In the Chair

叶诗雯 (Carissa Yip) – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina

4th FIDE World Rapid Team Championship; Mr Birdie and Friends – WR Chess; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; 香港 (Hong Kong), June 18, 2026

3rr2k/1ppb2p1/1nB2q1p/p7/P3p3/2P2NPP/1P1B2P1/1R1QR1K1 b - - 0 21

Position after 21. Bb5xc6

White’s last move is a mistake which allows Black to unleash the beast within.
21. ... bxc6 22. Nd4. 22. Nh4 Bxh3! (23. gxh3 Nc4) is no better.
22. ... c5 23. Nc2 Bxa4 (23. ... Bxh3!?)
24. Qc1 Nc4 25. Bf4 Bxc2 26. Qxc2 e3 27. Rbd1 Rxd1 28. Rxd1? 28. Qxd1 Qe6 is anything but satisfying but perhaps the lesser of two evils.
28. ... g5 29. Qe2. Not 29. Bxc7 on account of 29. ... e2 30. Re1 Qf1+! 31. Rxf1 exf1=Q+ 32. Kxf1 Ne3+ winning a clear Rook. If, instead, 29. Rd7 then 29. ... Re7 30. Rd8+ Kg7 31. Qe2 Qf7 winning a piece.
29. ... gxf4 30. Rf1. Desperation — but 30. Qxc4 f3! also loses.
30. ... Nd6 31. Rxf4 Qe5 32. Rh4 Nf5 33. Rg4 Nxg3 34. Qe1

34. ... e2! 0–0. For after 35. Rxg3 Qxg3! Black would be left with a Rook to the good.

Post equitem sedet atra cura. Photo: FIDE.

You know, Edna, only you can make sense of them as they appear — and disappear

Artwork © CathryneDelamort

In the Hot Seat

鹿妙夷 (Lù Miàoyí) – Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina

4th FIDE World Rapid Team Championship; Chessnut Nova – WR Chess; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; 香港 (Hong Kong), June 17, 2026

rr5k/p1p1Npp1/4b2p/b1p1P3/3pRP1B/8/PPP3PP/1K1R4 b - - 3 25

Position after 25. Re1-e4

The sudden inability of four-time Women’s World Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) to join the WR Chess Team gave Goryachkina the opportunity to sit just where she wouldn’t dare to venture without a clear invitation from the boss of WR Group, Wadim Alexandrowitsch Rosenstein. But the queen’s chair was too hot today, and the rising star of Chinese (women’s) chess, 鹿妙夷 (Lù Miàoyí), gave Goryachkina a hard time.
25. ... Rxb2+! 26. Kxb2 Rb8+ 27. Kc1 Bxa2 28. c4

28. ... Bb4? Goryachkina played very well so far, but here she misses the best way to make sense of her initiative: 28. ... Bc3! (Δ 29. ... Rb1+ 30. Kc2 Rb2+ 31. Kc1 Bb3−+) 29. Be1 Rb1 30. Kc2 Rb2+ 31. Kd3 Rb1 with a likely draw.
29. Nc6 Ba3+ 30. Kd2 Rb2+ 31. Ke1 Bxc4 32. Ra1 Bd3? 32. ... Rb3! 33. Ne7 Kh7! 34. f5 Bb2 35. Rxa7 Bc3+ 36. Kf2 Rb2+ 37. Kg3 Rb3∞ was Black’s last chance to hang on to a possible draw.
33. Rxd4 cxd4 34. Rxa3 Be4 35. Nxd4 Rxg2 36. Bg3 Rb2 37. Rxa7. Black has not enough for the piece. The rest is a matter of technique for 鹿妙夷 (Lù Miàoyí).
37. ... c5 38. Ne2 Bf3 39. Nc3 Kg8 40. Rc7 h5 41. Rxc5 h4 42. Bxh4 Rxh2 43. Bg5 Bg4 44. Nd5 Kh7 45. Ne7 Bd7 46. Rd5 Bg4 47. Rd2 Rh1+ 48. Kf2 Rh2+ 49. Ke3 Rh3+ 50. Kd4 Bd7 51. Ke4 Bg4 52. f5 Rh5 53. Kf4 Bh3 54. Rh2 g6 55. fxg6+ fxg6 56. Nd5 Kg7 57. Nf6 Rh8 58. Kg3 Be6 59. Rxh8 Kxh8 60. Bh6 g5 61. Bxg5 Kg7 62. Kf4 Kf7 63. Ne4 Ba2 64. Nc5 Ke8 65. Ke4 Kf7 66. Bf6 Kg6 67. Nd3 Kf7 68. Nf4 Bb3 69. Kd4 Ba2 70. Kc5 Bb3 71. Kd6 Ba2 72. Nd5 Bb3 73. e6+ Kg6 74. Bc3 Ba4 75. Nb6 Bb3 76. e7 Bf7 77. Kd7 Kf5 78. Nc8 Bh5 79. Nd6+ Kf4 80. Bb2 Bg4+ 81. Kc6 Bh5 82. Bf6 Bf3+ 83. Kd7 Bg4+ 84. Ke8 Be6 85. Kd8 1–0.

Si duo faciunt idem, non est idem. Photo: Michał Walusza/FIDE.

