Ten simple questions

4/21/2004 – The Batumi women's world championship might be cancelled, but do you know where Batumi is? How about Georgia? Are you spending enough time at ChessBase.com? Maybe too much? Test your knowledge of recent events and find out your score right away in our first instant gratification trivia quiz.

Second and third ACP events on Playchess

4/21/2004 – After the great success of the ACP Inaugural (78 participants, 54 GMs, 22 rated over 2600) the Association of Chess Professionals is staging two more Internet events. The first of these is reserved for female members of the ACP, the second, with a prize fund of $6,200, is open to all members. Here's the official invitation...

39 GMs at the Sixth Dubai Open

4/21/2004 – GM tournament in Arabic countries are always something special. Currently lots of GMs, IMs and WGMs are playing a nine-round Swiss Open in Dubai. The winner takes custody of the Sheikh Rashid Cup and $5,000 in cash.

Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 2004

4/21/2004 – The strongest tournament in Germany is the Chess-Meeting in Dortmund. This year it will be held from July 22 to August 1 and features Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Svidler, Rublevsky, Bologan, Karjakin and Naiditsch. Here's the information you need to prepare for Dortmund 2004

The 2700 Club - Who's here to stay?

4/20/2004 – Vishy is up, Vlady is down. Garry is also down, but still maintained his comfortable position as #1. Leko was a big gainer, Shirov a big loser. What about newcomers? And who will be the first new player in almost a decade to crack the top three? We take a look at the KAK and the 16 players in the 2700 Club.

How Capablanca did it

4/19/2004 – When a strong grandmaster plays a dangerous novelty which he has storing for years, many players would simply look for a way to steer for safety and work things out at home. Not so José Capablanca, who refuted Marshall's treasured novelty flawlessly at the board. That is the subject of tonight's Radio ChessBase lecture with Dennis Monokroussos.

Women's World Chess Championship in a crisis

4/18/2004 – FIDE has announced that the Women's World Championship, originally planned for Tblisi, would be held in the fiercely independent Ajaria region on the Black Sea instead. But there are doubts whether the plan can go ahead, and Russian newspapers are speculating that the Championship may be cancelled. The venue is, well, simply too dangerous.

Let Boris show you some good moves

4/17/2004 – Boris Alterman is a grandmaster, computer expert and former advisor to Garry Kasparov. He is also a renowned chess teacher, as good as they come. Every Sunday Boris will be holding a didactic audio lecture on Radio ChessBase, and on Mondays he will play a simultaneous exhibition. The first lecture is entitled 'Meeting the Sicilian with the Morra Gambit'

Svidler qualifies, Super Friday on Playchess

4/16/2004 – What a day! Top seed Peter Svidler led the field to qualify effortlessly in the fourth ACP qualifier, with Almira Skripchenko putting in a plucky effort. The finals are on Saturday, but you should not miss the Friday action on Playchess.com. With the stars taking a break this is a golden chance to test your mettle. Go for it – the prize fund is 20,000 ducats!

A fistful of questions

4/16/2004 – Sometimes it's not the big things that have you stumped when you're learning about a software program -- oftentimes it's the little things that get you. Steve Lopez looks at a "fistful" of these little questions in the latest edition of his ChessBase Workshop.

The French-American chess challenge

4/15/2004 – What a lovely idea! ChinaCom, the company sponsoring the current ACP Inaugural Tournament, has just announced that they will stage a rapid chess match between the two strongest women players in France and the US. It will be held in a beautiful ambient, quite appropriate when you see who the players are. Press release...

Creating user keys in ChessBase 8 - part 2

4/13/2004 – In part two of our series on creating user keys in ChessBase 8, we provide tips on how to structure your key list with two different methods for displaying your user-created keys. It's all in this week's ChessBase Workshop.

The calm after the storm

4/12/2004 – In recent Playchess lectures Dennis Monokroussos has been showing us some fairly insane games. Tonight things are going to be more sedate and historical. But what his examples lack in fireworks they make up for in instructional value, in this Radio ChessBase lecture.

Von Kempelen's Chess Turk recreated

4/12/2004 – In 1769 the Hungarian engineer Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen built a chess playing machine for the amusement of the Austrian Queen Maria Theresia. It was a mechanical device, shaped like a Turk, and it became the most famous automaton in history. Now the Heinz Nixdorf Museum in Paderborn has produced an incredible working replica of the Turk.

Meet the Muzychuk sisters

4/11/2004 – At the European Women's Championship in Dresden we met a charming young lady, just 14 and close to 2400 Elo points in weight. Anna Muzychuk is one of the super chess talents that are appearing in Ukraine on a yearly basis. Now we discover that Anna has an equally talented younger sister. Here's the story...

'You must take a stand or leave the place'

4/10/2004 – Garry Kasparov is not holding back. In a recent 11-minute interview with CBC television he talked very forcefully about the current political situation in Russia. "Within a few years Russia will be fully authoritarian state with elections just being called for the sake of the rest of the world," he says. Here's a transcript of the interview.

ACP Internet Inaugural with 54 GMs

4/9/2004 – Like to watch a to GM blitz tournament live? With 78 participants, 54 of whom are GMs, 22 rated over Elo 2600? See every move they make as it is played? Cheer on Svidler, Grischuk, Bareev and Dreev? Watch Almira Skripchenko and Natalia Zhukova take on their male counterparts? All from the comfort of your home? Then you will definitely not want to miss the ACP Inaugural on the Playchess server.

Endgame – the mating habits of homo sapiens

4/8/2004 – On Monday we showed you a chess film that explored the dating habits of a young woman. Now we find another longer and racier one that goes a step further. Luis Camara Silva uses chess to illustrate the mating habits of humans. Watch his film and quit chess forever. Here's the disturbing movie...

Chess days and nights in Antalya and Bangkok

4/7/2004 – The European Championship is to be held in Antalya, Turkey; while the Asean Masters will be staged three times a month in Bangkok. We predict there may be some glitches, described in our tournament calendar.

Ruslan Ponomariov's Open Letter to the ACP

4/7/2004 – "I am not trying to hold on to my title whatever it takes," writes the still-reigning FIDE champion, "but I can’t put up with the absolute dictatorship of FIDE. I am ready to defend my title on the conditions that were clearly set at the time I won it." He also attacks Garry Kasparov for the "exclusive privileges" he has received. Here's the letter and relevant links...

The dawn of a new era

4/6/2004 – Sunday Telegraph columnist Nigel Short was enchanted. "For the first time people could watch the European Women's Championship on TV, with the charming participants themselves presenting their strategic masterpieces – often in delightfully Russian-accented English." Nigel calls this development 'a new era in chess.'

FIDE ratings – Anand in place two

4/5/2004 – It's been a while, but Indian superstar Vishy Anand has regained place two in the world rankings. Anand gained eight points and Kramnik lost 13 to switch places. Perennial Garry Kasparov lost 14 points but still remains at the top, 43 points ahead of Anand. Here's a list of the top 100.

CheckMating – the chess dating game

4/5/2004 – The subject of the little (6 min 33 sec) movie is tantalising: a woman tests her dates over games of chess, with each contest taking on the mood of the relationship. She's in full control, knowing exactly what she wants in a man – until she finds it. More...

The 2004 European Women's Chess Champion

4/4/2004 – She narrowly missed the Women's World Championship in December 2001. Then she embarked on a career in beauty, glamour and movie making, appearing in countless magazines and TV shows as an "ambassadrice" for chess. Just when people were counting her out Alexandra Kosteniuk returns with a thumping victory in Dresden. We bring you games, results and pictures.