Chess in the City

5/16/2004 – On Friday we attended the press conference for the ChinaCom.com French-American Women's Chess Championship. The Russian Samovar in New York City will host the September match between Almira Skripchenko and Irina Krush. We survived the media blitz to bring you interviews and a full photo report.

Monokroussos on the Great Dane Larsen

5/16/2004 – Now essentially retired, Bent Larsen was one of the very best players in the world from the early 60s through the early 80s. In Monday's audio broadcast Dennis Monokroussos shows us examples of Larsen's "non-traditional understanding" of the game. Details...

Explosive start to chess championship in Turkey

5/16/2004 – European Individual Chess Championship in Antalya started with a bang – literally. At midnight before the first round an energy building, 100 metres from the hotel, exploded! The fire was extinguished and technicians rushed in to get everything ready for the chess games, scheduled to start 13 hours later. We have pictures...

The Fried Liver Attack

5/16/2004 – It started out as the 'Chigorin Counter Attack', and great credit for developing the theory and practice of the Two Knights Defence must go to the old masters. On Sunday GM Boris Alterman tells us all about the most aggressive attacking lines in this opening. Details...

A new plan for unification

5/16/2004 – The man behind the Prague Agreement for the unification of the world chess championship title, Yasser Seirawan, recently told us about the background of its failure. He was subsequently criticised by Kasparov, and today replies with a new constructive proposal to resolve the mess in the chess world. Read about it in this open letter to Garry Kasparov.

World Chess Politics – a review

5/14/2004 – As everybody knows the world of chess is in strife. On a daily basis we receive articles, communiqués and press releases from antagonist parties. A lot of new material has accumulated in our files. Since nobody can be expected to read it all we provide, as an additional service, brief summaries of all documents.

Classical Chess World Championship announced

5/13/2004 – In a beautifully-staged press conference in Hamburg, the Swiss Tobacco manufacturer Dannemann today formally announced the staging of the "First Classical World Chess Championship after four years" between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko. We bring a keynote statement by ACP president Joel Lautier in our pictorial report.

Nielsen, Hansen win, fourth GM norm for Carlsen

5/13/2004 – Top Nordic players and a few foreigners battled it out in the Sigeman Tournament in Malmo. The two top Danish grandmasters decided the outcome in the last round. Trailing half a point behind the two was a Norwegian chess prodigy. Here's a pictorial report.

Time to register – Third ACP Internet event

5/12/2004 – After the very exciting ACP Inaugural (78 participants, 54 GMs, 22 rated over 2600) and the first Women's Internet Tournament the ACP is staging a third Internet tournament for its members. It is sponsored by ChinaCom and will be hosted on the Playchess.com server from May 31 to June 5th. Here are all the details...

The Match of the Generations

5/11/2004 – Jonathan Pein, member of the Wood Green Chess Club in London, is five years old. His club comrade Philip Gelman is 102 – the only serious chess player in the UK older than the chess federation. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the British Chess Federation the two played a match against each other. Guess who won...

Garry Kasparov on the record

5/11/2004 – FIDE is moving ahead with their knock-out world chess championship in Libya. Tomorrow is a press conference for the Kramnik-Leko world championship. Ponomariov is writing letters of protest. The ACP is criticizing FIDE. The name Kasparov is often mentioned but only now is the world's top-ranked player speaking out, and only here at ChessBase. Mig Greengard got on the phone to Moscow and brings sound and fury.

USCF, Israeli GM protest FIDE decisions

5/10/2004 – The President of the United States Chess Federation has expressed "grave concern over the FIDE Presidential Board's recent mismanagement of its responsibilities", citing FIDE's accounts, which are in grave arrears, and especially the decision to hold the world championship in Libya. The latter is of grave concern to Israeli players. Here are all the details...

Mysterious and annoying – the Berlin Defence

5/9/2004 – Few openings strike terror into the heart of a chess fan like the Berlin Defense. It is mysterious and annoying to many players, and if we play and understand the Berlin, and our opponents play natural, normal moves, we will have excellent winning chances! Find out all about it in Dennis Monokroussos' audio Playchess lecture.

With orange juice and coconut water

5/9/2004 – The final of the Canarias en Red Internet Chess Festival ended in a victory for Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran, ahead of a valiant Sergey Karjakin, who is just 14 years old. 73 players, including 18 GMs and FIDE champion Ponomariov, were present in one of the strongest blitz tournaments ever. Sasikiran tells us the secret of his extraordinary success.

Play the Evans Gambit

5/8/2004 – A simple, straight-forward instruction by our GM trainer Boris Alterman. This opening was introduced by William Davies Evans more than 170 years ago, and it has yet to be refuted. You can listen in on Alterman's Sunday night lecture or play in a simul against him on Monday. Here are the details...

Anand wins third Chess Oscar

5/8/2004 – After 1997 and 1998 Indian Super-GM Vishy Anand has won the Chess Oscar for the third time. A worldwide poll involving leading chess writers, critics and journalists from over 50 countries, and conducted by Russian magazine 64, Put Anand ahead of his nearest rival by over 1500 points. Here's a pictorial report...

Qualifier five ends, on to the final!

5/8/2004 – The fifth and last qualifier for the Canarias en Red Internet tournament ended with nine players (from 290) getting a place in the final on Sunday. This promises to be a very exciting event which you will not want to miss. See you on the Playchess server...

Kramnik Simul and Interview

5/7/2004 – May 6th is the second "anniversary" of the signing of the Prague Unity Agreement. The person who originally suggested the formula, Vladimir Kramnik, recently played a simultaneous exhibition in Bonn, Germany, where he spoke about his classical chess title and the current chess political situation in this interview with René Gralla.

From the Brooklyn Bridge

5/7/2004 – The fourth round of the Canarias en Red Internet Chess Festival brought eight new qualifiers for Sunday's final (plus two Spanish places). Amongst the top scorers was an old friend, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, a leading Polish player who lives and teaches in Baltimore, USA. In the server chat Aleksander told us a harrowing story.

FIDE says Israelis can play in Libya

5/7/2004 – "After receiving notice that several Israeli websites are reporting Libya to have cancelled the invitation to certain participants of the upcoming World Chess Championship, FIDE requested a clarification by the Libyan Organizing Committee of the event," says the FIDE web site. It confirmed the invitation to "all WCC 2004 participants" is still valid.

'I would have payed $50,000 to play Kasparov...'

5/6/2004 – A few days ago American GM and chess political insider told us some of the reasons he believes were responsible for the mess in the chess world. In the second part of the interview Yasser describes in microscopic detail the role FIDE world champion Ponomariov played. And how he himself would have handled the situation. Read Yasser's 'Tragedy of Errors Part II'

More improvement tips

5/6/2004 – "Is there any single piece of chess software that will improve my game all by itself?" It's a provocative question and one that's frequently asked. In this week's ChessBase Workshop, Steve Lopez offers his answer to it -- an answer that you might find equally provocative...

Libya will not allow Israelis in for FIDE KO

5/6/2004 – First they were out, then they were in, maybe, and now they are most definitely out. Apparently everyone misinterpreted Libya's welcome to "all 128 players." Mohammad Khaddafi has just made it very clear that Israelis players are not welcome and never were. Here's the full story...

Karjakin and Sasikiran stars of the second round

5/6/2004 – Round three of the Canarias en Red Internet Chess Festival saw Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran scoring 11/13 to take undivided first place. Behind him 14-year-old GM Sergey Karjakin, who actually followed a soccer game while scoring 10.5 points. Watch and compete in this extraordinary chess event.