First Samba Cup, Skanderborg, Denmark

10/12/2003 – The First Samba Cup is being held fro October 10 to 19 in Skanderborg, Denmark. It is a category 16 with stars like Ivanchuk, Short and Bologan. We bring you games, results, pictures and links.

Arnie meets a friend

10/11/2003 – On Tuesday Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was elected California's new governor, replacing incumbent Grey Davis. The Austrian-born body builder and Hollywood action star (Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, Running Man, Conan) becomes the head of the world's fifth largest economy. So can you figure out why all of this is of interest on a chess newspage? You will never guess...

Isolating a piece

10/9/2003 – Everybody knows about isolated pawns, but less known is the concept of playing against a piece, usually knight or bishop, but sometimes even the queen, until it is completly isolated. Our Playchess.com chess trainer Dorian Rogozenko tells you how to go about it. Details...

Analysing with Garry Kasparov

10/9/2003 – Garry Kasparov's book "My Great Predecessors" is causing quite a stir in the chess world. It contains so much analysis that it is a pleasure to study and devour. With so many deep problems it is no wonder that there are still open questions. Kasparov himself has invited us to join him in his search for ultimate chess truth.

Man vs Machine – who is winning?

10/8/2003 – Every year computers are becoming stronger at chess, holding their own against the very strongest players. So very soon they will overtake their human counterparts. Right? Not necessarily, says statistician Jeff Sonas, who doesn't believe that computers will inevitably surpass the top humans. In a series of articles Jeff presents empirical evidence to support his claim.

The Women of Crete

10/7/2003 – Our reports on the 2003 European Clubs Cup in Crete concentrated on male chess players and their spectacular performances. But, we were reminded by one visitor, there was an exciting women's tournament going on at the same time. Our correspondent Pufichek (a.k.a. Diego Garces), sent us a report and some lovely pictures.

Book properties in ChessBase 8

10/6/2003 – ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve "Mathematically Challenged" Lopez risks his sanity and reputation by again tackling a statistical function in ChessBase 8: the "statistics" display in the Book pane, while also explaining the additional display options available in the Book pane. Workshop...

A great triumph and a shocking loss

10/5/2003 – The European Clubs Cup 2003, which ended on Saturday, was won by the NAO Chess Club of Paris. The event was marked by some remarkable performances and a shocking fifth-round loss in 22 moves by Garry Kasparov – who still chalked up the second-highest performance of the tournament (2841). You will find the whole story, including an illustrated report by Anna Dergachova, here...

Natalia on the Isle of Man

10/4/2003 – The Monarch Assurance Chess Tournament on the Isle of Man is under way, eight of the nine rounds have been completed. GMs Sulskis of Lithuania and Lputian of Armenia are in the lead with 5.5 out of 7. Our reporter WGM Natalia Kiseleva is #35 with 4.0/7, but unlike the leaders she has sent us a lovely illustrated report.

Kasparov on the rampage

10/3/2003 – The European Clubs Cup in Crete is turning into a crunch fest. After five rounds there are ten players with performance ratings of over 2800. Peter Svidler has 2831, Joel Lautier 2859, Alexander Morozevich 2932. You do not want to know to what heights Garry Kasparov is soaring. We bring you games, pictures, results and links.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to Chess

10/3/2003 – The nine-round Swiss tournament on the Isle of Man, with dozens of GMs and IMs, was marred by a "Bobby Fischer style withdrawal" by top seed Nigel Short after round one. We were curious to find out what happened and had to take lessons in the FIDE rules to appreciate it. Here's the inside story.

In the endgame – it's your move

10/2/2003 – Today the lecture by our GM trainer Dorian Rogozenko deals with technical and practical endgames. He will present instructive positions, and you have to find the plan. In the end there is a download with analysis and explanations. Here are all the details...

Like to play in the European Championship?

10/2/2003 – The First European Internet Championship will be held from October 20 to November 09, 2003. The organizers are the European Chess Union and ChessBase. Any player who has the right to start for a national federation in Europe can take part. The prize fund for the finals is €6,000.00. All games are played on the playchess.com server. More...

The great chess opera

10/1/2003 – Did you like this morning's story about Brussels 1987? Soon after we had published it we got a letter telling us that the tournament had produced something even better than Plaskett's puzzle: an operatic aria composed around a game between Ljubojevic and Kasparov. This you have to hear to believe!

The cream starts to rise in Rethymnon

9/30/2003 – In the first few rounds of the European Club Cup the pretenders meet the contenders with predictably devastating results. There were few GM vs GM games in the first round as the favorites demolished teams that had trouble fielding six rated players. NAO is the favorite with three top tenners and Kasparov was in action for Ladya Kazan. Early highlights and games here.

A liver-pickling Oriental odyssey

9/30/2003 – ...and those mad, but magnificent Russians. The British chess columnists Nigel Short and David Norwood have been having a field day. Nigel tells about his trip to China, while David describes his first encounter with Peter Svidler ("young, tall, brilliant, brash and utterly charming – I was ready to hate him on sight"). We bring you excerpts and links.

The Beijing Chess Challenge

9/28/2003 – On September 22 and 23, 2003, the Beijing Chess Challenge Match was held in the China Resources Hotel. It consisted of two Chinese teams and an International team with Nigel Short, Evgeny Bareev and Yasser Seirawan. We bring you an extensive wrap-up report with games, portraits of the players and a few spectacular impressions from China.

Miss New York City goes X3D

9/28/2003 – Mere prime ministers and CEOs pale in comparison to beauty queens and sports stars and we'll have both for the November match between Garry Kasparov and X3D Fritz. Miss New York City 2003, Katie Horn, will make the first move of game three on Sunday, November 16. She stopped by the X3D offices in her tiara and of course we've got lots of photos.

Become a tournament organizer with Fritz

9/26/2003 – Tired of all the event cancellations? Mig Greengard's latest ChessBase Cafe column at the ChessCafe website shows you how to to make your ChessBase engines produce opening training material for you using the tournament function. He also answers readers questions about ChessBase and Fritz & Friends. Link and index of all ChessBase Cafe columns here.

The eternal problem

9/25/2003 – Today's lecture by our GM trainer Dorian Rogozenko deals with "the eternal problem": which rook to place on which open file. If you have faced this dilemma in your tournament game you will want to follow this lesson on the Playchess.com server. Details...

Who was that lady?

9/25/2003 – A few weeks ago we asked you to identify some baby pictures of the strongest American-born female chess player in history. It is remarkable how many readers were able to work out the puzzle and send us the correct answer. It was Alisa Maric, who was born in New York but now lives in Belgrade. Here's a picture portrait of this remarkable young lady.

Luke McShane wins Young Masters

9/24/2003 – The fourth Lausanne Young Masters, a knockout event which was held from September 17 to 22 in Lausanne, Switzerland, was won by Luke McShane. The young British GM beat French Champion Etienne Bacrot in the final. We bring you all the results and games.

National Chess Week for Barnardo's

9/24/2003 – From Ocktober 20 to 26 the National Chess Week is being organised in Britain. Half a million players are expected to take part, generating a fund of £500,000 for children's charity. The money goes to Barnado's, an organisation that helps handicapped children and young people. Details...

The way Kasparov likes...

9/24/2003 – Throughout the millennia the Greek island of Crete has fallen to Romans, Arabs and Ottomans. Today its town of Geropotamos (tourism slogan: "The way you like...") was conquered by Garry Kasparov. The world number one demolished European champion Zurab Azmaiparashvili in a brief exhibition match of rapid and blitz games. Report and games