A premiere for Radio ChessBase

by ChessBase
2/4/2004 – Last Friday, in a relatively impromptu session, Radio ChessBase staged a premiere. Instead of the usual voice commentary on the weekly broadcast we switched on a high-quality video feed. About a hundred visitors saw some pretty spectacular images. The special guest in the studio was world champion Elisabeth Pähtz.

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The Radio ChessBase broadcast is held on the Playchess.com server every Friday at 17:00h German time (and in the German language) by staff members André Schulz and IM Oliver Reeh. They discuss games from topical tournament or speak to visitors. An audio feed, with the speakers moving the pieces on the graphic chessboard, for all to see.

Last Friday Elisabeth Pähtz was on a visit to Hamburg. She is, quite remarkably, the second world champion Germany has had in chess – seriously, after Emanuel Lasker. Elli won the Junior World Championship (under 18) last year in Heraklio, Crete. Here's a report on that achievement and her career as a chess player.

Elisabeth is now a strapping 19 and trying to fit chess training into her high-school curriculum. Unlike many young professionals she has not abandoned her school attendance and takes her general academic education seriously.


Elli (right) chatting with ChessBase intern Anne


Receiving instructions on Fritz Multimedia from Frederic Friedel


This is what the Playchess visitors see in the ChessBase Radio broadcast

The picture quality is quite spectacular. Normally the video feed appears in a separate window next to the chessboard and chat, as in the picture above. But you can "undock" the video window and maximise it. Then the image looks like this:


The video stream is not inferior to a normal TV broadcast. That's André Schulz, Elisabeth Pähtz and Oliver Reeh during the Radio ChessBase transmission.

This is really a new era in Internet chess reporting. The playchess audience was delighted with Elli's very spontaneous and often cheeky commentary, especially when she discussed her game against one of her biggest rivals Alexandra Kosteniuk.

If you want to get a feel for the video broadcast on Radio ChessBase you can replay some excerpts on the Playchess server. First go to the room "Chess Multimedia System" and there to Deutsch – Radio ChessBase.

Click on the "Games" tab and select the Elisabeth Paehtz clip.

Thanks Elli for the lovely ChessBase TV premiere!


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