UKโs Rachel Reeves faces pain wherever she turns
POLITICO grilled economists, wonks and strategists on the grim choices facing the country’s top finance minister after a dramatic week.
Chess
Netanyahu and Trump: Grandmaster beats dealmaker
Donald Trump loyalists are shaping a narrative of how the U.S. leader outfoxed Iran and lulled the mullahs into thinking he would restrain Benjamin Netanyahu. More likely the Israeli PM outthought them all.
World chess stars to compete in โฌ500,000 event in London next month
Puzzle: find the winning move to beat Mikhail Tal
The jaded English town where Nigel Farage could hammer Labour
Westminster is champing at the bit to see if Reform UK wins a crucial by-election against Labour next week. Locals are indifferent.
Critical raw materials set to be a key lever in global trade war
As global trade tensions intensify, the increasing demand for elements from the lesser known corners of the periodic table is making them an increasingly important piece on the new geopolitical chess board.
The czarโs gambit: How Putin uses chess
Troubling links exist between Moscowโs war machine and the leadership of the iconic strategy game.
MAGA base thinks Trumpโs trade war will bring โpot of gold.โ But theyโre only willing to wait for so long.
โIf the economy just completely tanks, then itโs Political Science 101 that the incumbent is in trouble,โ a North Carolina GOP consultant said.
The big lesson for Europe? Trump backed down under pressure
The EU neither โkissed assโ nor unleashed its most powerful trade weapon. Now it must provide the world with an alternative to US chaosMy condolences to everyone who spent days trying to play 5D chess with Donald Trumpโs market-exploding tariff mess. W…
Russian chess grandmaster Boris Spassky dies aged 88
World champion will be remembered for the โmatch of the centuryโ against American Bobby Fischer in 1972Soviet chess grandmaster Boris Spassky, who was famously defeated at the height of the cold war, has died at 88, the Russian Chess Federation has ann…
Former USSR chess grandmaster Boris Spassky dies at 88
Boris Spassky, the Soviet chess grandmaster who learned to play as an orphan, eventually becoming the informal face of the USSR in the famous, politically-infused “match of the century” against eventual winner, American Bobby Fischer, died on Thursday…
Chess: Englandโs Matthew Wadsworth edges closer to grandmaster title
Puzzle: find Whiteโs hidden win
Davos 2025: Will Trumpโs โgolden ageโ pay off?
Is America headed for a new โgolden ageโ? Or will Donald Trumpโs promise falter? And where does that leave the quest for prosperity across the Atlantic? Theyโre the questions on the lips of many economists, business leaders and politicians gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Host Anne McElvoy talks to two authorities on [โฆ]
Arctic peace is crumbling, says top Faroe Islands politician
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Greenland fixation has put the polar region firmly in the spotlight.
37 words that sum up a wild 2024 in British politics
From Elon to sausages, it’s been … a lot.
Cross-legged under an enormous pine tree, my chess pieces and I tamed chaos | Ana Schnabl
One hot summer in Slovenia, my cousins taught me how to jump, twirl and sashay on that black and white grid. I sensed I was spying on some ancient, fundamental truthIn our end of year series, writers and public figures remember the place or time when t…
POLITICO London Playbook awards 2024
From minister of the year to WTF moment, Westminster’s essential newsletter picks the winners of 2024.
Rachel Reeves
Doer No. 6 โ United Kingdom
โHope went out like a candleโ โ EU official Johan Floderus survived years in an Iranian jail
Reunited with his partner and ready to return to work, the 34-year-old Swede speaks to POLITICO.
Bart De Wever: The man who wants to destroy Belgium reluctantly heads toward running it
How do you rule a country that you’ve spent your life trying to split up?ย
Carlsen and the elite in London for Global Chess League
Puzzle: find Whiteโs route to checkmate
Aleksandar Vuฤiฤโs diplomacy ร la carte
The Serbian leader has proved adept at balancing the West versus China and Russia.
Tech policy: 20 people to meet at Tory conference
We break down the 20 figures shaping the Conservativesโ tech policy in opposition.
