Fritz still on top of the computer world

5/25/2002 – For years it has been the same. With a few brief breaks our flagship program Fritz has topped the international computer lists. Of the top ten eight are – Ahem! – distributed by ChessBase (including the top five). You will find a list of the first 50 programs here.

Ten reasons to accept the peace plan

5/24/2002 – The signing of the unity plan in Prague on May 6th has led to a great deal of hope and discussion in the chess world. Criticised by some it is staunchly defended by one of the central players: Garry Kasparov. We asked Garry, who split with FIDE nine years ago, about his peace treaty with the world chess federation. He sent us a list ways it would impact the world of chess. More

My life with chess and music

5/23/2002 – "It is not easy to describe in a few sentences careers than span over seventy years," says Mark Taimanov. But nonetheless he tries and gives us a unique insight into a life that took him from movie actor to concert pianist to world-class chess player. Taimanov is an exceptional storyteller, and you can read all about his life (and listen to his music) in this wonderful interview by Joel Lautier.

A psychiatrist matches wits with Fritz

5/18/2002 – When's the last time a "how to" book really solved your problems when it came to love, children or money? Not to mention how to get the better of your PC chess opponent. Psychiatrist Ernest F. Pecci has written a book that makes defeating Fritz seem effortless. Does the book deliver? James DuBois uncovers the truth.

Super-GM loses 0.5:3.5 against the computer

5/18/2002 – This is seriously depressing. Mikhail Gurevich, Elo 2641 and one of the great chess analysts of our time, finished his four-game match against the computer world champion Junior 7 with just one draw to show for his efforts. In today's final game Misha was tactically outplayed in the endgame. You can replay it on our javascript board.

Yasser Seirawan sets the record straight

5/18/2002 – On May 7 a momentous reunification contract was signed in Prague. "I've been following the post Prague reactions and had a few good chuckles," Yasser Seirawan told us. "Lots of folks have things very mixed up and thus the need to make a clear historical record of what took place." Yasser does so in a momentous three-part essay you will not want to miss. Part one and all necessary background information is available here.

When a Shogi champion turns to chess

5/17/2002 – Michael Jordan tried it with baseball – it, like, didn't work out. But what about a professional Shogi champion switching to chess? Yoshiharu Habu, one of the most gifted players in the history of the ancient Japanese game, has taken a casual interest in chess – and already reached IM strength. He is currently playing in a tournament in Paris, where Joel Lautier interviewed him.

Record-breaking mini-grandmaster?

5/16/2002 – Can you imagine that you may soon have to address the boy in this picture respectfully as "grandmaster"? 12-year-old Sergei Karjakin (learn to pronounce it now: car-yack-kin!) has just gained his second GM norm and looks poised to gain his title well before his 13th birth in January 2003. That would make him the only person in the world to become a grandmaster and second a world champion before reaching his teens! More

Getting the most out of Hiarcs 8

5/16/2002 – The openings book on the Hiarcs8 CD is a general book merged from a giant collection of historic and modern master games. It is great for training and fun. However the games contain many inferior lines which Hiarcs whould never play of its own accord. If you want to optimise the playing strength you should get the special tournament book created by Eric Hallsworth. More

And what does Karpov think?

5/14/2002 – Flushed with his success at the Eurotel World Chess Trophy, Anatoly Karpov was an honoured guest at the 125th anniversary celebrations of the German Chess Federation. At a breakfast meeting the 50-year-old gave us his views on the Chess Unity Plan that was signed in Prague exactly a week earlier. Anatoly was frank and thoughtful in his views, which you will find in a special interview here.

Chess sells!

5/13/2002 – Chess is in, chess – and not just sex – can help big corporations sell their products. On German TV there are currently two ad campaigns for cars which use chess to highlight the products. In one a chess player is shown but never named. You may just recognise the face, though. More

Batumi in the summer

5/13/2002 – The exotic, subtropical city south-west coast of Georgia is full of palms, cypresses, magnolias, oleanders, lemon and orange trees, for huge beds of flowers, sparkling fountains, tennis courts, lace-work buildings, holiday homes and lots of other attractive features. If you want to see it why not attend the 3rd European Individual Championship. More

Dortmund: no change to candidates' format

5/12/2002 – Why haven't Anand and Ivanchuk been included in the Prague Chess Unity Plan? This is a question may chess fans have been asking. One suggestion they put forward is to add the two players to the Einstein qualifier. "Nein", says the organiser in Dortmund, this is not a possible option. More

One giant leap for mankind

5/9/2002 – Why is a great chess player, vice champion of the world at that, dangling at the end of a 150-foot rope? Well, just taking a break from chess and going for adventure in the south-sea island of Bali. Alexandra Kosteniuk, who stopped over in Hamburg for a few days, brought along an electronic picture album. You will find a small selection (plus a nice video clip)here.

