Ever since the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) emerged as chess’ governing body, the Candidates’ Tournament has been vital to the selection and making of the game’s world champion. Remade more than a few times in the seventy-two years that it has been running, the tournament has been a story on its own. Eugene Manlapao traces its history from its first edition in 1950, to its latest in 2022 that may have produced the combatants for the next world championship match. | Photo: The participants of the Candidates Tournament 1956 in Amsterdam | Photo: Herbert Behrens (ANEFO) (Cropped from GaHetNa (Nationaal Archief NL)) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
"Chess has often been used as a metaphor for the conduct of war. ’Gambit‘, ’zugzwang‘, ’checkmate’, ’stalemate‘ are all chess terms which are often heard when describing events in the social sphere, especially in the realm of politics, diplomacy and warfare," writes Milan Dinic in the March 1st issue of the British Chess Magazine. The young Editor offers a lively commentary on how the war in Ukraine has affected chess all over the world. This issue also includes an interview with veteran Ukrainian grandmaster Alexander Beliavsky.