Russia-Ukraine war live: Volodymyr Zelenskyy says ending war at Ukraineโs expense is โunacceptableโ
Ukraine president issues rebuke to Donald Trumpโs running mate JD Vance who has pushed for negotiations with RussiaRelations with Russia should be reconsidered after its war in Ukraine is over, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday. He was sp…
Checkmate for Russia as global chess ban upheld
Russia’s chess team is to remain banned from international competitions, officials have ruled.
Checkmate for Russia as global chess ban upheld
Russia’s chess team is to remain banned from international competitions, officials have ruled.
Putinโs gambit infuses the chess world with cold war intrigue
Moscow aims to checkmate Ukraine and the west by overturning a ban on Russiaโs federation membership
Russia squares up to Ukraine on battle for control of chess
A vote at Fide general assembly in Hungary could fully reinstate Russia in international competition.
Russia squares up to Ukraine in battle for control of chess
A vote at Fide general assembly in Hungary could fully reinstate Russia in international competition.
Russia squares up to Ukraine in battle for control of chess
A vote at Fide general assembly in Hungary could fully reinstate Russia in international competition.
I didnโt know what to expect from the Youth Sports Games. But they blew me away | Adrian Chiles
To see the kids kicking balls around at the international tournament in Croatia is more than just a joy; itโs a miracleEven though I didnโt know Graham Norton, I ended up playing simultaneous chess alongside Nemanja Vidiฤ. I should explain. A couple of…
I was pawn in chess game, says teen swapped for Putin hitman
The 19-year-old describes his arrest, surviving Russian jail and being part of the recent prisoner swap.
I was pawn in chess game, says teen swapped for Putin hitman
The 19-year-old describes his arrest, surviving Russian jail and being part of the recent prisoner swap.
I was pawn in chess game, says teen swapped for Putin hitman
The 19-year-old describes his arrest, surviving Russian jail and being part of the recent prisoner swap.
Britain finally has a female chancellor. It only took 800 years.
Meet Rachel Reeves: the chess-playing former banker who needs to get the U.K. economy rolling.
Europe needs to sharpen its geopolitical chess game
On energy and innovation, we are being outplayed by the US and China
Macronโs camp plots unlikely comeback amid French election chaos
With no one in charge, the French president’s allies believe anything is possible.
Britainโs new power list: 12 people you need to know in the UK Labour government
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is now in office. These are the people who really matter in his government.
Farewell Rishi Sunak
Britain’s prime minister is destined to failure. Does he even know why?
Can Meloni always get what she wants?
As leaders convene for the second day of the EU summit in Brussels, the spotlight is on Giorgia Meloniโs latest chess moves.
Here comes Europeโs โforeigners out!โ generation: Why the young vote far right
Their grandparents ushered in the sexual revolution. Today’s youth want to turn back the clock to 1950. Why?
In French legislative elections, the far right will probably fall short
This is one heck of a chess move by President Macron. Whether it succeeds or not, it will make history. But it is a much more calculated move than it seems, Pierre-Alexandre Balland writes.
Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv mourns prominent combat medic and journalist killed in action
Hundreds attend funeral of Iryna Tsybukh, who was killed in action last week in Kharkiv. What we know on day 831See all our Ukraine war overageAlmost 1,000 mourners gathered in central Kyiv on Sunday for the funeral of a high-profile journalist and vol…
Russia threatens to charge chess grandmaster Kasparov under โforeign agentโ law
Former world champion is accused of “heading a terrorist society, funding terrorist activity and justifying it publicly,” TASS reports.
How Geert Wilders turned all corners of Dutch society into far right voters
The taboo of voting for populist, anti-immigration parties is fading.
All You Need Is Death review โ Irish horror finds evil in taboo folk ballad recording
The story of two historians unleashing evil while recording a song is a strong idea and there are good moments and performances, but it is too chaotic and unfocused to resonatePaul Duane is the film-maker who in 2011 made Barbaric Genius, a gripping do…
Protecting Israel wonโt stop Biden from pushing on Gaza
Bidenโs defense of Israel and campaign to protect civilians in Gaza will remain on two separate tracks.
