I never imagined I would be one of those uncompromising parents who push their fearful child off the boat, in the middle of a lake, to teach her to swim, fast, and the hard way. Yet, here I stood battling with my eight-year-old daughter, Lea*, in ...
In the chill of February 2022, Ralf Keller was procrastinating work in his hometown Paderborn, Germany, and decided to play on Chess.com. Simultaneously, across the miles in Como, Italy, Valeria Oomen, while contemplating her life, also logged on ...
Ask any mom what she wants the most at the end of the day, and you will most likely hear: “Quiet time, please!” Adding chess to a mother’s full plate might not sound sensible, but, if at all possible, some amazing benefits can be...
This is the incredible story of Isabelle Choko—the woman who endured some of the worst hardships and, yet, had the willpower to carry on with her life making notable achievements in chess. She survived the Holocaust, extreme famine, and co...
The subject of the female minority in chess has long intrigued the chess world. There are many theories and hypotheses as to why there are so few women in chess. However, one of the most obvious, and often overlooked, reasons is that the current s...
Written By Olya Kaye There are extraordinary people out there like GMs Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Bobby Fischer, Judit Polgar, and her sisters who took an ordinary game of chess to the next level. They have inspired the worl...
Written by Olya Kaye Back in the post-war, torn down Soviet Russia in the early 1960s, my grandfather made a move that significantly impacted the lives of the next three generations of women in his family. The move was simple: he taught my mothe...
Written by Olya Kaye Playing chess simultaneously against 15 people was no easy feat. I admit, I was nervous. It was the fall of 2009 and I had not played much chess since 2001. My skills were rusty, but I was 25 and daring. You only live once...
