The Islands and the Sea

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) poses for a souvenir picture with Simon Chottu, President of the Solomon Islands Chess Federation, in the backstage of the Asian Chess Leaders’ Summit in Singapore, on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Photo: SBM Online.

And yet, Edna, as a cynic would put it, the only thing one can save of such ceremonies and rituals is the giant cream cake

Artwork © Felipe Oliveira (@mrillustrated)

An Asian Arcady

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) was one of the speakers at the Asian Chess Leaders’ Summit in Singapore, on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Her vibrant speech was centred on the panel discussion: “Women in Chess — the Asian Story”.

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), dressed in dark red with a white jacket, is standing on first row, fourth from right. Photo: Wadim Alexandrowitsch Rosenstein.

The King Hunt

• 张晰纯 (Stephy Zhāng), “China’s 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) a world chess champion who changes the rules and pushes the boundaries”, South China Morning Post, May 2, 2026

Resisting rigid career templates, four-time women’s world chess champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) balances a spontaneous lifestyle with clear-eyed purpose — from helping drive women’s competition reforms to her PhD research into the cognitive benefits of her game. [Read more].

“I won’t let my life be only about chess”, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) said. Photo: Edmond So/South China Morning Post.

In Vogue

You know, Edna, your every wish is my command

Artwork © RarityMyLove

To Awaken Pegasus

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), a queen and her magic hippogriff. Photo: 動力國際體育公關公司/中國香港國際象棋總會 (ActionHouse International/Hong Kong Chess Federation) via We Sport Images.

Pearl of the Orient

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) attended a press conference held on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in 香港 (Hong Kong), China, by the Organising Committee of the 4th FIDE World Rapid Team Championship and 3rd FIDE World Blitz Team Championship, which will take place in Fragrant Harbour (Hong Kong), from June 17–21, 2026.

The queen of chess, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), elegantly dressed in black, greeted and blessed 香港 (Hong Kong), at its debut as a global chessboard: “It is not only a mere gathering of beautiful minds, but more importantly, it will raise chess to new heights of showmanship in Greater China, allowing more people to feel the charm and incantation of the noble game”. Photos: 杨功煜 (Yáng Gōngyù).

The Music of the Ocean

Chinese Glazes

A visitor takes close look at a 琺瑯彩 (fàlángcǎi) teapot during the media preview of Sotheby’s Hong Kong 2026 Asian Art Week in 香港 (Hong Kong), China. Photo: China News Service/Getty Images.

Five Nights in Chungking Mansions

WR Chess announces the “team” for the 4th FIDE World Rapid Team Championship and 3rd FIDE World Blitz Team Championship scheduled in 香港 (Hong Kong), China, from June 17–21, 2026. They are namely (in alphabetical order): Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Andrey Evgenyevich Esipenko, Jan Gustafsson (captain), 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk, Wadim Alexandrowitsch Rosenstein, Wesley So, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Tulips and Irises

Spring tulips blooming at 中山公园 (Zhōngshān Park) in 北京 (Běijīng), China. Photo: Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images.

Well, Edna, as Stefan Zweig said, “for chess, like love, one needs a partner”

Artwork © Raegan (@raegan.sketches)

Pleiades

A Desert in Bloom

We had a stop for a coffee on the freeway Florence-Pisa-Livorno service area Q8 Titignano Nord. We always stop there when we go through such lands just to greet Maria, and to admire her orchids, which she, and only she succeeds in making bloom lushly all year round.

Furthermore, Edna, as John Brunner said, “—Among the other things lunatics make: their own version of truth”

Artwork © yungcrossing (@yungcrossing)

