British Chess Magazine, a la the Informant
This is likeliest to be of interest to my readers in the U.K., but as the British Chess Magazine (BCM) is also available in a download version a broader audience might find it interesting as well. The Informant people have entered into a partnership with the hoary BCM (it goes back to 1881), and the result looks good.
I received the January 2016 issue, and from a physical standpoint it reminds me of New In Chess before they went to the large pages. The BCM issue is slim - only 66 pages (68 pages if one counts the front and back covers) and the pages are approximately 9" x 6.5". A little small, but the glossy pages and full color throughout create an attractive layout.
More importantly, the content is excellent - it's a serious chess magazine. The issue centers on the London Chess Classic (LCC) and the associated events, and while there is plenty of text there is very little fluff. GM Luke McShane looks at Magnus Carlsen's path to victory in the LCC, while GM Pentala Harikrishna examines Anish Giri's and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave's performances in the same event. (Recall that they tied for first with Carlsen, pre-playoff.) GM Karsten Mueller looks at two Berlin "endgames" from the tournament, after which GM Stuart Conquest offers some general thoughts about the Berlin. (His short article concludes, somewhat incongruously, with a mate in two problem.)
Moving from the top of the field to the bottom, IM Andrew Martin looks at a couple of losses suffered by tailender Veselin Topalov, and young IM Yang-Fan Zhou surveys the openings from the LCC.
From there it's on to other UK events. GM David Howell won the British Knockout Champoinship, and he analyzes one win from each of his matches - the semi-final vs. Gawain Jones and the final vs. Nicholas Pert. GM Pert in turn analyzes one of his wins from his semi-final match against Jonathan Hawkins. GM David Smerdon looks at Benjamin Bok's last round victory in the LCC FIDE Open against Alex Lenderman. Had Lenderman won, he'd have taken clear first; instead it was Bok who won the game and tournament victory.
Nine tactical puzzles follow, and then there's a mini-report on the London Super Rapidplay, won by McShane with 9.5/10. From the same tournament, GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant shows her win over Jon Ludwig Hammer. After that are a couple of reports on talented youngsters in the UK, and then a fun article by Informant CEO (and new BCM co-editor) and FM Josip Asik writing about his victory with Hikaru Nakamura in the Pro-Biz Cup after the LCC, defeating teams with Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, and Michael Adams.
Stylistically and in its content it looks quite good. It isn't designed for novice players, but I think that's probably a good thing. The disparity in strength between entry-level tournament players and strong club players/weak professional makes it very difficult for a magazine to cater to everyone, and BCM doesn't try to. I'd estimate the intended audience as 1800-1900 and up, with persevering types a little lower-rated (but not much!) able to get something if they go through the games carefully. With that caveat, I recommend it to British readers, and readers elsewhere might want to snoop on the magazine as well.