1/1/2003 – He does it in his own inimitable style, by climbing even higher on the rating lists. Do you have any idea how hard that is, when one is cruising around in the rarefied atmosphere above 2800? Still based on his amazing result in the Bled Olympiad Kasparov gained another 9.3 points in the 1st January 2003 list. We, too, wish everybody a Happy New Year, with exciting games and more rating points for everybody. We bring you the rating list and details of the Kasparov vs Deep Junior match

12/27/2002 – "Chess is a beautiful game, and though amateurs playing fast can occasionally make it sing, we know there are riffs -- magical symphonic combinations -- that we either entirely miss or muck up halfway through." World famous Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, it turns out, is an enthusiastic amateur chess player who every Monday night goes to the Pariah Chess Club, which admits no one in short pants. More.

12/25/2002 – This will hopefully be a joyous and peaceful holiday season. If you want to spend some time with chess, visit our special Christmas Puzzle section. During the coming week you will find a new set of puzzles, one per day. In the end you can win a copy of Fritz, signed by one of the world's top players. In the meantime the ChessBase staff would like to wish all the visitors to our site a very Happy Christmas, in any language you happen to speak.

12/21/2002 – The four-game rapid chess match between the two ex world champions in New York ended with a surprise victory for 51-year-old Anatoly Karpov over the world's top-ranked player Garry Kasparov. On the second day Karpov won the first game and drew the the second to take the match. Here's John Fernandez' richly illustrated report from New York.

12/20/2002 – Chess in glorious 3D, Karpov vs Kasparov like in the good ol' days, and magician David Blaine pulling tricks off the chessboard. It was an exciting night with incredibly tense games. John Fernandez and Roland Schmaltz describe the action in the ABC Studios in New York's famous Times Square in this illustrated report.

12/20/2002 – 'Lucky' Levon Aronian, the Armenian GM who turned 20 on October 6th and won the men's section outright, and Zhao Xue, an 18-year-old Chinese girl, who won it on tiebreak. Our final illustrated report on the World Junior Championships in Goa also tells of the blitz tournament where the segregation of the sexes was finally lifted. By V. Sarenn and V. Kumar

12/19/2002 – World Junior Championships has two more rounds to go. Armenian GM Levon Aronian is half a point in the lead in the male section, while in the girls' group the Indian supertalent Koneru Humpy and the Chinese WGM Zhao Xue share the lead. Both groups are still segregated, but the players are learning to live with it. Only the girls sometimes dare to sneak a peek. Read about it in our exclusive illustrated report.

12/17/2002 – At the World Junior Championships, which are being currently held in the spectacularly beautiful Vainguinim Beach, Panaji, Goa (India) the boys cannot watch the games the girls play, and vice versa! The organisers, we are told, think it is too distracting, mainly because of the light clothing of the girls in the hot weather. You will find an illustrated report with some lovely location pictures by Vishal Sareen and Vijay Kumar here.

12/17/2002 – At the World Junior Championships, which is currently being held in the spectacularly beautiful Goa (India) the boys cannot watch the games of the girls play, and vice versa! The organisers, we are told, think it is too distracting, mainly because of the light clothing of the girls in the hot weather. You will find an illustrated report with some lovely location pictures here.

12/17/2002 – It is billed as the first ever Internet broadcast of a chess match in 3D. By donning special electronic LCD viewing glasses for $99 you will be able to watch the two legendary world champions Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov battle it out in "eXtreme 3D". The rapid chess games will be played in the ABC Studios in Time Square, New York on December 19 and 20. More – oh, so much more!

12/16/2002 – It is a monumental CD with 1527 games, 484 with expert annotations, special sections on openings theory, strategy, tactics, endgame and telechess. It also contains part one of a multimedia report on Kramnik vs Deep Fritz in Bahrain, with over an hour of video footage. All of this for just € 19.95 or just over $17. Find out all about the contents of CBM 91. And if you really want to know what you are missing take a look at the CBM 91 multimedia report.

12/16/2002 – Immediately after the mega event Kramnik vs Deep Fritz in Bahrain our correspondent Mig Greengard cornered the world champion in his Royal Suite room at the Gulf Hotel. In a private, intimate atmosphere the two spoke about what had transpired in the past three weeks, but also about life in general, like what it feels like for a kid from Tuapse, Russia, to find himself a dollar millionaire. You will find excerpts from the interview and some MP3 soundbites here.