Lubomir Kavalek's birthday guide to Prague

8/9/2005 – Today the well-known Czech-American GM and Washington Post chess columnist celebrates his 62nd birthday. He does this by sending us a spectacular photo report of his beloved Prague, where recently the Czech President and two FIDE presidential candidates attended the CEZ Chess Trophy. Here's Lubos' birthday report.

ECTC R9: Netherlands win Team Championship

8/8/2005 – The European Team Championship 2005 was won by the Netherlands with 15/18 match points. Second was Israel and third France (on tiebreak). Ukraine came fifth, Russia 14th. In the women's section Poland came first with 15/18, followed by Georgia and Russia (on tiebreak). Full illustrated report.

ECTC R7+8: Holland poised to take Gold

8/7/2005 – One round before the end of the European Team Championship Holland is in the lead, a match point ahead of Israel, Poland and Georgia, with the Russians no longer in medal contention. In the women's section Poland leads. The main sponsor is the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo. Thing is, the Swedes don't seem to use cars a lot. Pictorial report.

The legendary, ill-fated Leonid Stein

8/7/2005 – His career as an elite chess player lasted a scant 12 years, prior to his sudden death at the age of 38. But in that short period Leonid Stein won three Soviet championships and displayed a style that was reminiscent of Tal and Spassky. In his Monday night Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us two examples.

ECTC R6: Moscow, we have a problem!

8/5/2005 – Things are not going at all well for the Russian men's team. After a dreadful 1-3 loss to the Dutch they found themselves on place 12 on the table. Ukraine lost to Azerbaijan, and France to the unstoppable Israelis. In the women's section Poland is still a point ahead of Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia and Ukraine. Results, games and pictures.

Material searches in ChessBase 9 - Part one

8/5/2005 – In his previous ChessBase Workshop columns, Steve Lopez has somehow managed to overlook a valuable ChessBase 9 tool for researching endgame positions: the material search. In the latest column he rectifies this oversight by beginning a comprehensive examination of this feature. You can read Part One of this series in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Trouble at the Youth Championship in Belfort

8/4/2005 – The World Youth Championship is an event that sees budding young players from all over the world battle it out in five categories: under 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10, in separate sections for boys and girls. The 2005 championship was held in Belfort, France, and did not run smoothly. We bring you results, games, pictures and one participant's very harsh criticism.

Michael Schumacher vs Peter Leko: 6-6

8/3/2005 – It ended in a draw, the spectacular match in Budapest, between many times Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher and World Chess Championship challenger Peter Leko. Mind you they were not driving or moving pieces on a board. It was a soccer match watched by 22,000 spectators. Illustrated report.

ECTC R4: France beats Germany, takes lead

8/3/2005 – The French team went into the lead at the European Team Championship in Göteborg, beating top rivals Germany 2½-1½. And the Russians? In spite of a 4-0 over Scotland they are in place 12. In the women's section Romania, Poland and Bulgaria are in the lead. Games, results, statistics and pictures.

Susan breaks all records

8/3/2005 – She strode 9.1 miles, in high-tech sneakers, drinking orange juice. She faced 326 opponents simultaneously, scoring an unprecedented 99.03%. After breaking the Guinness Book's simul record Susan Polgar went on to break a few more, like 1,131 consecutive games played in one session. Here's the full illustrated report.

ECTC R5: Israel trounces Azerbaijan to take the lead

8/3/2005 – The Israeli team defeated Azerbaijan ½-3½ to join France in the lead with nine match points. Russia beat Iceland 3:1 to inch their way forward to place six. In the women's section Poland beat Romania to take the lead, while Russia trounced France for second place. Now with games, results and pictures of the ladies.

Postcards from Mainz

8/3/2005 – Next week the traditional Mainz Chess Classic will start in the German Rhine city. There is an Unzicker Gala (with Karpov, Korchnoi and Spassky), a rapid chess match between Anand and Grischuk, a Chess960 championship between Svidler and Almasi, and two opens. And some unusual postcards from artist Frank Stiefel. Press release.

