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As of late, a few things have become cool again: dad sneakers, flip phones and now chess. Who knew that one of the nerdiest games of all time, typically reserved for old men in Central Park, would make a sexy comeback?

Anya Taylor-Joy is the new star of the new drama series The Queens Gambit, premiering October 23 on Netflix. The story is based on a coming-of-age novel by Walter Tevis written in 1983, which details the story of a chess prodigy named Beth Harmon, who wins her way to the top of the world championship in Russia after escaping an orphanage and outsmarting the rest of the players in this male-dominated field. At the same time, she struggles to battle her inner demons, falling victim to alcohol and tranquilizers. The Queens Gambit(the name of a well-known chess move), taps into the zeitgeist of the time the series is set, the 1960s, from womens lib to hippie culture and Russia-US relations during the height of the Soviet Union.

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Taylor-Joy rose to fame after her breakout role in horror flickThe Witchin 2015, which set her as the queen of spooky horror for roles to come, be it as an AI bot in the sci-fi film Morgan, to an abducted teen in the psychological thriller,Split. She also stars in the recent Marvels X-Men seriesThe New Mutants, has been cast as a young Furiosa in the prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road (announced after we did this interview), and next up, she stars alongside Bjrk and Nicole Kidman in The Northman,a Viking film set in 10th century Iceland directed by Robert Eggers, as well as horror film Last Night in Soho,both expected next year.

Until then, Taylor-Joy spoke to us about breaking into the boys club, genius alcoholics, Russia and the stigma of the female genius onscreen.

Observer: Did you even know how to play chess going into this?Anya Taylor-Joy:No, not prior to beginning this odyssey. Im very grateful to say my knowledge of chess came from people that are revered as chess gods. I got infected with the chess bug. I have mad respect for the game.

So what kind of research did you do for this role? Chess is such a boys club, and this a story about a woman who outsmarts them all.Unfortunately, if you look through history, everything has been a boys club. Of course, it pertains to chess. But even now, were struggling to break the constraints. One of my favorite things about Beth is she exists kind of outside of society, so she genuinely is baffled whenever people bring up her gender. She doesnt understand why it has anything to do with her independence. I do think thats a nice message to send, one where she lives in a society where gender or how you identify doesnt dictate the moves youre allowed to have.

Is there a stigma behind playing a female genius onscreen? Do you see that?Absolutely. Im an avid reader. Im reading a book about the construction of alcoholism in gender. Male writers, [in] Paris in the 1920s, they were alcoholics, but they were geniuses. They were brilliant. But female alcoholics were not spoken about. We put that away, we dont see that; we dont look at that because its not pretty and its not interesting. That really bothered me. Im glad Beths addiction shows its a problem for everybody. Just because youre a boy doesnt make it sexy. Its still a problem.

But despite her alcoholism, Beth stays in control of her chess talent in a way?Something I found interesting in my research with addiction is whatever it was the addict was using, at some point, it worked. Otherwise, they wouldnt use it. Whatever it is, at some point, that substance was working. The difficulty with that is that people say addicts either end up in rehab, in jail or dead. Theres no way for it to be sustainable. Whatever that addiction is that youve been keeping, once that is thrown off, when it goes off the rails, thats when you have to figure it out.

Do you think watching the show, that it takes something nerdy like chess and makes it cool again?There certainly were moments where we were onset and people would say, why are you so stressed when you look so sexy right now? Thats just weird. Anything you bring an intensity to has the power to be sexy or cool. I think chess is very cool, personally. Its something people are willing to dedicate so much work and passion about, I find that very sexy and cool.

Is part of that in you as an actor? Your drive as an actor?The way Beth feels about chess is basically exactly how I feel about my art. Literally, I breathe it, I think about it all the time, its the thing that most excites me. I definitely nerd out over what I do. And every aspect of it, as well. Im always looking for more.

What makes you feel like you were meant for acting?I dont know what it was. I will say the longer I do it, the more I think: Ah, I have a very particular set of skills that would be completely useless elsewhere.That is, other than if Im an artist. I dont know where else having short term memory or doing intricate, long chess sequences in five minutes would get me, or help me in the world. I feel grateful Im given the opportunity to do what I do.

How important is Russian-American relations in the film? Is Beth used as a pawn in politics?Any sort of love for Russia, especially in the 1960s was seen as dangerous. But since her great passion in life is chess, and its the place where Russia is taken the most seriously, especially at the time, where people were paid to play chess, I think she has a deep fascination with Russia and deeply connects with the people. They love the thing she loves the most. While the politics are going on around her, her love and respect for the country and the game she loves, is excited. Its her biggest goal to go to Russia, but shes terrified.

Is it a story about womens empowerment? How difficult was it to be a feminist in the 1950s and 1960s?I think it is. What I noticed about the story is that Beth is a feminist in a way that a lot of people are. Unfortunately, the word has a stigma, but if you take the word away, the meaning of feminism just means that all genders are created equal, and that everyone is allowed to want what they want. Beth is lucky because she grew up outside of the societal norms that said Youre a girl in the 1950s, this is what youre allowed to want. She just wants what she wants and doesnt apologize for it. I hope people connect with her mindset. I, for one, find that period of womens history fascinating. I didnt think it would pertain to the part, but Beth is just naturally is a feminist.

