A Tragedy of Errors – Part I

5/2/2004 – The chess world is currently in a mess, nobody would deny that. There is no clear world champion, and none in sight. So what happened to the high-flying plans, proposed and agreed almost two years, to unify the different fractions? Yasser Seirawan, the spiritus rector of the Prague Agreement, tells us what went wrong. Here is the first part of a candid, insightful interview.

Alterman on the Danish Gambit

5/2/2004 – "Do not forget that it is the spirit of the player with the initiative that fulfills this promise, or does not," writes our Playchess trainer GM Boris Alterman. "Opening with an attacking gambit system and then playing cowardly moves is a sure recipe for disaster." More...

Cuba breaks Guinness chess record

5/1/2004 – Former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov was among the 13,000 people that Cuban officials claimed had succeeded in surpassing the current Guinness World Record of 11,320 players -- set in Havana in December 2002. Castro was not present this time around, but Elian Gonzales, the 10-year-old Miami refugee, was. CNN reports...

Magnificent Magnus, the world's youngest grandmaster

4/30/2004 – Two days ago a participant at the Dubai Open made his final GM norm with a performance of 2678. This news electrified the chess world because the player in question was just 13 years old. Magnus Carlsen of Norway is now the youngest GM in the world. He is also a bright and highly eloquent kid, as you can see in this remarkable in-depth interview.

First Canarias en Red Internet Chess Festival

4/30/2004 – The Spanish Canary Islands are not just a tropical paradise, holiday goal for hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. The archipelago also has a rich historical tradition in chess. Next week they are switching to modern communications technology to stage a giant Internet chess festival. You can participate for a prize fund of $5,600.

Mamedyarov wins Dubai, Carlsen his GM title

4/29/2004 – Shakriyar Mamedyarov took first place in the Sheikh Rashed Cup, with 7/9 points. 12 players shared second with 6.5/9, amongst them 13-year-old Magnus Carlsen, who completed his final GM norm with a round to spare! We will return to this subject. In the meantime here are the results, games and a spectacular pictorial report.

Okay ladies, come and get it...

4/29/2004 – On Sunday the ACP and Playchess.com is staging their first-ever Internet Blitz tournament for female players. The prize fund is US $2,500, with the winner getting $700. So come on, ladies, wherever you may be. You have a golden opportunity to start up something exciting in women's chess. Here are full tournament details and the official invitation.

The magical chess experiment

4/29/2004 – Derren Brown is a "mind control" illusionist, whose chess ineptitude he himself describes with a rude word. Yet he was able to take on nine strong players, including two grandmasters, in a simultaneous exhibition on Britain's Channel 4, and actually win the match. This is how he did it.

Invitation to a world championship

4/28/2004 – The Swiss tobacco manufacturers Dannemann has announced that he classical chess world championship between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko will be held from Sept. 25 to Oct. 18, 2004 in Brissago, on the shores of the Lago Maggiore, Switzerland. Here's the press invitation...

World Championship in Libya – for all participants!

4/28/2004 – Originally the FIDE knockout world championship was scheduled to be staged in two parts, one in Libya and one in Malta. This was mainly to accommodate Israeli players, who may not enter many Arab countries. Now the main sponsor, Moammar Al Qaddafi, has guaranteed "entry visas to all the 128 qualified participants". Here's the press release...

Shredder wins computer tournament in Leiden

4/27/2004 – This program has been working its way up – at least in the CSVN computer tournaments in Paderborn. In 2002 Shredder finished third, in 2003 it was second, and this year... well you guessed right: with eight points in nine rounds the program written by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen (picture) triumphed over the FPGA program Hydra. Here's the final report.

Köln Porz and Baden-Oos tie for first

4/26/2004 – The spokesperson for the German team championships, one of the strongest in the world, is "Miss Bundesliga" Almira Skripchenko, who plays for Werder Bremen. After the final round of this season's contests the two leading teams had tied for first. They will have to play a tie-break for the title in the second week of May . Here's a last-round pictorial report.

Top-level chess at Russian Team Championship

4/26/2004 – Grischuk, Bareev, Morozevich, Bologan – these are just some of the players who are battling out the Russian Team Championship finals from April 20-28 in Sochi. We bring you results, games, links and a beautiful photo report by Eldar Mukhametov

Openings theory – blessing or bane?

4/26/2004 – Keeping up with theory is a real pain in the neck. Who is to blame for the explosive growth and availability of openings knowledge? Some people say it is the kind folks who bring you this website. Dennis Monokroussos contends that in reality it is Mikhail Botvinnik, the first player to raise opening preparation into a science. Visit his lecture on Playchess.com tonight.

Play in a simul against Boris Alterman

4/26/2004 – Every Monday GM Boris Alterman will play a simultaneous exhibition on the Playchess.com server. For a price of 20 Ducats you can take on the former advisor to Garry Kasparov. That translates to just over two dollars – quite reasonable for the opportunity to play a strong grandmaster. How to play...

Alterman on the Morra – Part 2

4/25/2004 – After showing us how to meet the Sicilian with the Morra Gambit last week, tonight our GM trainer Boris Alterman explains how in the Morra you don't need to look after casual combinations but follow the main principles of the opening: fast development, control over the center. Tactical combinations will appear automatically! Listen to Boris in his audio lecture on Playchess.com.

Kasparov's 'Predecessors' under scrutiny

4/25/2004 – Garry Kasparov's book, My Great Predecessors, is an invitation to readers to send in analysis and corrections. Many have, extensively, in our special section dedicated to taking Kasparov's challenge. GM Karsten Müller examines some of them in his Analysis Focus #6.

Shredder and Ruffian lead in Leiden

4/24/2004 – The traditional Dutch computer chess tournament is currently being held in Leiden. 16 programs are competing for top honors and a $3000 prize fund. After six rounds World champion Shredder went into the lead after beating arch rival Hydra after 28 moves of opening preparation. Report and games...

Nigel Short takes on the Playchess crowd

4/23/2004 – It started with an innocuous remark: "What's your current ranking on the Playchess list?" we asked Nigel Short. "What list?" he replied. We explained, and life stopped for the Mega-GM. During the next days he went after the players on that list with the determination of the obsessed.

Position setup

4/22/2004 – "Position setup" has been a basic standard feature of ChessBase/Fritz software for many years. In this week's ChessBase Workshop we examine the bare-bones basics of how to setup and save a chess position for new users and provide a few tips that even the "old hands" might not know. Workshop...

European Championship in Antalya

4/22/2004 – Last year we had a pictorial feast with the European Individual Championship. This year the event is once again being held on the "Turkish Riviera", the Mediterranean playground for West European tourists. Hopefully we will end up with a similar collection of interesting pictures of chess players at work and at play. Here's a preview...

The Spanish Game – completed

4/22/2004 – Tonight our Playchess.com lecturer Dorian Rogozenko finishes his series on the Spanish Game, presenting another memorable encounter from the Kasparov-Karpov matches, with an additional game with Karpov on the black side. More...

A thousand kings in Singapore

4/22/2004 – There are countries where chess simply thrives. Singapore is one of them. Maybe it is because the Chess Federation so actively promotes the games amongst the young. The result: 1200 children from 141 schools had three exciting days of chess in the national inter-school championship. Read all about it in Olimpiu Urcan's pictorial report.

Did you miss something?

4/21/2004 – Our Radio ChessBase lectures are becoming very popular. But some take place at odd hours, especially if you live in an odd time zone. Many visitors are complaining, but we have good news for you: the lectures are being recorded and archived. You can listen to them 24/7 – any time of the day or night.