8/10/2018 – The family of a nine-year-old at the centre of a visa battle has been allowed to remain in the United Kingdom rather than be deported to India. Shreyas Royal has spent nearly six of his nine years resident in the UK, and has been tipped as “the best prospect the country has ever seen”, according to Grandmaster Chris Ward. The family had been told they were to leave by September 10th, but with a month to go, they have now been given a reprieve.

1/5/2014 – In the last episodes of the BBC Radio program “Across the Board”, Dominic Lawson interviews the only professional player in the series, Hou Yifan, as well as Natan Sharansky, a prominent Israeli politician, human rights activist and author. Nathan Sharansky was sent by the Soviets to a Siberian Gulag where he survived by playing endless games of chess in his mind. Life imitates fiction.

12/19/2013 – Believe it or not, but on Monday, December 30, BBC Radio 4 will start a week-long series of 15-minute chat shows on… chess! The program Across the Board will feature Dominic Lawson, the Sunday Times and Daily Mail columnist, who will play against and interview a different guest each episode on five consecutive days. This is the first time in 50 years since the 1960s radio show with Bobby Fischer.