Dear Kingpin, Your magazine sure is great (not as great as me – I’m the greatest), way better than all those other lying chess rags whose editors have banded together to make me out to be some kinda villain! Those guys are out…
Read MoreMore Articles
The Pawn recently had the misfortune to play in an (otherwise very pleasant) event in a continental city. They like to keep the exact time of the rounds a closely guarded secret at these events, so the Pawn took a rough stab at 9.30 as…
Read Moresharper than a bone-saw!
a must-read for everyone who doesn’t take chess too seriously; it’s especially a must-read for everyone who does take chess seriously
In the chess satire stakes @KingpinEd are masters of the art form … a veritable feast: irony, sarcasm, hyperbole
irreverent and entertaining
some of the most varied, sometimes most interesting, and certainly least inhibited chess writing available today
razor sharp
a new kind of whiteness I never thought possible with my old Chess Magazine – and without boiling
uses impiety and parody to hew down the conventions of publishing, even including mock testimonials
Its rather coarse satirical manner may not appeal to everyone – just the majority of us who enjoy sharp games and low humour
Utterly irreverent . . . genuine wit . . . good instruction for club players
Lev Khariton The attractive countryside of Meudon is a 15-minute train ride from Paris. Here I came to interview Boris Spassky just three days before his 60th birthday. He reminiscences about his life, his chess career, his rivals and friends. Dear Grandmaster, I should…
Sarah Hurst was a regular contributor to CHESS magazine in the 1990s and also edited the British Chess Federation’s newsletter, ChessMoves. Her fine book Curse of Kirsan: Adventures in the Chess Underworld is now available on Kindle at a bargain price. Since 2002 she has been translating…
Andy Lewis A common Arimaa starting position Anyone for a variation on chess? Is chess played out? This concern has been voiced periodically over the history of the game, and the challenges has never been more profound: over-refinement of opening-theory; perfection of endgame technique;…
“a must-read for everyone who doesn’t take chess too seriously; it’s especially a must-read for everyone who does take chess seriously!” ChessVibes “. . . very, very entertaining . . . some of the back issues were classics and I have some of them at home ….
Jimmy Adams, 1947–2026
FIDE Master Jimmy Adams, who has died aged 79 after a long illness, was one of the great chess storytellers. He was cast in the mould of Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld – lively, versatile and cultured writers he admired, emulated, and surpassed. He honed…
Machiavelli on Ice
The Brain Games Scandal click below Brain Games First published in Kingpin 40 (Autumn 2009)
A Creature without Counterpart
Sir George Thomas wrote more about badminton than chess, which makes this article (published in 1927) something of a rarity. In it he compares chess with his favourite sports, tennis and badminton. ‘the true chess fiend is a creature without counterpart’ Chess Fiends! By…
Chess and the Nazis
Tim-Jake Gluckman Chess in the Third Reich How the Game Was Played, Glorified, and Abused in Nazi Germany, 1933–1945 Taylor Kingston vi + 285 pages | 98 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, indexes hardback | €49.95 Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2025 Taylor Kingston (TK) is…
- 10 Seconds with 7
- About Us 1
- Archive 228
- Articles 104
- Back issues 50
- Cheating 30
- Creative chess 97
- Features 229
- FIDE 51
- Front Page 125
- Games 92
- Hack Attack 54
- History scrapbook 147
- Homepage 116
- Interviews 41
- Kirsan 43
- Letters 10
- Nosher 11
- Private Eye 4
- Quotes 133
- Reviews 94
- Shop 30
- The Penguin Files 39
- The Poisoned Pawn 6
- Uncategorized 10











Muntaha Anwaar
→ Commenting on: Jimmy Adams, 1947–2026
Amatza Avni
→ Commenting on: Jimmy Adams, 1947–2026
Alan Crombleholme
→ Commenting on: Pub Chat with Jimmy Adams part 1
Epawn
→ Commenting on: Ron Harman (1938–2014) – A Champion of the Chess Club