Memories of Moscow

5/9/2002 – Peter Svidler is 25, one of the world's top GMs. He is also intelligent, funny and very eloquent. During a recent visit in Hamburg Peter spoke to us about the FIDE world championship, Ruslan Ponomariov, women's chess, books, music, movies, humour and more. The video interview is on ChessBase Magazine 87. You will find excerpts of it here.

Two grandmasters and a computer in Corinth

5/8/2002 – From May 13 to 18 the Greek city of Korinthos (Corinth) is paying host to an interesting rapid chess event. First top GM Mikhail Gurevich, Elo 2641 and number 47 in the world, will take on the computer world champion Junior 7 in four 60-minute games. Then Gurevich will play six rapid chess games against the Greek champion Christodoulos Banikas. More

Peace in our time

5/6/2002 – The Prague negotiations described in our previous report have born fruit, all parties have presented a plan that sees the winner of the Einstein cycle and the winner of a special FIDE match between Ruslan Ponomariov and Garry Kasparov playing a match in November 2003 for the undisputed Chess World Championship title under the FIDE banner. The Unity Agreement has been signed, you will find the text of the document here.

Man vs Machine double bill on Playchess.com

4/30/2002 – On May first 2002 we have a special treat for you – after you get back from the Labour Day rally. At 18:00 GMT "Computer killer" Alexei Dreev will play a full-length tournament game against an especially tuned version of Deep Junior 7. And at 19:30 GMT Deep Junior will be replaying its annulled game agains Ilya Smirin in the special ChessBase-Kasparov Chess event. Two high quality games against top GMs. Join many hundreds in the action-packed Playchess server coverage. More

The Grandmaster and the Creature from a Parallel World

4/27/2002 – Sergei Tiviakov, born in Russia, now living in Holland, is a very strong grandmaster. Recently he played in the 6th Golden Cleopatra tournament in Cairo, which he duly won. During his stay he visited the Great Pyramids and brought back some spectacular pictures – and an astonishing tale of an encounter with a creature from the parallel world. This you have to see to believe.

A matter of honour

4/26/2002 – Imagine the following: White is winning a game, Black is playing some last desperate moves. Suddenly White has technical problems and cannot continue. So he offers Black a draw. Black refuses and insists White get the full point. There is a heated argument: Black wants to resign, White insists on a draw. Finally both sides agree to replay the game from scratch. Unimaginable, such gentleman-like behaviour? Well that's what happened in yesterday's Man vs Machine game.

And here it is: new plans for a reunified chess world

4/25/2002 – The Einstein Group in London and Nahed Ojjeh have announced their support of the reunification of the chess world. To this end they are seeking collaboration with all interested parties in a daring new proposal that is to be discussed at the upcoming Eurotel Trophy in Prag. The funding would be mainly supplied by Madame Ojjeh, a Syrian born billionaire who lives in Paris. You will find the joint press release of both parties here.

Category 16 in the Taiga

4/19/2002 – We are talking marshlands and lakes, forests with sable, musk-rat and stoat. And oil, around 2.5 billion tons of it. The Nefteyugansk region of West Siberia has few settlements, one of them being Poikovsky. That is where the 3rd Karpov International Chess Tournament is being held, a category 16 with ten strong GMs. You can catch the action at the official web site. And maybe check out a little Taiga puzzle here.

Little monsters!

4/18/2002 – At this very moment there are ordinary people, just like you and me, walking about with devices stuffed in their pockets that have the capability to scare mere mortals out of their collective wits, especially when it comes to playing chess. These little monsters are the new generation of pocket PCs. James E. DuBois has written a nice review here.

The best of all possible world championships

4/14/2002 – FIDE have recently concluded a world championship cycle, the Einstein Group is running their own world championship, and Yasser Seirawan has proposed a "fresh start". Now statistician Jeff Sonas has analysed the relative merits of these three (and 13,000 other possible) systems to find out which are the most practical, effective, inclusive and unbiased. There are some suprises in store (the FIDE system is no. 12,671 on the list, Seirawan's proposal is no. 345). More