Voldemort and Harry

The rule of madness

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, June 15, 2026

How can one explain — or even simply attempt to understand — what is happening in the United States? How can one put forward the fact — actually inexplicable — that the nation which until recently dominated the world has been — and continues to be — governed for the past decade by a technically mentally deranged president? Perhaps the only possible answer is that the United States find themselves in a historical situation for which only madness is adequate. When a country reaches the ultimate stage of the spiritual break-up, no rational decision to address it is any longer accessible. One can only rush, with all means, the now inevitable collapse, and madness — real or simulated — is certainly the most useful instrument of government.
As a loyal subject of the United States, Europe, too, is self-destroying and, like the United States, appears to be rushing into madness. Whether some European states will be able to stop themselves on the brick of the abyss or whether they will fall down into it along with the wretched and illegitimate body called European Community, is something the next few years will show.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Francisco Goya, The Madness of Fear, 1819–1823. Courtesy of WikiArt.

Songs of Transience

The Apple and the Butterfly

Echoes from the Past

The Other Hong Kong Report

The outlet RookReview announced that three-time Russian Women’s Chess Champion Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina will replace four-time Women’s World Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) in WR Chess Team.

Here is a picture taken on June 27, 2024 in Moscow, Russia, showing Goryachkina, Valentina Evgenyevna Gunina, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), and Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno chatting away. One may just wonder in passing in what language they communicated with each other. Photo: Sergey Sergeevich Moiseev.

Unforeseeable Chinas

Wadim Alexandrowitsch Rosenstein, CEO of WR Group, announced today that:

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) will unfortunately be unable to join WR Chess Team for the upcoming competition in 香港 (Hong Kong)“.

Hit parade

The Odd Couple

Playtime

After all, the most important thing one can do to prepare for the week ahead — the last week of school before graduation — is to play Saturday afternoon at Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”.

One & Two

No, Edna, ain’t no sense in skipping dessert just when you can eat all you can

Artwork © non poppins for PIXAR (@nonpop_pixar)

Saturday Night Fever

The celebration of 21st Asian Chess Championship included a gala dinner in honour of a queen who does not fear comparison with the goddess Caïssa. Pictured from left to right are: Deputy Vice President of Mongolian Chess Federation Khurelbaatar Batchuluun, actress and director Undarmaa Gonchig, Woman Grandmaster Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul, General Secretary of the Asian Chess Federation Hisham Al Taher, and four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 30, 2026. Photo: Altan-Ulzii Enkhtuul.

Queen of Borjigin

Four-time Women’s Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) poses for a souvenir picture with Kharuul Kharuul, a teacher and aide of Govisümber’s “Kings of Borjigin” chess club, against the background of Round 3 of 21st Asian Chess Championship in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 31, 2026. Photo: Page Newspaper.

Keeping Cool

Monkeys cool off in a pool at a zoo in 郑州 (Zhèngzhōu), China, after high temperatures led authorities to issue an orange alert, in 河南省 (Hénán province). Photo: 马健 (Mǎ Jiàn)/VCG/Getty Images.

On Wings of Pegasus

Less than two weeks are left before the queen and king of chess, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and Magnus Carlsen, make their grand debut at 4th FIDE World Rapid Team Championship and 3rd FIDE World Blitz Team Championship at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in 香港 (Hong Kong), China, on June 16–22, 2026. Playbill: 香港棋藝青訓學院 (Hong Kong Chess Academy).

Minister Without Portfolio

I never read about German-born Argentinian chess Grandmaster Hermann Pilnik serving as Ministro de Salud de Chile (nor is he apparently enlisted as such), except in a book by Larry Evans, Jeremy Silman, and Betty Roberts, entitled How to Get Better at Chess. Chess Masters on Their Art (Summit Books, New York, 1991, p. 200):

Pilnik emigrated from Germany to Argentina in 1930, where he lived about forty years, followed by a ten year sojourn in Chile as Minister of Health. He then went to Venezuela, where he wrote a newspaper column, taught chess and was a professor at the Military Academy.

Further information required.

Idyll of the White Lotus

Pictured standing, from left, are General Secretary of the Asian Chess Federation Hisham Al Taher, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Mongolia 沈敏娟 (Shěn Mǐnjuān), four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), and President of Mongolian Chess Federation Gombojavyn Zandanshatar officiating the kick-off ceremonies for Round 3 of 21st Asian Chess Championship in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 31, 2026. Photos: 中华人民共和国驻蒙古国大使馆 (Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Mongolia).

Well, Edna, it is like Jupiter gave a ride to a Venus that looked like you

Artwork © Jose-Ramiro

Candyfloss

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) as special guest commentator in Round 3 of 21st Asian Chess Championship in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 31, 2026, 2026.Photos: Asian Chess Federation.

課後 (After School)

Pro Counter-Strike player and FIDE chess Master Garidmagnai “bLitz” Byambasuren takes lessons and advice from four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, May 31, 2026. Photo: The MongolZ.

Queen of Gobi Desert

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and President of Mongolian Chess Federation Gombojavyn Zandanshatar as guests at the livestream of 21st Asian Chess Championship which is currently underway in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from May 28 to June 7, 2026.

Sketches of Sunday

Trees and fairies in Piazza della Costituzione at San Donnino, Campi Bisenzio, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy.