Italy missed the World Cup again — but that's good news for Canada

This is how the story of a great chess grandmaster usually begins. A parent or teacher discovers an exceptional mind: a memory of shocking precision; a special intuition for geometry; a gift for logic and abstraction. When they are introduced to the game at four or five or six, fluency comes quickly. When that talent is cultivated, others are revealed: monastic discipline, fierce competitiveness, myopic focus. Chess, for the child, becomes everything. They are transfixed by its beauty, lured by its depth, compelled by the contest. Family, friends, hobbies—all life beyond the board begins...