The journey from the Von Neumann to the Niemann affair has much to teach us about the changed landscape of the sport

There really is, it turns out, a true story involving cheating in chess and a vibrating crotch. Only this one is a whodunnit that dates back more than 30 years and was only solved last week.

Imagine the scene at the World Open in Philadelphia in 1993 when a mysterious unrated player with fake dreadlocks and headphones, and with a bulge that vibrates in his trousers, shows up. Now multiply it 100-fold when this unknown amateur, who calls himself John von Neumann after the founder of game theory, draws with a grandmaster, Helgi Ólafsson, in round two.

The Uzbek 20-year-old won first prize unbeaten but his girlfriend, Bibisara Assaubayeva, finished second to the lowest seed in the Women’s Candidates

Javokhir Sindarov finished with a record total in the world championship Candidates in Pegeia, western Cyprus, as the 20-year-old from Uzbekistan won the competition with a record 10/14 total, 1.5 points clear of his nearest rival, Anish Giri. The Women’s Candidates was won by India’s 24-year-old Vaishali Rameshbabu, half a point ahead of Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva, who is also Sindarov’s girlfriend.

Sindarov dominated the field with a controlled display reminiscent of the old Soviet master Mikhail Botvinnik. His pre-game preparation was exceptional, several times accurately predicting what would appear on the board right into the endgame. On the rare occasions when he was under pressure, as in his second game against the world No 3 and US champion, Fabiano Caruana, his defensive technique was precise and assured.

• Uzbek grandmaster wins Candidates with round to spare

• Sindarov, 20, to face India’s Gukesh for world title in fall

Javokhir Sindarov will challenge for Gukesh Dommaraju’s world chess championship this fall after clinching the Candidates tournament with a game to spare on Tuesday afternoon in Cyprus.

The 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster closed out an emphatic victory in the 14-game double round-robin with a tame 58-move draw playing with the black pieces against Dutch star Anish Giri, moving to 9½ points and leaving the world No 9 two adrift with one round remaining.

Anish Giri won two games in a row to advance into second place, but has little chance of overhauling the leader

Javokhir Sindarov extended his lead at the world championship Candidates in Cyprus on Thursday when the 20-year-old Uzbek grandmaster won for the sixth time at the event to take his overall total to an unbeaten eight points out of 10, two ahead of his closest challenger, the Netherlands No 1, Anish Giri.

India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had prepared a sharp and complex defence to the Queen’s Gambit with an early push of his g and h pawns, but he blundered at move 22 and Sindarov was able to acquire a queen and several pawns for two ineffective rooks.

The ugly side of chess is pored over in this Netflix documentary, looking at how lurid online gossip led to a lawsuit, conspiracy theories and a bitter rivalry. Sadly, there’s little new here

‘Every conversation I have about chess”, says Hans Niemann, “leads to anal beads.” In any other context that might seem something of a non-sequitur. But in the context of Niemann, it makes a lot of sense. For the uninitiated, Niemann was the chess prodigy accused in 2022 of cheating against world champion Magnus Carlsen – some said by using a vibrating sex toy to direct his play, leading him to a shock (pun intended) victory.

As ridiculous as it sounds – the sort of thing that would be laughed out of the Black Mirror writers’ room – the theory gained ground online, and in the press. This Netflix one-off draws heavily on archive footage ridiculing the incident, featuring everyone from Piers Morgan to Trevor Noah, who quips that, with anal beads, “even if you lose, you still kinda win”.

It was the anal bead theory that caused a global sensation. Now, a new Netflix film tells the tale of two grandmasters, one scandal – and a whole lot of bad blood

Chess Mates (Netflix, Tuesday) has an unsettling early gambit: the face of Piers Morgan, looming via archive footage. “Have you ever used anal beads while playing chess?” Morgan asks down camera, as if prepping an ill-advised phone-in. “Your curiosity is concerning. Maybe you’re personally interested?” shoots back his interviewee, Hans Niemann (above). The minds of chess masters, as glimpsed in this fantastic documentary, are almost as compelling as any back-passage shenanigans on the table.

It’s worth looking up the whole clip, from when Niemann found himself at the centre of a cheating scandal. The 19-year-old had come from nowhere; in a match at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, he did the impossible and beat the Goat. That’s Norwegian Magnus Carlsen: an undisputed titan who sees lines of play like Neo sees the Matrix, and has held the world No 1 spot, unbroken, since 2011. Suspecting foul play, Carlsen withdrew from the competition. Ever since, suspicion has swirled round his American rival. Which is where the beads enter. So to speak.

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The Uzbek grandmaster has scored 3.5/4, including an impressive victory against the world No 3 and Candidates favourite, Fabiano Caruana

Javokhir Sindarov is already the clear favourite to win the 2026 Candidates in Cyprus and to challenge India’s Gukesh Dommaraju for the world crown after the Uzbek grandmaster, 21, began the tournament with a commanding 3.5/4, including an impressive victory against the pre-tournament favourite and world No 3, Fabiano Caruana. It is the fastest ever start by a player under the format of a double-round Candidates.

