The obvious and bizarre at World Rapid and Blitz

Let's first get the least surprising bit out of the way. The past week saw the chess players gather to fight for second and third place. Terminator Magnus Carlsen, unsurprisingly, had dibs on the gold at the World Rapid and Blitz competitions in Samarkand.

- Susan Ninan

He's already won them far too often - Blitz six times and Rapid five times in 11 editions. Adding his five classical wins, that's 16 world titles. At this point, it's easier to call him 'superhuman' and move on than try to unpeel his genius.

The tournament's draw of lots ceremony had the Uzbek organisers helping the top seeded Norwegian into a traditional white Chapan and Tubeteika - quilted robe and yurt-like cap - in a room full of dark suits. The tournament began with female Dutch player Anna-Maja being fined ₹100 for violating the Fide dress code in what seemed like a fashionable pair of Burberry shoes.

According to her, the arbiter found her shoes 'strange'. 'Make this make sense' should be on a poster somewhere.

Fabiano Caruana revealed on his podcast that he had to endure an "awkward" photo shoot for Fide merchandise along with three others, including India's Vidit Gujrathi, since the governing body required it of him in exchange for allowing him to wear his sponsors' logo at the 2022 Candidates.