ECTC R2: Holland beats Ukraine

8/1/2005 – The surprise in round two of the 15th European Chess Team Championship was the defeat by Holland of one of the top seeds, Ukraine (Timman was the hero of this victory). Germany beat England and France the Czech Republic. In the women's section the Russian team continues to march. We bring you all results and games.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a bird, Sergey...

8/1/2005 – In our recent "eulogy" to Nigel Short's Telegraph column we published some pictures from his Greek summer vacation with Sergey Karjakin. On one there was an object that Sergey's mother Tanya interpreted as a UFO. Now another strong grandmaster named Sergey sent us a UFO picture of his own. Here is our correspondence.

ECTC R3: Russia loses to France

8/1/2005 – That was the big news in round three of the European Team Championship. The other was that Germany won their third match in succession, over Sweden I, to stay in the lead. In the women's section Russia scored its third win, while Ukraine went down to Georgia. Oh, and the correct pronunciation is 'yet a boy!'

Winter on Zugzwang

7/31/2005 – Sämisch v Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen, 1923 is the ‘Immortal Zugzwang Game’, yet few magazines or books published it at the time. Nimzowitsch (picture) later went on a propaganda blitz. In an article from his Chess Notes website, the world's leading chess historian Edward Winter relates what happened and how the German term (pronounced "tsook-tsvung") eventually conquered the chess world.

Enough is enough – let's look at Karpov

7/31/2005 – After three weeks of "insanity" our Monday night Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos turns to a player who is know not for cut-throat attacks but for sniffing out and snuffing out his opponent's active ideas well in advance. Dennis shows us a prime example of a 1983 game Karpov vs Jussupow.

Susan Polgar world simultaneous chess record attempt

7/31/2005 – On August 1–2 there will be an attempt to break the record for the greatest number of chess games played simultaneously, as recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. The simultaneous master is GM Susan Polgar, who will attempt to play 350 opponents at the same time, in a 24-hour period of time. Pictures of the preparation.

Live from Gothenburg: it's the European Team Championships

7/30/2005 – 63 teams from 37 countries, 38 in the men's section and 25 in the women's. Top players are Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler and Etienne Bacrot. Judit Polgar is expected to play for the Hungarian Men's team. And there is a dinosaur exhibition in the building. Best of all: Radio ChessBase will provide audio coverage.

The Amsterdam Chess Tournament revisited

7/30/2005 – A few days ago we brought you a photo report of the ACT by Fred Lucas. Well, the Dutch have more than one superb chess photographer. Today Frits Agterdenbos, who has contributed pictures and portraits to many chess books and magazines, gives us his own unique impressions of the event.

Gothenburg Team Championships start

7/30/2005 – The first round of the 15th European Chess Team Championship was completed on Saturday, with no big surprises yet. Russia, Ukraine, Israel and France won, only Armenia was held to a 2-2 draw by Lithuania. In the women's section Russia and Ukraine also triumphed. We bring you all results.

Nigel Short axed, future world champion survives

7/28/2005 – For ten years Nigel Short has written one of the most provocative and entertaining chess columns in the world – in the Sunday Telegraph. Now the newspaper, under new ownership, has sacked their star columnist. In the "final episode" Nigel tells us how he recently almost changed the path of chess history.

Volokitin, Gelfand win Biel GM Tournament

7/28/2005 – After leading for seven rounds in Biel US champion Hikaru Nakamura crashed, losing the last three games to end fourth. Boris Gelfand and 19-year-old GM Andrej Volokitin ended on top. In the ladies' section it was Almira Skripchenko and Indian talent Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman. Final report.

The question of the week

7/28/2005 – Science, like chess, attracts bright people, and there are many more males in both fields. So can we conclude that men are smarter? Not necessarily, says Marilyn vos Savant in PARADE Magazine. "Chess was developed by males for intellectual sparring with other males. Maybe females simply don’t find the game as fascinating." Questionnaire...