he spent with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines. Abundo shares: “I had to play racquetball with Bobby, swim with him far into the open seas, go on long nightly walks discussing chess, arrange a date with a Filipina national chess team member he liked, drive him to the yacht of President Marcos, and watch as he replayed games from Chess Informant every night”.

5/13/2023 – Andrzej Filipowicz is one of the most interesting chess personalities in the world. He has been a chess player, arbiter, organizer, editor and writer, as well as a civil engineer specializing in steel structures. Endowed with a strong personality, clear intelligence, well-defined convictions and a curious sense of humour, he is turning 85 today, on 13 May 2023. Uvencio Blanco conducted a lengthy interview with the Polish chess polymath.

2/26/2023 – Professor Jerry Nash is the current chairman of FIDE’s Commission on Chess in Education. A long-standing educator who is passionate about helping others, Nash asserts in this interview conducted by Uvencio Blanco: “Chess can really positively alter the classroom environment by improving student behaviour and engagement”.

10/8/2022 – Grandmaster Smbat Lputian, chairman of the Chess and Education Commission of the International Chess Federation (EDU FIDE), informs us that an International Online Conference entitled “Chess in the Process of a Preschooler’s Development” will be held on December 10, 2022. The goal of the conference is to discuss different approaches of teaching chess to preschoolers mainly considering chess as an educational tool for a child’s development.

9/28/2022 – The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the 5th Chess in Education Lecturer course. The course will be held online on 28-30 October, in English. Those who successfully pass the course will receive the title of Lead School Instructor (LSI). The course is limited to a maximum of 20 people (first come, first served).