There is love at first sight, as everyone knows, and there are, somewhat surprisingly, "statistics at first sight". What is that? In the infamous matter labelled by now as "the Hans Niemann cheating case" (a title that S.S. Van Dine would have greatly appreciated, as well as the mystery surrounding the case) such "statistics at first sight" have attracted the undisputed attention of every party involved – and above all the attention of the ones not involved. | Picture: The rating development of Hans Niemann
Today's games give one fresh hope for the future of chess, with some marvelously creative and daring ideas from two young players who we hope will be giving us such pleasure for years to come. We wrote here last week of Maryland master Bijan Tahmassebi's fine performance finishing in a seven-way tie for first at the recent U.S. National High School Championships in Memphis.