Extrema stultitia

Once Upon a Time in the West

Grammar of the West

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, April 20, 2026

In a 1942 essay, Louis Renou could assert that “Indian thought has as substructure reasonings of a grammatical nature”. The three categories into which, according to Indian philosophy, all reality is articulated — substance, quality, action — unquestionably derive from the grammatical analysis of language: noun, adjective, verb. Pāṇini’s Sanskrit grammar and Patanjali’s commentary, indeed predate most Indian philosophical texts.
One may wonder to what extent this also applies to the Greek philosophy that underlies our culture. This hypothesis seems to be countered by the tradition which attributed to Plato and Aristotle the discovery of the parts of speech and, consequently, the invention of grammar. The contrast fades and disappears as soon as one understands that what was being suggested was that, in order to be philosophers, Plato and Aristotle had first had to be grammarians.
The West is, from beginning to end, a grammatical civilisation, which has made the analysis of language and its construction in a grammar the basis of its knowledge of the world and its dominion over nature. Science, which has become the religion of the West, indeed presupposes, like every religion, a named world, in which ontology — that is, the fact that being is expressed and ordered in language — is subdivided into regions, each of which is taken charge of by a particular science. The destiny of the West is thus inscribed in Indo-European grammar, with its cases and logical-syntactic connections of hierarchical dependence in which, along with its language, it articulates its thought.
Perhaps it will be by looking to China — a culture which has not analysed and constructed its own language within a grammar, but sees in it monosyllables without any grammatical articulation — that will arise, if not a new thought, at least a way out of the dark fates that, without our realising it, the logical analysis of language, which is not coincidentally taught to us in elementary school, has inevitably assigned us.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Avigdor Arikha, Anne with Hand on Mouth, 1970. Courtesy of WikiArt.

A Thousand Blue Bubbles

Spent Sunday in Rignano sull’Arno, Metropolitan City of Florence, Italy, with Mado Flynn, volunteering in favour of the A.M.A. (Friends of Animal World) Cat Pound.

You know, Edna, when they sit before a screen and keyboard in the toy room, they are all supermen with divine power

Artwork © Xenia (@xeniarinz)

Around the World in Sixteen Days

Two Queens in One Realm

Wadim Alexandrowitsch Rosenstein, CEO of WR Group and deus ex machina of the homonymous elite chess circuit, announces:

“We are happy to introduce the beginning of a new chapter for women in chess — the WR Women’s Chess Tour!”.

With the patronage and involvement of two queens, 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk, the inaugural WR Women’s Chess Tour is aimed at bringing together the best of women’s chess and will be contested across four continents: Asia (June 5–8, 2026), Americas (June 30–July 3, 2026), Africa (August 20–23, 2026), and Europe (August 24–27, 2026) for a total prize fund of $200,000.
Further details will follow when they are available. For more information, click here.

From left: Kosteniuk, Rosenstein, and 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán). Photo: Lennart Ootes via WR Chess.

The River Dragon

Four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and Grandmaster 叶江川 (Yè Jiāngchuān) enjoy a night’s philosophical talk on a boat along the 黄河 (Yellow River) in 兰州 (Lánzhōu), 甘肃省 (Gānsù province), China, Wednesday, October 22, 2025.

By and By

Footage of the promotional tour by four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and her long-time mentor, Grandmaster 叶江川 (Yè Jiāngchuān), at schools and centres in 兰州 (Lánzhōu), 甘肃省 (Gānsù province), China, on October 21–22, 2025.

India and China

Rameshbabu Vaishali – Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Lagno
Women’s Candidates Tournament 2026; Pegeia, April 15, 2026
r7/5pbk/2q3p1/3Rp3/4Q1P1/1P6/rBP4P/1K1R4 w - - 5 36

Position after 35. ... Ra6-a2

The position in the diagram is the outcome of a Dragon gone quite wrong for Black. No attack ever came to compensate for her early Pawn sacrifice, and now it is White who launches the assault.
36. g5! Qb6 37. Qh4+ Kg8 38. Qe4 R8a4!?? White has a Pawn ahead and a dominating position — enough of a nightmare to make Black go for broke with a last desperate effort of attack. If, instead, 38. ... Kh7 then White would have to find 39. Rd7 Qa5 40. Kc1!! neutralising all threats (or else, alternatively, 40. c4!?, which seems much more within the reach of a human mind).
39. Rd8+ Kh7 40. c4! The only move, but also a winning one!
40. ... Rxc4. Black could well resign here.
41. Qxc4 Rxb2+ 42. Kxb2 e4+ 43. Kb1 Qf2 44. R8d2 Qf5 45. Qd5 Qf3 46. Rc2 Qf4 47. Re1 e3 48. Qg2! 1–0.

“Taking up yoga and meditation and seeking help from a sports psychologist is what Grandmaster R. B. Ramesh believes has helped Vaishali Rameshbabu to turn the tables at the Candidates and thus earn the right to challenge for the World Championship”, says The Indian Express of April 16. Photo: Niki Riga/FIDE.