In most two-player games, it is generally better to win the toss and go first. And if you are sharing a pizza with someone and want to have a larger portion, it’s usually better to grab the first ...

Most games that pit two players or teams against each other require one of them to make the first play. This results in a built-in asymmetry, and the question arises: Should you go first or second?

One of the most paradoxical and powerful ideas in chess is Zugzwang. This term of German origin literally means "compulsion to move", where Zug means 'move' and Zwang means 'compulsion' It describes a ...

“ZUGZWANG” is the perfect title for Ronan Bennett’s fifth novel, but it is difficult to pronounce and so might pose problems in recommending this absorbing book, orally at any rate. Chess aficionados ...

The protagonists of Ronan Bennett’s novels are dispassionate thinkers dragged into political commitment by the sublime forces of history. In The Catastrophist, Mr. Bennett’s 1997 breakthrough thriller ...

The Grandmaster, outwitted by his opponent, found himself in zugzwang and chose to resign. Zugzwang, a word of German origin, refers to a situation often found in chess (and sometimes in other board ...