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2022 has so far been an earth-shattering year for the chess world. And things continue to unfold in remarkable fashion, as the biggest-ever Olympiad is about to start in Chennai. In sporting terms, the absence of Russian and Chinese teams are a massive loss, but that is more than made up for by the excitement and commitment shown by the host country. Given the excellent reviews shared by participants and organizers alike, we can safely anticipate this will be a memorable event. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

From 28 July to 10 August the Chess Olympiad will be played in Chennai, India. 188 teams start in the Open, 162 in the Women's Olympiad, that's a new record of participants. However, two of the strongest federations will not come to Chennai. The Russian federation was excluded because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the Chinese federation decided not to participate, as protection against the pandemic. Thus, the USA is clear favourite in the Open while India is favourite to win the Women's Olympiad. | Photo: FIDE

If we were to assume that there really is something to astrology — that people born in autumn really do tick a little differently from those born in spring — might we have a useful clue to our opponent’s strategy in a chess game by asking about their star sign? Perhaps we would also involuntarily expect for a typical Dutchman to prefer a different strategy than a full-blooded Sicilian.

This Christmas our main chess present is going to be the World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Qatar, when from 26-30 December Magnus Carlsen, Se...

FIDE has published the new world ranking list. Since hardly any tournaments were played in January and the Tata Steel tournament was not taken into account for the February list, there are virtually no changes at the top. Magnus Carlsen continues to be the world's number one with a huge margin, Alireza Firouzja is in second place and the only other player with a rating of +2800.