Profile

Chris Bowlby looks at the 22-year old Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen. He has the highest rating in the world ever and has been called the Mozart of chess.He is currently in London playing the tournament that will determine which top player gets to challenge the reigning world champion, Vishy Anand, for that title. Carlsen has been amazing the world of chess since he was a child. He became a Grandmaster after just four years of playing, when he was thirteen. He also achieved a draw against chess legend Gary Kasparov at that age. His talent and achievements later caught the attention of the fashion world, and he was asked to model for denim brand G-Star Raw, giving the image of chess a make-over in the process. He is said to have a photographic memory, but uses it to remember sports results and trivia more than chess openings. An instinctive and fast player, he also has extraordinary staying power and can change a game five hours in, when his opponents start to flag. Can this chess wunderkind now become world champion? And what is he actually like? Lesley Curwen talks to those who know him best, from his dad and his first coach, to famous chess players like Nigel Short.Producer: Arlene Gregorius.

Chris Bowlby profiles the British-educated Chinese property billionaire Zhang Xin, one of the most powerful women in business. She is in advanced talks to buy 40 per cent of Manhattan's iconic General Motors building.Zhang Xin stands out as the high-profile CEO of the prominent, upmarket property developer SoHoChina, which she founded with her husband. Unusually for Chinese billionaires, she is also a philanthropist and speaks out about issues ranging from democracy to smog, in the international media and on her micro-blog.A rags to riches story, she grew up in very modest circumstances, particularly after her Chinese-Burmese translator parents split up, and her mother moved her from Beijing to a tiny room in Hong Kong, where she worked in a factory.After saving up for the airfare to the UK, she was then educated at Sussex and Cambridge universities, worked for Goldman Sachs, and returned to China where she built up her business with her husband.What motivates this billionaire mother-of-two to carry on working, particularly as property developers are often reviled in China?

Justin Bieber, the 19-year-old Canadian pop star, is an internet phenomenon with 35 million Twitter followers. His first hit is the most-watched video in YouTube history.He has upset fans on his UK tour by keeping them waiting before taking the stage, prompting some to suggest that the pressure of such extraordinary fame, experienced at such a young age, is beginning to show.Although Justin Bieber came to fame as a musical prodigy, who found his audience through the internet, these days his power as a global brand overshadows his reputation as an artist.Business is playing a growing part in his activities as he branches into venture capitalism by buying stakes in tech start-ups like Spotify.

Beppe Grillo has achieved a stunning success in the Italian elections with the performance of the new citizens' protest network - the Five Star Movement. He is its guiding star, a comedian-turned politician. The movement emerged from the web and took its argument into town squares all over Italy. The citizen activists oppose what they regard as the corrupted, self-serving traditional parties - the entire failed political establishment. The movement has connected with huge numbers of Italians who have developed a contempt for the governing elite. Producer Ian MuirCochrane.

Mike Ashley began his business career as a teenager with a single shop in 1980s Maidenhead. Now his international Sports Direct empire makes him millions. Among his more recent acquisitions was Newcastle United football club. Chris Bowlby searches for the secret behind Ashley's huge retail success, and discovers what happened when a southerner who hates publicity tried to win over the Geordie faithful.

Designer Tom Ford has become a brand in his own right. Running his own label, producing and directing the film 'A Single Man' and dressing the stars are just some of his successes.Now as he prepares his first full scale catwalk show for London Fashion Week, he's credited with attracting record interest and unprecedented numbers of US buyers to the event.In the 1990s he turned around the fortunes of Gucci, the luxury fashion house and revolutionised the luxury brand market. Despite controversial advertising campaigns his unique designs attracted celebrity clients and financial success.With his collections under his own label now eagerly anticipated, James Silver looks for the secret of his success.Producer: Gail Champion.

John Brennan, President Obama's trusted counter terror advisor has been nominated to head the Central Intelligence Agency amidst a storm of controversy. Despite being a career CIA man for more than 25 years, he's now at the centre of American foreign policy dilemmas, including questions about the use of drones, waterboarding techniques and the future of the world's most powerful intelligence agency. A Catholic basketball player, turned academic and fluent Arabic speaker, Brennan has risen through the CIA ranks and has recently been involved in "virtually all major national security issues" alongside the President. As the Senate asks him to justify some of the agency's most controversial decisions, Jane Deith asks how he will lead the agency as it faces ever new security challenges.Reporter - Jane Deith Producer - Gail Champion.

Sir Philip Green is one of the UK's most successful, and colourful, businessmen; his stores are estimated to make up 10 per cent of the high street and his wealth runs into the billions. This week he sold a stake in his flagship fashion chains Topshop and Topman for a reported £500 million. Lesley Curwen profiles the man who is perhaps the most successful retailer of his generation, with contributions from Sir Stuart Rose, Bill Kenwright and Kate Phelan.Producers: Ben Crighton and Hannah Barnes.

The UK Independence Party has been in the news a lot lately: two of its supporters in Rotherham had their foster children taken away from them because of their UKIP affiliation; Conservative Party deputy chairman Michael Fabricant suggested the Tories might be wise to enter into a pact with UKIP at the 2015 general election; and rumours surfaced of a possible defection of several Conservative MPs to the anti-EU party. And then, of course, there were three Westminster by-elections in which UKIP rattled the main parties. This week, Rosie Goldsmith profiles UKIP's leader Nigel Farage.

Mary Ann Sieghart profiles the Australian political strategist Lynton Crosby.