Last question, what was it like working with Bjrk in TheNorthman, the new Viking film set in Iceland you filmed with Robert Eggers?I cant talk about that yet. But maybe next time!

The Queens Gambit premieres on Netflix October 23.

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What Anya Taylor-Joy Learned About Chess and Alcoholism for The Queens Gambit - Observer

The grandmaster title is the highest title awarded in chess. Chess titles are awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). As of the September 2020 FIDE rating list, there are 1721 grandmasters in the world. One question that often comes up in various sports and hobbies is "How many hours does it take to master ____?" In this article, we are going to attempt to figure out how many hours it takes to reach the grandmaster title.

We will have to make a few assumptions to build a prediction for how many hours it takes to reach the grandmaster title. Based on a more advanced version of the ChessGoalsRating Gain Calculator, we can make predictions for annual rating gain with a few assumptions. To help guide these assumptions, we will be following four U.S. grandmasters. I am choosing USChess players because it's common in the U.S. to receive a rating at a young age. Some of the ages are rounded up to the nearest year. These players are well-known in the chess community and represent a spectrum of ages born every 4 years.

Here are the assumptions going into our predictions:

The starting age for grandmasters varies quite a bit, but almost all of them start in the single-digit ages. We are going to assume our hypothetical grandmaster starts playing chess at the age of seven. There are some FIDE Candidate Masters that are as young as nine or ten years old on the most recent rating list.

In past analyses, I've found there tends to be a burnout effect that happens at around 20 hours per week of chess study. We will assume our future grandmaster spends 20 hours per week (or less) to maximize their rating gains during younger years.

Instead of using the average rating gain, we will assume these grandmasters are between the median and the top 25th percentile of rating gain per year based on the rating calculator input factors. It seems reasonable to think that grandmasters are naturally inclined to gain more points than the average player, but we will also use the four grandmasters above to guide us.

We are starting our seven-year-old future grandmaster at a 700 rating. They know how to move the pieces, but that's about it. In the first year, they spend 20 hours per week, improving by 450 points. Players under age 10 who are rated below 1000 can regularly gain 300+ points per year when they are obsessed with playing and studying chess.

Between ages 8-10 our grandmaster will still spend 20 hours per week, gaining 400 points at age 8 and 300 points at age 9. This places our GM at an 1850 rating when they are age 10. Through the first four years, our GM has spent 4160 hours on chess so far.

The rating gains become much more difficult now that our GM is already at an advanced level. After about expert level (2000), gaining 200+ points in a year becomes rare. Between ages 11-14, our GM continues to spend an average of 20 hours per week. This fits into expectations of annual rating gain and our four famous grandmasters. At age 11, our GM gains 200 points to go from 1850 to 2050 rating.

In the next three years, our GM gained 125, 100, and 75 points, respectively. At age 14 now, our GM is rated 2350 with 8320 hours spent playing and studying chess. This is right in line with our famous grandmasters, and also fits closely with median or slightly above median projected gains in the rating calculator.

This is a critical age for scholastic players to stay focused on chess improvement. Most of the famous grandmasters had full 12-month periods of virtual rating stagnation, and gaining 50-100 points annually is considered a good year. Between ages 15-18, our GM will continue to spend 20 hours per week while working on their more difficult school studies. They will also most likely have a trainer to help keep pushing their rating progress.

Our GM will continue to gain about 75 points per year, reaching the following levels:

The estimate for the hours spent to become a chess grandmaster is:

20 hours/week * 52 weeks/year * 11 years = 12,480 hours

12,480 hours is the final estimate on the number of hours it takes to reach the grandmaster title for players who start under age 10. This is a huge time commitment, but the assumptions seem fairly reasonable based on all of the data I've looked at for chess improvement. The best things you can do for your own chess improvement involve having an efficient study plan, working hard, and staying dedicated year after year without getting burnt out.

An interesting related question is, "How many chess games does one need to play to become a grandmaster?" When one considers rated and unrated chess over the board as well as online chess, it's impossible to track all games played by future grandmasters, but here are the number of games played on Chess.com by several very talented Chess.com regulars before they became grandmasters:

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How Many Hours Of Chess Study Does It Take To Be A Grandmaster? - Chess.com

During the August 2020 Special Delegates Meeting, the Delegates adopted a recommendation from the Governance Task Force to create a Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee (Committee) will:

For the 2021 Executive Board election, the Committee will make recommendations for prospective candidates who will be permitted to use the Committees endorsement as one element of their campaign marketing. The Committees candidate recommendations in no way preclude others from self-nominating for the election. All candidates for the Executive Board (endorsed or not) are required to obtain signatures on their petitions for office. That petition form is available here. (A fillable petition form is also available.)

