Jambo Commonwealth!

3/29/2005 – Mombasa, a town with almost a million inhabitants, has just one chess club – with ten members. Recently Super-GM Nigel Short visited Kenya and met with chess players of the country. Nigel is determined to improve the situation. For this reason he is running for President of the Commonwealth Chess Association.

Radio ChessBase: Danish Championship Knock-out

3/29/2005 – "A full report by a sour loser and his grumpy sidekick" – that's the title for our Wednesday night lecture on Playchess.com, brought to you directly from Scotland Wednesday evening at 20.30 CET by IMs Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw. See you there...

Amber 07: Anand loses to tail-ender Bareev

3/28/2005 – He went into round seven in high spirits, but tournament leader Vishy Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Evgeny Bareev, number 12 on the cross table. In spite of that Anand remains 2½ point ahead of the field. The other five matches in round seven were drawn, two with decided games. We bring you a full illustrated report from Monaco.

Fischer vs Karpov – the secret game

3/27/2005 – In 1976 Anatoly Karpov met with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines, hoping to arrange an unofficial world championship match. It didn't happen, but the two grandmasters did play some informal games. One was revealed to our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos in 1987. He kept it under lock and key for 18 years. On Monday the secret will be revealed.

Amber R06: Anand three points ahead

3/26/2005 – In round six he drew both games, but since his closest rival Peter Svidler lost one, Vishy Anand increased the distance to the rest of the field to three full points. Alexei Shirov won both his games to compensate somewhat for his disastrous start. We bring you highlights and pictures in our full updated report.

Karpov vs Istratescu in Bucharest

3/25/2005 – Chess legend Anatoly Karpov is playing Romanian GM Andrei Istratescu in a match in Bucharest. There are eight games, four at classical time controls and four rapid chess games. The match lasts from March 20th to 26th March and is being shown live on the Internet. Karpov is in the lead.

Amber: Anand steams on, Vallejo beats Kramnik

3/25/2005 – After a rest day of exquisite meals and laser shoot-up games round five of the blindfold-rapid chess tournament in Monaco saw Anand winning his mini-match against Ivanchuk with 1½-½ to take a 2½ point lead over the field. The sensation came when bottom seed Francisco Vallejo defeated Vladimir Kramnik in their blindfold game. Illustrated report.

Tumultuous welcome for Fischer in Iceland

3/25/2005 – They are scenes like we have never seen before, certainly not in the chess world. Bobby Fischer arrived in Iceland to a hero's welcome from a midnight crowd at Reykjavik Airport. Looking harrowed and gaunt after almost nine months in Japanese detention he took time to speak to TV journalists. We have dramatic live footage from Icelandic TV.

11:30 GMT: Fischer arrives in Iceland

3/24/2005 – Bobby Fischer is on a plane en route to Iceland, where he is due to arrive later tonight. During his departure from Narita Airport in Tokyo he was mobbed by press and TV. At 11:05 p.m. Fischer's plane, a private jet sent to pick him up by an Icelandic TV station, landed at Reykjavik Airport (not Keflavik International, which is a NATO base) at 21:30 GMT. Latest news...

Fischer released in Japan

3/23/2005 – Bobby Fischer is due to be released from the Japanese detention center at midnight GMT. "The passed Fischer pawn has been shepherded home to the eighth rank," wrote Einar S. Einarsson of the RJF Committee. "It can now be promoted into a piece, with complete freedom of movement." Update: we have just learnt that Bobby Fischer has been released!

Jacob Aagaard x2

3/23/2005 – In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we somehow manage to link together the Nimzoindian Defense, South Park, How to Beat Bobby Fischer, cool videos, perfume on a shirt collar, opening ideas, and IM Jacob Aagaard. Even James Burke would have a hard time making these connections...

The tiger is slain – Simon Webb, 1949–2005

3/22/2005 – International Master Simon Webb, successful junior and correspondence player, was killed by his son in his Stockholm apartment last week. The tragedy occurred when Webb returned from a tournament late at night. After the attack the son tried to commit suicide. Simon Webb is best known for his book Chess for Tigers.

