I was in a work-commute-collapse cycle and didn’t know what to do. Then I began sampling activities I’d previously dismissed – book clubs, line dancing, chess – and it became oddly addictive

For most of my life, I treated taste as fixed. There were things I liked and things I didn’t, and that was that. Hobbies, foods and even social situations were quietly written off with the certainty of personal preference. But sticking to that sentiment had left me in a bit of a rut.

When I moved to London, I threw myself into work: long hours, commuting and networking. In the process, I stopped making time for hobbies or trying anything new.

India’s Gukesh Dommaraju takes on Candidates qualifiers and stars who missed out, plus a talent for the 2030s

The annual “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands is unusually interesting this year. Its 14-player field matches the reigning world champion, India’s Dommaraju Gukesh, against a range of rivals who include four of the eight Candidates who will meet in March to decide his 2026 challenger, another three grandmasters from the world top 10, the controversial US star Hans Niemann, plus a 14-year-old Turk who is breaking age records.

Gukesh’s unimpressive recent results mean the world Nos 5 and 8, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, will aim to finish ahead of him. Germany’s world No 4, Vincent Keymer, had a good 2025, while the home nation’s world No 6, Anish Giri, often performs well in this event.

The Norwegian, 35, overcame elite fields despite time forfeits after knocking over pieces in critical games

The world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, recovered from a series of mishaps to win both the World Rapid and Blitz crowns at Doha, Qatar, last weekend. The global victories were the 19th and 20th of the Norwegian’s illustrious career and may give him the edge in the longstanding debate on whether he, Garry Kasparov, or Bobby Fischer is chess’s all-time greatest master.

Peerless endgame technique was central to the 35-year-old Norwegian’s blitz success. He won a knight ending with Black against Nodirbek Abdusattorov from a position which elite grandmasters would normally have instantly agreed to halve, and also scored in other endings of extraordinary subtlety.

The four-time women’s world champion, ranked the No 2 all-time woman after the retired Judit Polgar, shows that she retains her skills

Hou Yifan, the all-time No 2 woman grandmaster after the retired Judit Polgar and currently ranked women’s world No 1, showed that she retained her brilliant skills when she made a rare appearance in the Global Chess League for Alpine SG Pipers, who defeated the reigning league champions, Triveni Continental Kings, 8.5-3.5 in the 2025 final at Mumbai on Tuesday. The Global Chess League, now in its third season, is planned as the chess equivalent of cricket’s Indian Premier League.

The final qualifying match, in which Alpine barely secured the six game points needed to edge their opponents, proved a triumph for Hou, who studied at Oxford and is semi-retired from chess in favour of a professorship at Peking University. She scored four wins in a row, including a 20-move miniature which took her team into the final.

The Norwegian world No 1 will compete at Doha next week, a year after he was penalised for wearing jeans in New York

One year ago, the world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, and the global chess body, Fide, were at loggerheads after the Norwegian was penalised for wearing jeans at the World Rapid in New York. The 35-year-old also agreed to share the World Blitz crown despite a rule requiring an outright winner.

Relations worsened further when Fide opposed Carlsen’s wish for the new Freestyle circuit winner to be called a world champion, and he announced that he was “done” with Fide.

The Uzbek shone at London Classic and a near-3000 tournament performance reaffirmed his place among world’s best

This week’s XTX London Classic at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium took place in an elegant arena with a full view of the football pitch. The English players suffered for most of the event, but hit back in style on Thursday when all four won their eighth-round games.

Final scores were Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 7.5, Alireza Firouzja (France) 5.5, Nikita Vitiugov (England) 5, Luke McShane and Michael Adams (both England) 4.5, Nikolas Theodorou (Greece) and Pavel Eljanov (Ukraine) 4, Abhimanyu Mishra (USA) and Gawain Maroroa Jones (England) 3.5, Sam Shankland (USA) 3. The four English victories in Thursday night’s eighth round transformed what had been a difficult event into a demonstration of sustained national strength at the board.

The Uzbek won $120,000 and qualified for the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus, which will decide the official challenger for Gukesh Dommaraju’s world crown

Javokhir Sindarov, 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Fide knockout World Cup on Wednesday when the Uzbek defeated China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 in the final at Goa. Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov had been a year younger in 2002, but that World Cup had also doubled as the Fide world championship in a period when the global title was disputed.

Wei was the favourite, but handicapped himself by poor time management in the decisive game. He declined a draw and could have gained an advantage by 52 Qg6! when Black’s king was trapped on the back row, and right at the end could have drawn by 57 Kg2! Qh4 58 Rf8+! when White can force perpetual check. Instead, he blundered into a checkmating attack.