‘Chess is a game too noble to be left to the chess-players.’ So wrote Arthur Koestler, covering the Fischer–Spassky match for the Sunday Times in 1972. So bitter had he found the pre-match shenanigans that he likened his job to that of war correspondent. Of his…
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The second art that I acquired in Pentonville was so-called ‘Marseilles chess’. It was invented by an elderly Frenchman, with a red scarf round hs neck, who taught it to me during exercise hours. In this game, each player in turn makes two moves instead…
Read MorePublication of the British magazine Kingpin is always an eagerly-awaited event
attractive zany humour
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
Utterly irreverent . . . genuine wit . . . good instruction for club players
Please, do people really believe what they read in Kingpin? I am amazed! It’s like taking a satirical show and mistaking it for the news
[its] satirical nature and penchant for sharp games makes it compulsive reading for the average club player
very, very entertaining
leaves my game shiny, manageable, natural looking
those who are unfamiliar with Kingpin are missing out on a real delight: there are many good chess magazines around, but in my opinion Kingpin is the best out there
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…
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