3/3/2018 – Chess has been presented in various art forms throughout the centuries. The chess surreal, mysterious quality has been embraced in the visual arts, literature, music and particularly the fashion. Our own chess queens (and sometimes kings, cavalry and soldiers), often make fashion statements with chess-themed garments and accessories. Diana Mihajlova explores the Spring-Summer collections and their chess inspiration. | Pictured: The interior stage, with chess patterns and hanging body parts, accentuated House of Dior's chosen theme: surrealism
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Ganguly introduces conceptually fresh directions in several key lines – even in the most played main lines.
€39.90
Christian Dior's chess connection
From the end of January through early March is usually the time when fashion designers parade their Spring-Summer collections on the catwalks of London, Paris, Milan, New York, Tokyo, among others. This year, the chess enthusiasts will be happy to know that chess has found its place in the creations of none other than the doyen of world fashion, Christian Dior couture.
The chess motif was evident throughout the Dior show for their Spring-Summer 2018 collection presented in Paris on January 22nd. Already at the entrance of their venue, the grounds of the Musée Rodin, the visitors were met with a giant wall and a pavement of black and white chess boards.
The entrance
From this ethereal walk-in, once through the camouflaged door, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the Artistic Director of the Dior’s women’s collection, regaled the guests with a dream show in which simplicity, glory and luxury merged into one through the black and white ‘coulours’.
Christian Dior set up new parameters of elegance ever since his first appearance on the fashion scene in the far 1947. The Dior House celebrated 70 years of creativity, 1947-2017, with a show that finished recently at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris.
Maria Grazia Chiuri has been entrusted to carry on his legacy becoming Dior’s first female artistic director in 2016 (previously she was head of the womenswear collections at Valentino.)
She remains faithful to her famous predecessor’s interest in the modern art which has been the footprint of Dior’s artistic expression. She dedicated her spring-summer 2018 show to the Italian-Argentinean surrealist painter Leonor Fini (1907 – 1996).
Leonor Fini’s paintings The Fairy (1955) and Return Journey2 (1982) | www.leonor-fini.com
Christian Dior started his work career as an art dealer. His gallery offered its space mainly to representatives of surrealism. Leonor Fini at the time was a young, audacious artist whose career started in the pre-war Paris thanks to Christian Dior who gave her a first public exposure in his gallery.
Christian Dior (far left) and friends: Gala and Salvador Dali, Tony Sandro (or Jacques Benita) and Victor Grandpierre | Photo: madparis.fr
The women’s freedom and power, including the women’s spiritual power, is Chiuri’s artistic preoccupation. In her first show as Dior’s chief designer, in September 2016, some of her creations were emblazoned with the motto: ‘We Should All Be Feminists’. In her latest show she was guided by Leonor Fini’s statement, ‘Only the inevitable theatricality of my life interests me’, which she further elaborated in her own words: “There’s nothing more fake than being natural’.
Maria Grazia Chiuri, interview | Christian Dior channel on YouTube
With the exception of some occasional splash of colour here and there, the show was entirely in the sign of black and white, either in combination or solely white or solely black ensembles.
Apart from the chess theme, other decorative elements were also applied, like the domino rectangles with their dots.
Dior, chess and domino
When art and imagination are put together in a surreal, daring reality, chess is most certainly a welcome addition, which Maria Grazia Chiuri had beautifully incorporated in her latest Spring — Summer 2018 collection.
Dior detail
All photos, unless stated otherwise, were provided and reproduced courtesy of House of Dior’s Digital Communications Press Office
Diana MihajlovaA former university lecturer in Romance philology, she is currently a painter as well as a chess journalist, and reports regularly from the international tournament scene.
How do you play the Queen's Gambit Accepted? Does White have promising variations or can Black construct a water-tight repertoire? The Powerbook provides the answers based on 300 000 games, most of them played by engines.
The Queen's Gambit Accepted Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 11827 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 240 are annotated.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
€9.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
From this ethereal walk-in, once through the camouflaged door, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the Artistic Director of the Dior’s women’s collection, regaled the guests with a dream show in which simplicity, glory and luxury merged into one through the black and white ‘coulours’.
