1/14/2003 – 45 years ago to the day a young lad from Brooklyn made his debut at the US Championship. The fourteen-year-old rank outsider was the shock winner that year and became (and still is) the youngest title holder. To this day Bobby Fischer continues to cast a giant shadow over the US Championships, as John Henderson tells it in his round four report from the US Championship in Seattle.

1/14/2003 – That, in any case, is what most of our readers seem to believe. In reply to our Wijk aan Zee quiz we received many hundreds of emails from all corners of the world. Fortuna favet fortibus said one, which supplied Latin phrases for each of the participants. Prepare for a long and interesting read.

1/14/2003 – Okay, she's sharing it with Karpov, Anand and Bareev, but the world's strongest female player did play a very nice game against Holland's Jan Timman in round three of the Wijk aan Zee tournament. Judit successfully navigated a very complicated middlegame, and then Timman's misplaced pieces were easy pickings for Polgar's tactical eye. Here are the games, results, tables and a report by Mig Greengard.

1/13/2003 – With many émigrés now living in America, many joke that the U.S. Championships could easily be mistaken for the USSR Championships. Read all about the great American players like Boris Gulko, Gregory Kaidanov, Alexander Shabalov, Eugene Perelshteyn, Varuzhan Akobian, Yury Lapshun and this year's second seed Alexander Goldin (picture) in John Henderson's latest report from Seattle.

1/13/2003 – That's quite a mouthful, but definitely worth checking out. Jeroen van den Belt is one of the ChessBase team, responsible for the spectacular Fritz 8 3D graphics and a lot of the Playchess server functions. Jeroen spent a weekend at the top Dutch tournament and sent us a batch of candid photos of players and situations. Heck, it's almost like being there yourself. You will find Jeroen's extensive picture report here.

1/13/2003 – FIDE is putting the screws on their world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. They want him to sign an agreement to play against Garry Kasparov as part of the reunification plan. But the young champion is balking. We bring you some new documents on the "negotiations", including full regulations of the World Championship Match 2003.

1/12/2003 – Two players, one a grandmaster, the other a 2300 FM, taking part in the US Chess Championship. The landmark is that they are both African American. For 155 years the tournament drew only white men, but last year the format was radically changed, opening it to dozens more players – including, for the first time, women. More.

1/12/2003 – The first round of the 65th Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee didn't lack fighting spirit. But with most players rated so closely together, victories are not easy to achieve. Only two managed to score a win. Last year's winner Evgeny Bareev defeated FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov, and Anatoly Karpov won the public prize by beating Michal Krasenkow in a lovely tactical battle. Games and results are available here.

1/12/2003 – The second round of the Wijk aan Zee tournament saw some shock results. FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov had apparently digested yesterday's defeat and took the full point off classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who blundered on move 36. Evgeny Bareev won for the second time in succession, beating youngster Teimour Radjabov, while Anand beat a too-daring Topalov with the black pieces. More

1/11/2003 – They had organised a present of a bottle of vintage wine and placed it by his board. They were prepared to give this living-legend a Happy Birthday a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday' for his 54th before the start of play. But typically Walter Browne arrived five minutes late and missed everything! John Henderson reports from the US Chess Championship in Seattle in an article entitled Good ol' Walter Browne!

1/11/2003 – FIDE has set an ultimatum until January 10, 2003, for Ruslan Ponomariov to sign a contract to play the world's top-rank player Garry Kasparov as as part of the reunification plan agreed in Prague. If the FIDE champion did not sign the agreement by that date then he would be replaced by runner-up Vassily Ivanchuk. This would mean that Kasparov would play Ivanchuk, and the winner would face the winner of Kramnik vs Leko in a unification title match. More.

1/10/2003 – Corus Wijk aan Zee, the Dutch super-tournament, starts on January 10. For the second year in succession it is without the world's number one player, Garry Kasparov. But it does have nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10, the average rating is 2701 and the category 19. You will find some information on the participants and can take part in our special Wijk aan Zee quiz.