Bareev up and Leko down in FIDE October ratings

9/22/2003 – The big winners are Evgeny Bareev, who gained 18 points and jumped to place four, and Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran, who gained 25 points rose from 40 to 24. Peter Leko dropped from rank 4 to 10. On the very top Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand reign supreme. Here is the list of the top 100.

Peter Ács – we stand corrected

9/22/2003 – In a recent news story we mentioned the young Hungarian GM and gave the pronunciation of his name as "oks". Not correct, we learnt from Nigel Short. The name rhymes with "larch" as spoken by an Englishman. Andrew Pressburger confirmed this and sent us the following very useful Hungarian pronunciation primer.

Kings win Three Arrows Cup

9/21/2003 – The men vs women event ended in the eastern Chinese city of Ji Nan, with a convincing victory by the four "Kings". On their free day the players went on a tour of a beautiful Mountain Park, enjoyed local food and gave simultaneous exhibitions for young Chinese players. All of this is captured in our pictorial report.

Transtec-Shredder beats GM Peter Acs

9/20/2003 – On Thursday the young Hungarian GM Peter Acs played two rapid chess games against the record computer chess world champion Shredder. The rate of play was 25 minutes plus two seconds increment per move. Shredder, running on a Dual 3 Ghz XEON transtec computer took the match 2-0. More...

Young Masters playing in Lausanne

9/20/2003 – They are between 13 and 19, all remarkable talents, hailing from different parts of Europe and Russia. From Sept. 19 to 22, 2003, they are playing in the Young Masters tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland. Watch the games live or download them from our illustrated report page.

Notation options in ChessBase 8

9/18/2003 – ChessBase 8 allows the user to configure the Notation display in myriad ways. This week's ChessBase Workshop explains the various options for the Notation display. More...

Anatoly Karpov speaks out

9/18/2003 – "If this continues FIDE will cease to exist. Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It is better to create new healthy organization than to nurse the old and sick one." Harsh words from the record FIDE world champion Anatoly Karpov, who spoke to journalists and spectators at the 2003 Russian Championship. Here is an English translation...

Chess in China

9/18/2003 – This week, if you are looking for chess, you should definitely turn eastwards. China has been staging a plethora of tournaments and matches, with national and international stars. We bring you an extensive report of four events, provided by our China correspondent Fang Zhang, with games, links and pictures.

Software of the year, five stars for Fritz

9/18/2003 – Game Industry News has reviewed our program Fritz 8. Their conclusion: "Fritz earns 5 GiN Gems for being one of the most entertaining, informative and easy to use chess games on the market today." And Parenting Magazine has chosen Fritz & Chesster as a winner of the magazine’s prestigious “Software of the Year” awards. More...

Moviestar, moviestar – Kosteniuk film premieres

9/17/2003 – We all know that Alexandra Kosteniuk is women's vice champion of the world, a photo model and internationally famous chess babe. Add movie star to that list. Sasha played in a main role in a Russian film, directed by the famous Stanislav Govorukhin. We bring you new pictures and a video preview...

Chess night in Bangkok

9/16/2003 – And yet another exotic attraction on our server at playchess.com: the new Bangkok Trophy gives you the chance to meet the best chess players from the Asian region. The event is a 9 round blitz tournament (5+0) with a prize fund of 850 ducats. Start is today at 15.00 CET (8.00 p.m. Bangkok time). Here are all the details.

Peter Svidler wins Russian Championship

9/16/2003 – The St. Petersburg grandmaster is 27 years old and has won the Russian Championship for the fourth time – an unprecedented achievement in post-Soviet Union chess history. The event was held in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, which lies in the heart of Russia. From there our correspondent Eugeny Atarov sent us games, results and a lot of wonderful pictures.

European Club Championship: Kasparov in Crete

9/16/2003 – What does a player to do when his shot at the FIDE world title gets cancelled? Some would be glad for the unexpected break. Not Garry Kasparov, who has agreed to take part in the European Club Championship in Crete. He will also play a match against the European champion Azmaiparashvili. Details...

Tandem Chess in China

9/15/2003 – 4000 students greeted the players of the rapid chess tournament in China, which has a unique format. The participants are divided into four teams of male and female "couples", with each player making two consecutive moves during the games. No consultation is allowed between them. Here are full details and pictures...

'Aiyoh, aiyoh, banyak susah-lah'

9/15/2003 – In Malay that translates to "Uh-oh, the position is very difficult already". But the spectactators at the 23rd Merdeka Team Chess Challenge held in Kuala Lumpur thought the player was in need of medical assistance. Unfortunately the only doctor in the house was on the opposite side of the board. Read all about it in this special report from Malaysia.

My Great Predecessors – Nigel loved it!

9/15/2003 – On the eve of his departure for China Nigel Short wrote a review of "My Great Predecessors" by Garry Kasparov, calling it "probably the most enjoyable chess book I have ever read." Remarkable praise from a man not known for gratuitous flattery, especially not toward his nemesis Kasparov. You can read the full review in Nigel's Sunday Telegraph column.

Look into the future to improve your chess

9/14/2003 – If you are bored with "white to play and win" tactics we have something more challenging and perhaps more useful for you. This method will help your tactics and your visualization skills. Stop leapfrogging from diagram to diagram when you read books and magazines. It's tactics with a twist.

Kings and Queens in China

9/13/2003 – It sounds like a lot of fun. A rapid chess tournament has started in China, with four men and four women playing in "couples". The players are of very high calibre and the pairs are determined by lots. Evgeny Bareev was not happy with his designated partner Xie Jun – because of their incompatible openings systems. Here is our first report.

A crackling documentary: Kasparov and the Machine

9/13/2003 – The intersection of chess and computers -- hardly a subject for a full-length movie documentary. Some people were wondering if award-winning director Vikram Jayanti was trying to commit career suicide by taking on this project ("Is he getting his funding from Nytol?"). But now the film has premiered at the Toronto Film Festival to enthusiastic reviews.

Marie Sebag – France's new wonder-girl

9/11/2003 – She is sixteen and was invited to play in the Grand Prix de Sénat rapid chess tournament in Paris. In the semifinals Marie Sebag knocked out GM Laurent Fressinet, Elo 2640, with a dry 2-0 score. In the finals she had veteran GM Anatoly Vaisser on the ropes, but botched it up in the endgame. Read all about this exciting tournament in Jean-Michel Péchiné's illustrated report.

How to counter the Benko Gambit

9/11/2003 – Last week our Online GM trainer Dorian Rogozenko showed us how Black gets initiative for the sacrificed pawn in the Benko Gambit. Today he will explain how White can counter this strategy. You can attend the lecture on Thursday night on our Playchess.com server. Here are the details...

Singapore Internet Chess Carnival

9/10/2003 – Thousands of students in sunny Singapore took part in the biggest Internet Chess Tournament of all time! This year's edition included international qualifiers, which led to a Grand Final with top Singapore school players competing against Internet blitz experts. Here is organiser Junior Tay's extensively illustrated report.

Questions and answers

9/10/2003 – In this week's ChessBase Workshop, Steve Lopez answers a handful of common questions regarding ChessBase and Fritz. There is bound to be something of interest to you.

Alexei Dreev wins Moscow Open Air Blitz

9/9/2003 – The traditional Moscow Blitz is played under open skys in the Museon park. 500 players fight for a place in the finals, where they were joined by ten world-class GMs. Chess fans can watch the action at close range, or chat with some of the famous visitors to the event. Anna Dergatscheva has sent us an illustrated report from Moscow.