The Committee, composed of six Delegate-appointed and two Executive Board-appointed members, recently began meeting. The Committee has established the following steps for US Chess members to express their interest in becoming an endorsed candidate:

The Committee seeks interested candidates who bring the following leadership experience and skills:

Since all candidates for the Executive Board are required to obtain petition signatures from a diverse pool of US Chess members, the Committee recommends beginning this process as soon as possible. All completed candidate petitions are required to be submitted to governance@uschess.org or postmarked and mailed to Governance, US Chess, PO Box 3967, Crossville, TN 38557 by 11:59 pm (CT), December 31, 2020. There are no exceptions.

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Nominating Committee Announces Call for Interest for Executive Board Candidates - uschess.org

By: PTI | Chennai | October 16, 2020 6:16:10 pmIndia enjoyed an unbeaten day with a win and two draws to move up to fourth place after six rounds in the Asian Online Nations (Regions) Cup Team Championship for men on Friday.(Representational Image)

India enjoyed an unbeaten day with a win and two draws to move up to fourth place after six rounds in the Asian Online Nations (Regions) Cup Team Championship for men on Friday.

The top-seeded Indians, who were sixth after three rounds, were held to a 2-2 draw by a strong Kazakhstan team, seeded second, in the sixth round after having shared points with Iran in round four before beating Jordan 3.5-0.5.

In the India-Kazakhstan match, the talented 16-year-old Nihal Sarin and the experienced K Sasikiran scored wins over Rustam Khusnutdiov and Denis Makhnev respectively. B Adhiban and captain Surya Shekhar Ganguly lost their games.

Sasikiran has been a top performer for India, having won all his six matches so far while Ganguly has four victories from five games.

After the conclusion of six rounds, India is on nine match points (two points for winning a match and one for a draw). The team has so far won three matches and drawn three. The countrys top two players former world champion Viswanathan Anand and Vidit Gujrathi are not part of the squad.

After being forced to share points by Indonesia, the Indians bounced back strongly to thrash Jordan 3.5-0.5 with Sarin, captain Ganguly and Sasikiran posting victories. Sameer Mansour held B Adhiban to a draw to prevent an Indian sweep.

In the match against Indonesia, Adhiban drew on top board against Yoseph Theolifus Taher while Sarin and Susanto Megaranto shared honours. Sasikiran posted Indias only win, beating Muhammad Agus Kurniawan while S P Sethuraman slipped to defeat against Novendra Priasmoro from a good position as the teams settled for the 2-2 result.

Iran leads the field with 11 match points with Australia and Kazakhstan in second and third place with 10 match points each.

The tournament is being played on nine-round Swiss System preliminaries in both mens and womens division with a time control of 15 minutes plus 5 second increment.

The top eight teams will qualify for the knockout stage of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. Each stage will be a duel of two matches. Cash prizes worth USD 20,000 and gold, silver and bronze certificates as individual board prizes in the preliminary stage are up for grabs.

The womens event resumes on Saturday for rounds four to six with the top-seeded Indians in eighth spot.

The tournament will conclude with the finals on October 25.

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Asian Online Team Chess: Indian men in 4th spot after six rounds - The Indian Express

Chess.com, a popular chess site where online games can be contested among players of international and lesser stature, has published its interpretation of The Ten Best Chess Moves of All Time.

These moves were chosen from literally billions. Chess.com said it mounted a team assisted by modern computer technology to find the most astonishing moves of all time from tense world championship matches, subtle endgames, incredible studies and scintillating attacks. After some time, the Chess.com content team members voted for their choices and finalized a list.

Chess.com succinctly describedhow the task was done: Our original list was created by scouring books, articles and multiple expert lists. We added moves from newer games and we researched the overlaps. Next, we started cutting down the long list again and again. Eventually, we created a strong list of candidate moves and then the Chess.com content team voted.

Coming in at number nine on the list of all-time greats for best moves is a game by Jose Sanz Aguado, a Spaniard, who stunned the chess world with an amazing Rook sacrifice.I replayed this game sometime in the 1980s and was justifiably impressed by it.

An amazing move

On move 31 Black uncorked an amazing move: 31 Rxb2!! sacrificing the Rook. Blacks c-pawns cannot be stopped. According to Chess.com, it took the chess computer, Stockfish, extra time to realize White was completely lost.

Madrid, 1933

White: Martin Ortueta Esteban

Black: Jose Sanz Aguado

1. e4e6 2. d3d5 3. Nc3Nf6 4. e5Nfd7 5. f4Bb4 6. Bd2O-O 7. Nf3f6 8. d4c5 9. Nb5fxe5 10. dxe5Rxf4 11. c3Re4+ 12. Be2Ba5 13. O-ONxe5 14. Nxe5Rxe5 15. Bf4Rf5 16. Bd3Rf6 17. Qc2h6 18. Be5Nd7 19. Bxf6Nxf6 20. Rxf6Qxf6 21. Rf1Qe7 22. Bh7+Kh8 23. Qg6Bd7 24. Rf7Qg5 25. Qxg5hxg5 26. Rxd7Kxh7 27. Rxb7Bb6 28. c4dxc4 29. Nc3Rd8 30. h3Rd2 31. Na4 (Diagram) Rxb2!!32. Nxb2c333. Rxb6c434. Rb4a535. Nxc4c20-1.

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Chess site chooses ten best moves of all time - Stabroek News