Amber shocker: Anand draws a game

3/22/2005 – Chess fans all over the world were stunned. Vishy Anand, who had won seven straight games in the Amber Tournament in Monaco drew the eighth against Vladimir Kramnik. Accompanied, we believe, by a sigh of disappointment by the Guinness people. Still there was a lot of excitement and not a few amusing and tragic scenes in Monaco.

Monokroussos: the forgotten Kasparov game

3/21/2005 – When announcing his retirement Garry Kasparov included among his greatest games an effort far less well-known than many of his brilliant victories – a game most of us aren’t even aware of. In his Monday night lecture on Playchess.com Dennis Monokroussos shows us this key 1985 positional victory against Anatoly Karpov. Enjoy!

Amber: Anand leads with 4:0

3/21/2005 – The Amber Tournament began with a dry score for favourite Vishy Anand. The Indian GM won all four games – with a bit of help from some of his opponents. Due to the unusual format – blindfold and rapid mini matches – we see top GMs blundering badly in their chess games. Read our extensive illustrated report.

Bobby Fischer: ich bin ein Icelander!

3/21/2005 – At 5:06 p.m. today the Icelandic Althingi, has granted former world chess champion Bobby Fischer full Icelandic citizenship. Despite stern U.S. diplomatic warnings, the world's oldest existing democratic parliament voted 40 in favour and two abstentions to make Fischer a full citizen. The readings took just 12 minutes.

Fischer to receive Icelandic citizenship

3/19/2005 – "Iceland has just got its tenth grandmaster – Robert James Fischer," rejoiced the RJF Committee. The country's parliament decided unanimously a few hours ago to grant Fischer Icelandic citizenship. Japanese authorities have confirmed that in such a case they would release the detained former world champion. Long read.

ABC Person of the Week: Garry Kasparov

3/19/2005 – During a visit to New York explained the reasons for his sudden retirement from the game last week. You can watch the report on ABC's "on demand" service ($4.95) or read about it on their news site. Or you can see what it looked like behind the cameras in our behind the scenes report!

Melody Amber: Fast and Blind

3/18/2005 – The Fourteenth Amber Tournament is scheduled to begin tomorrow at the Monte Carlo Grand Hôtel in Monaco. It pits many of the world's top grandmasters – Anand, Topalov, Kramnik, Leko, Morozevich, Svidler, Shirov, Ivanchuk – in an unusual format. Each day the players have one rapid and one blindfold game. Sponsor is the Dutch billionaire J.J. van Oosterom. Preview.

Kings and Queens

3/18/2005 – Kings and Queens – it's too bad columnist Steve Lopez isn't playing poker. Have a look at his previews of Garry Kasparov's How to Play the Queen's Gambit and Andrew Martin's ABC of the King's Indian in the latest installment of ChessBase Workshop.

How to talk to aliens

3/17/2005 – John Nunn is not just a strong grandmaster. He is also a mathematician, chess publisher, and world class problem solver. And superbly competent on any scientific subject. Periodically John comes up with speculations of a very general nature. For instance: how can we humans speak to alien civilisations. One of John's startling recommendations: send them a copy of Fritz.

Anand on Kasparov: A breath of fresh air

3/17/2005 – Vishy Anand, heir apparent to Garry Kasparov's number one spot in the chess world, has spoken about the latter's retirement from professional chess. In one of India's largest newspapers Anand says when Kasparov appeared on the chess scene it was like a breath of fresh air. Meanwhile you may want to catch the chess report on ABC tonight.

Radio ChessBase: The man Kasparov

3/16/2005 – Garry Kasparov – a one-hour introduction to the man, the music and the glory. Don't miss this live rewriting and distortion of history on Playchess.com, brought to you directly from Glasgow on Wednesday evening, by two lecturers who call themselves Scotland's stupidest IMs.

Kasparov's Great Game

3/15/2005 – Word of his retirement and political ambitions has flooded the news. Now we bring you Kasparov's own article, which he wrote for the Wall Street Journal. There is more looking forward than back. We call your attention to the position on the map of Russia chessboard, Kasparov's new field of battle.