Sindarov’s seconds correctly anticipated that Caruana, with the black pieces, might open with the solid Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and prepared accordingly. “I got kind of caught in the opening,” said a subdued Caruana at the post-game press conference. The US champion got into heavy time pressure and after 20 moves was down to 10 minutes to reach move 40, with no per-move increment.

The US legend declined a $25,000 offer from shoe firm Clarks to meet the cream of England’s juniors

The nine-round Reykjavik Open, which began on Wednesday afternoon at the Harpa Conference Centre, is an iconic event. It was first played as an all-play-all in 1964, when Mikhail Tal won, and is close to the Hotel Reykjavik Natura, formerly the Hotel Loftleidir, which featured prominently in the epic Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky match of 1972.

The top seed in the capacity entry of 422 players is Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei, the only 2700-rated player in the field, with Romania’s Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2655) next, and the veteran Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk (2624) the fourth seed.

The teenager defeated the tournament favourite, Gawain Maroroa Jones, in the final round to secure victory by half a point

Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, a 15-year-old from George Heriot’s school, Edinburgh, came through with a stunning burst to capture the annual British Rapidplay championship in Peterborough with a score of 9.5/11, defeating the top-seeded GM, Gawain Maroroa Jones, in the final round in a must-win game by a checkmating attack where White’s queen and both rooks all invaded Black’s rear rank.

Maroroa Jones was in trouble early in the decisive game, soon had to concede rook for knight, and a second loss of the exchange followed at move 32. At the end, 39 Rxg7+ and 40 Qg8 mate could only be delayed by Black giving up his queen.

• ‘There are clear similarities to football,’ says Norwegian

• Compatriot Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, likely to play

Erling Haaland has become a significant investor in a new world chess championship tour that is expected to star his fellow Norwegian Magnus Carlsen, the Guardian can reveal.

The deal was agreed shortly before Manchester City played at West Ham last Saturday, with Haaland shown on Sky Sports wearing a Norway Chess cap as he entered the London Stadium – without anyone noticing.

The world No 3 is backed to become the challenger but lost twice this week, to Wesley So and Levon Aronian

Fabiano Caruana, the world No 3, reigning US champion and 5-2 favourite to win the world title Candidates at the Cap St Georges Resort, Pegeia, Cyprus, from 29 March to 16 April, planned to warm up with two events at his home town, St Louis, but events have not followed the script.

Caruana was second to the former Russian Mikhail Antipov in the Saint Louis Masters, though he was unbeaten with 7/9, so this was still a good result. But then, in the American Cup, a double elimination format knockout, he lost to Wesley So and Levon Aronian in similar fashion, winning the first classical game with White, losing the second with Black, then losing the speed tie-break 1.5-2.5.

Artefacts include souvenirs from 1972 ‘Match of the Century’ between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer

A vast collection of chess memorabilia, including souvenirs from the 1972 “Match of the Century” and considered to be the largest and most important of its kind in private hands, is to be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London next month.

The collection belonged to the German grandmaster Lothar Schmid, whose passion for the sport extended way beyond the board.

The youngest ever global title holder has had a hard time this year, but hopes for better in May, when he meets Magnus Carlsen in Norway Chess at Oslo, and in the autumn, when he defends his crown

India’s Gukesh Dommaraju, at 19 the youngest ever world champion, has had a hard time this year. The teenager has struggled at Wijk aan Zee, where he totalled a modest 50%, and then this week in Prague, where he was last after eight of the nine rounds, scoring just 2.5/8, without winning a single game.

With just Friday’s final round to be played, Prague is currently led by Nodirbek Abdusattorov on 5.5/8, as the Uzbekistan No 1 continues his winning streak from the London Classic and Wijk aan Zee.

The former US women’s champion changed her life and her sport when she made allegations against a grandmaster. Now she’s turned her hand to writing and poker

On 15 February 2023, Jennifer Shahade took a deep breath and wrote “Time’s up” above a long message about allegations of sexual abuse in the cloistered world of professional chess. Shahade knew her words would have an impact but she didn’t expect the social media post to go viral and change her life.

A two-time US women’s chess champion, Shahade chose her words carefully as she made serious allegations against Alejandro Ramirez, a then 34-year-old grandmaster from Costa Rica who was based in America and coached the St Louis University chess team: “Currently there are multiple investigations [into] Alejandro Ramirez and sexual misconduct, including a series of alleged incidents involving a minor. I was assaulted by him twice, nine and 10 years ago. I’d moved on until the past couple of years when multiple women, independent of each other, and with no knowledge of my own experience, approached me with their own stories of alleged abuse. These accounts were from much younger alleged victims.”