Russian influence scandal rocks EU
Pro-Kremlin website spread propaganda and “paid” European politicians, top European officials said.
Some advice for Russiaโs newest opposition leader
Opposition movements, especially those based abroad, rarely succeed.
Chess whizz Kasparov calls inclusion on Moscowโs extremist list an โhonorโ
Former world champion fires back that Putin “cronies” belong on terror sponsor list.
Putin kills off the handsome princes
They say authoritarians who survive have a talent for identifying and eliminating the greatest threats to themselves.
The Real Russian Men That Threatened Vladimir Putin
They say authoritarians who survive have a talent for identifying and eliminating the greatest threats to themselves.
Greens try to flip the script: Blame conservatives, not the Green Deal
‘The farmers are protesting decades of conservative farming policy,’ one official argued. That case will be a hard sell amid a cacophony of green-bashing.
The desirables of Davos
The 13 hottest celebs, CEOs and politicians for your panel (or party) at this yearโs World Economic Forum.
โPissed off, and rightly so.โ EU fury at Charles Michel stepping down
EU diplomats are increasingly skeptical if the European Council president can combine campaigning to be an MEP with his current role.
Serbia election protests mount in Belgrade
Election observers have condemned fraud and manipulation in the December 17 vote.
The guardrails that once prevented wars are failing
Wars are no longer black-swan events. They are a regular occurrence, representing the most significant transformation in global affairs since 9/11.
Vuฤiฤโs key to Serbia election victory: Media capture
President uses government-friendly stations to cast himself as defender of ordinary Serbs โ on everything from Kosovo to sausage prices.
[Opinion] Russia, the West, and the geopolitical ‘touch-move rule’
In chess, if you touch a piece with the intent to move it, you are obliged to move that piece. That also applies to the West’s defence of Ukraine.
Henry Kissinger, Americaโs most famous diplomat, dies at 100
Henry Kissinger, a ruthless practitioner of the art of realpolitik who had an outsize impact on global events and who won a premature Nobel Peace Prize for ending a war that kept going, has died. A cunning, erudite strategist whose transformative diplomatic efforts helped to reshape the world, Kissinger was 100. His death Wednesday was [โฆ]
Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann denies using vibrating sex toy to cheat
Hans Niemann was accused of cheating after he beat Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen last September.
Italyโs Meloni plans a geopolitical Queenโs Gambit
Thereโs no guarantee it will work โ but with so many crises and challenges pressing at the same time, trying to tackle them one by one is futile.
Carlsen and Niemann settle dispute over cheating claims that rocked chess
US player had filed lawsuit against former world championParties agree to move forward after series of allegationsA dispute that caused scandal in the world of elite chess appears to have been settled after the players involved said they have moved on …
Georgia: A border in my backyard
All Georgians can do is gaze toward the snowy mountains and remember where they once used to swim, walk and graze their cattle, carefree.
Kings of the castle! How our political leaders splash the cash
Rishi Sunak wants everyone to play chess, and Thierry Breton has bought a castle.
Why Belgium may be about to break up
Mounting concern over migration is fuelling a surge for Flemish independence parties ahead of an election next year.
Risk of nuclear escalation is still too large for comfort
The Cuban missile crisis has resonance now, and history signals that no one should be sanguine about nuclear risks.
Kings, pawns and little citizens: the island where children love chess
Corsicaโs schools have become a laboratory for a chess revolution thatโs about much more than winning movesThe contrast couldnโt be more black and white: inside the competition room at the Corsica Chess Club in Bastia, a handful of players are locked i…
The Ease and Perils of Modern Love โ legal effects of algorithmic based dating (online)
Tessa
Sophie Hoffmann & Chrisa Alexiou (University of
Groningen)
Photo
credit: Jack Sexton, via Wikimedia commons
Introduction
โLove can be several splendid things, a
source of joy and gladne…