12/9/2019 – From lay fans to top grandmasters, more or less everyone in the world of chess feels upset today about the significant number of draws that take place in virtually every classical elite tournament. Too much theory reinforced by extensive engine work is seemingly rendering the game of chess sterile and lifeless. One alternative is Chess960 and FIDE sanctioned the first Fischer Random World Championship this year. Recently the legendary Vladimir Kramnik has also proposed a solution to the problem that is simpler and more efficient than the Fischer Random, and which he believes will ensure more than 50% decisive games in top-level play.

7/13/2017 – There are many chess variants. A recent one was invented by an AI expert at the Tenaga National University of Malaysia, by Dr Azlan Iqbal. He subsequently received a research grant to develop a mobile app, in order to study "cleverer algorithms" and get the computer to play as well as humans. Working on a shoestring budget Azlan managed to develop two apps, one for Android and one for iOS. You can try your hand – it's free of charge.

2/21/2014 – As you know from recent articles, there has been a spate of board games specifically designed to be difficult for computers, making it impossible for them to beat the strongest human players. One such game, Arimaa, has resisted computer assaults for more than a decade. Here is some general advice for anti-computer game inventors, provided by a two-time Arimaa World Champion.

2/17/2014 – As you know we have been on a search for a chess variant that keeps the game as recognizable as possible yet dramatically weakens the play of even the most optimized computer engine. The goal is to weaken the play of such engines so that they cannot defeat most humans, and won't be able to do so for decades or centuries to come. The latest variant is by a Canadian software engineer.