Chess Digest #2
Feb 8 – 17, 2025
Welcome to the 2nd edition of Chess Digest! 🏆 This weekly roundup will keep you updated on the biggest chess news, exciting matches, insightful podcasts, and underrated creators in the chess world. From top-level tournaments to hidden gems on YouTube, we've got you covered. Let's dive into this week's highlights!
📰 News
- 📰 GM Vincent Keymer wins Weissenhaus Freestyle Grand Slam Tour beating GM Fabiano Caruana in the finals, Magnus Carlsen gets 3rd place beating GM Javokhir Sindarov [read official article]
- 📰 ESport teams are signing chess players: Team Liquid signed Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen [post on x] while NAVI launched their chess roster with Wesley So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Oleksandr Bortnyk on board [announce on x] or alternatively [official article on navi.gg]
- 📰 Team Vitality (french esport org) signs GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave [chess.com article]; Chinese Esport Org "LGD Gaming" signs GM Ding Liren
- 📰 Liquipedia added support for chess in alpha version: liquipedia.net/chess
🎙️ Podcasts
- 🎙️ Circle Chess released "First Podcast as a world champion with Gukesh and GM Vishnu" [watch on youtube]
- 🎙️ Can a 40-something FM earn the Grandmaster title? by Perpetual Chess Podcast [watch on youtube]
⚡️️ Speedruns
- ⚡️️ GM Daniel Naroditsky educational speedrun, ~1650 elo, 1st game featuring how to play against London System with black pieces and against the Scandinavian Defence with white pieces [watch on youtube]
- ⚡️️ "Phillidor against everything" speedrun by GM Aman Hambleton (Chessbrah), rating range 700-800, featuring ideas in Phillidor defence, even with white pieces [watch on youtube]
🌟 Community Spotlight
In this section we want to highlight chess creators to help them grow and encourage for more content.
In this episode of chess digest we want to feature Chess Centurion's youtube channel, if you're interested in instructional chess content from ~2200 elo rated player on chess com on Openings, Opening Traps and strategic ideas e.g. The Deadliest Opening Against The French Defense: The Papa-Ticulat Gambit
Definitely check his channel out and don't forget to subscribe if you like them to help chess creators grow!
P.s If you're a chess creator (under ~5k subs) who consistently puts out chess content online either it's articles or videos - let us know at digest@puzzlik.com if you want to be featured in the next episodes of Chess Digest.