Chess
Gukesh’s 54-Move Houdini in Samarkand: India’s Gold Hopes Rest on One Board2026-09-27At first glance the Round 9 scorecard from Samarkand looked like a typo. Thre...
A Prague File Under a Samarkand Headline: ChessBase Magazine #225 and the Ledger of Paid Training2026-09-26The headline said Samarkand. The file said Prague. In the back half of 2026 a...
The Label Lies: ChessBase Magazine #225, Rented Training and Bangladesh's Ledger2026-09-26The folder was labelled Samarkand R8. I opened it expecting a women's...
The King Walked, the Move List Didn't: Auditing the Receipts of the 5.e5 Line2026-09-26The headline said Alexei Sarana took his king for a walk at the Olympiad. The...
Samarkand in the Headline, Prague in the File: The Hidden Arithmetic of the Chess Training Market2026-09-26The file took about forty seconds to open on a secondhand laptop in a bedroom...
Sword of Damocles: Sixty Minutes of Scandinavian Defense and a Claim Whose Receipt Has Not Been Filed2026-09-26Thirteen bullet points. A video course sales page. Inside those thirteen...
ChessGukesh’s 54-Move Houdini in Samarkand: India’s Gold Hopes Rest on One BoardAt first glance the Round 9 scorecard from Samarkand looked like a typo. Thre...
ChessThe King Walked, the Move List Didn't: Auditing the Receipts of the 5.e5 LineThe headline said Alexei Sarana took his king for a walk at the Olympiad. The...
ChessSamarkand in the Headline, Prague in the File: The Hidden Arithmetic of the Chess Training MarketThe file took about forty seconds to open on a secondhand laptop in a bedroom...
ChessSword of Damocles: Sixty Minutes of Scandinavian Defense and a Claim Whose Receipt Has Not Been FiledThirteen bullet points. A video course sales page. Inside those thirteen...
ChessA Prague File Under a Samarkand Headline: ChessBase Magazine #225 and the Ledger of Paid TrainingThe headline said Samarkand. The file said Prague. In the back half of 2026 a...
ChessA Hanging Sword and a Rented Hour: Reading the Sales Pitch of the Scandinavian DefenseIn November 2026, at the chess hall in Purana Paltan, I found Niaz Murshed's...
ChessSavitha Shri's 7/7 at Samarkand: The Fifth Board, a Tired Clock, and a Family LedgerIn the Samarkand playing hall, the clock had crossed five hours. On the same...
ChessThe Label Lies: ChessBase Magazine #225, Rented Training and Bangladesh's LedgerThe folder was labelled Samarkand R8. I opened it expecting a women's...
ChessSamarkand’s Scoreline and a 60-Minute Scandinavian: An Autopsy of a Broken HeadlineThe headline sounded like a Round 8 result: “Samarkand R8 (open): Germany stu...
ChessSamarkand's Headline, Scandinavian's Body: The Chess 'News' That Fails the Tape TestJuly 5, 2026, afternoon. The national championship was underway at the BCF ha...
ChessThe Label Said Samarkand; the Folder Held Prague — 27 Miniatures and Chess's Unwritten IndexHalf past midnight in a rented flat in Delhi. A laptop on a small table, a cu...