9/5/2003 – France is a leading chess nations – when you consider that 944 players took part in the 78th national championship. The men's and women's sections were won by two young stars, Etienne Bacrot and Sophie Milliet. The event was held in Aix-les-Bains, where great French literature was created. Jean-Michel Péchiné of Europe Echecs tells it all in a beautiful illustrated report.

9/5/2003 – There has been a lot of discussion in the international chess community about the Super-tournament announced for Mumbai in December this year. Many players were sceptical about its prospects, as we reported in a subsequent article. Now the organisers have sent us some clarifications, and the Times of India has added some new information to the pool. The same newpaper also reports on Anand's dissatisfaction with the new FIDE knockout cycle. Here are all the details...

9/3/2003 – A top chess event has just been announced for December in Mumbai. 13 GMs will participate in the category 20 round robin tournament, including (are you holding on?) Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Grischuk, Shirov, Svidler, Polgar, Bareev, Adams, Short. Maybe even Ponomariov and Ivanchuk. What a lovely Christmas present...

9/3/2003 – If you want news and gossip, on a weekly basis, the British Telegraph newspaper is a good address. It has three correspondents, GMs Nigel Short and David Norwood, as well as IM-journalist Malcolm Pein. In the past weeks the latter told us about the Staunten Memorial (won by Speelman), while the GMs handled more general subjects. Details...

9/3/2003 – The 2003 U.S. Open is being plagued by rain, which forces the players to pass the time with other activities. Capriati naps and pedicures. Myskina and Likhovtseva play cards, Agassi gets a rubdown. But many players and celebrities are taking up the challenge to play Dmitry Schneider at simultaneous chess. It all there in the world sports press.

9/3/2003 – Yesterday we reported on a Supertournament in Mumbai. After all it was splashed all over the biggest Indian newspapers. Now most of the top players say they know nothing about this event. Even more embarrassing: it turns out our August 27th report on the "Face on Mars" was also flawed. Here is the whole shocking truth.

9/2/2003 – Have you ever been playing through a game in ChessBase 8, seen an interesting position, and wondered whether or not it appears in any other games in your database? That information is just a right- click away -- we'll show you how to do it in this week's ChessBase Workshop.

9/2/2003 – The traditional Acropolis tournament was held for the 18th time in Athens, this time in three groups: GMs, Men's and Women's Opens. We asked one of the participants to write a report and send us pictures, which she dutifully did – mainly from the women's section. Here is Natalia Kiseleva's richly illustrated report.

9/1/2003 – Do you have dozens or even scores of engines available in your Fritz engine selection dialogue? Do you get tired of scrolling through long lists of available engines? Do you ever wish the task could be easier? We address the issue in this week's ChessBase Workshop, in which we examine the "Engine management" feature in Fritz8. More...

8/31/2003 – They met twelve years ago, over the chessboard. She was a 10-year-old schoolgirl, he a budding chess master. But Aarti showed little respect and beat the five year older Ramesh. Now the two, both well-known players on the international circuit, have joined forces in permanent wedlock. The ceremony was conducted in typical South Indian style.

8/30/2003 – Many people think that the letters ELO are some kind of acronym, like FIDE or NASA. But they come from Arpad Emre Elo, born on August 25, 1903. Prof. Elo was a strong chess player (two draws against Rueben Fine!) and a physicist. He achieved fame by devising a new rating system that has gained universal acceptance. Here's a commemorative portrait.

8/29/2003 – On Sept. 6th world vice champion Alexandra Kosteniuk will play a simultaneous exhibition at the Theatre De Balie in Amsterdam. But her six opponents will not be in the hall, but making a journey to it, starting from famous locartions. During the trip they will play against the simul master via mobile phone.