GM Matthew Wadsworth won in Ryde on tiebreak, Scottish GM Matthew Turner also shared first, while in Graz Scotland’s Freddy Waldhausen Gordon, 15, qualified for the IM title

In just two years, the Isle of Wight Masters at Ryde school has become established as one of Britain’s most popular events. Its scenic ambience, impressive organisation and competitive spirit have combined to attract a strong international entry.

Last weekend GM Matthew Wadsworth emerged first on tie-break ahead of IM Tobias Koelle (Germany) and GM Matthew Turner (Scotland) after the trio all scored 7/9. Wadsworth also won in 2025.

The Norwegian showcased his skills in the chess.com speed championship, but the US star and streamer was twice beaten

Magnus Carlsen, the world No 1, visited central London last weekend and won the chess.com speed championship for the fourth time in a row. The Norwegian, 35, defeated France’s Alireza Firouzja, 22, by 15-12 after a three-hour struggle. Last year in Paris the same two players met, but Carlsen’s winning margin was a much wider 23.5-7.5.

The format for speed chess is 90 minutes of five-minutes blitz, 60 minutes of three-minutes blitz, and 30 minutes of one minute bullet. All the segments had additional increments of one second per move.

The duo from Tashkent took first and second prizes at the traditional Netherlands new year tournament, while the favourites from India ended up near the bottom

Nodirbek Abdusattorov added to his growing reputation as one of the world’s top players last weekend when the Uzbek grandmaster, 21, triumphed in the “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee, with his compatriot Javokhir Sindarov a close second.

On his previous three attempts Abdusattorov, who has now surged to No 5 in the live ratings, had missed out in the final decisive rounds. This time he led early, had a wobble with three draws and a loss, but was strong in the final two rounds. “It was a long way for me,” he said. “I was very close every time and I failed year after year. I’m extremely happy to finally be able to win this tournament and to win in a very nice style.”

She was raised as part of a prodigy-breeding psychological experiment, took on the chess patriarchy and beat her idol Garry Kasparov. So why isn’t there more depth to this documentary?

Judit Polgár won her first chess tournament in 1981 when, at the age of six, she marmalised a string of middle-aged Hungarians and toddled off with a swanky Boris Diplomat Bd-1 Electronic Chess Computer. “I was a killer,” says the amiable 49-year-old in Netflix documentary Queen of Chess. “I wanted to kill my opponents. I would sacrifice everything to get checkmate.” Archive footage captures the bloody aftermath of Polgár’s inaugural victory; a roomful of solemnly jumpered victims looking on, dazed and ashen-jowled, as the vanquishing Hungarian scowls at photographers from beneath a bowl cut that could confidently be described as “ferocious”. The triumph put paid (at least temporarily) to Polgár’s painful shyness, making her feel “exceptionally powerful. After this, it was so obvious for me that I’m going to be a chess player. And if you want to become the best,” she says with a wry smile, “it’s very important to have the challenges.”

Ah, yes. The challenges. But with which to start? Queen of Chess – a rhapsodic account of the life of the greatest female chess player of all time – is spoiled for choice. There is the punishing chess-training regime, designed as an experiment by Polgár’s educational psychologist father László to prove “geniuses are made, not born”. (School and weekends were banned so “every day was a working day.”) There is the communist regime so threatened by the family’s ambitions to compete in the west that it confiscated their passports. There is the relentless sexism that trailed the tiny trailblazer and older chess-playing sisters Susan and Sofia, outraged at the temerity of their insistence on taking on the male-dominated sport’s grandmasters while delivering pronouncements of the “women lack the pure mental ability needed to understand chess” variety. It’s all here, and Queen of Chess throws its arms wide in an effort to capture the frequently depressing reality of Polgár’s experiences. Not quite wide enough, though. There is throughout the documentary’s 90 minutes the persistent sense that there’s more to Polgár’s story; that if only Emmy-winning director Rory Kennedy had been steadier with her magnifying glass the results might not feel so emotionally underdeveloped. Instead, we get a garish, skittish account of Polgár’s youthful ascent to chess superstardom, with grainy scenes of strategic prowess accompanied by jarring neon graphics and an aggressively irksome soundtrack by various female-fronted post-punk types.

Queen of Chess is on Netflix now.

The Uzbek GM, 21, has a half-point edge, but rivals from his own country, the Netherlands, Germany, the US, and Turkey are all within one point

Nodirbek Abdusattorov still has a narrow lead as the “chess Wimbledon” at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee heads into its final three rounds this weekend, but the Uzbek, 21, is battling to stay ahead of a quintet of rivals after being held to two draws and a loss in his last three games.

Leading scores after 10 of the 13 rounds are Abdusattorov 6.5, Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan), Matthias Blübaum (Germany) and Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands) 6, Hans Niemann (US) and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (Turkey) 5.5. The world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, is among three players on 5.