Anand leads April 1st 2008 FIDE ratings, Carlsen fifth

4/2/2008 – The World Champion gained four points to cross the 2800 mark and top the rankings alone. Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov shed points to move to second and fourth; Alexander Morozevich gained points to move to third place. But the sensation is of course Magnus Carlsen, who at 17 years and four months is in place five, just 38 points below the leader. Is this a record?

Van de Loo vs Hesslin – the game of the week

4/2/2008 – Forget Tal and Fischer, Topalov and Kasparov when you're looking for excitement; what you want to see is a game between these two players! According to our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos it has all you could hope for in a tactical game: an insane opening, one sac after another, a steel king and pawn races. Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET.

Fischer's Electronic Archives – just an April 1st hoax

4/2/2008 – It was simply too good to be true: Bobby Fischer corresponding with all the great players in the past years, giving them tips and lines to play in their games? Fischer secretly responsible for all the dramatic novelties over the past years? Naturally this was a carefully crafted prank with no basis in reality. Tragic but true. Most readers spotted it immediately. Here a selection of their letters.

Just uncovered – Fischer's Electronic Archives

4/1/2008 – Two and a half months after the death of the great chess legend Bobby Fischer, the examination of his legal estate has yielded some intriguing information, gleaned from the hard disk of his notebook computer. Apparently the reclusive former World Champion followed the chess activities of his colleagues quite closely, and in fact corresponded with a few of them. Today we received copies of his letters.

Garry Kasparov – taking up Shogi?

4/1/2008 – It was an interesting experiment: the former World Champion has, after his retirement from chess, tried his hand at the Japanese version of the game. Shogi is played on a 9 by 9 uncheckered board with flat wedge-shaped pieces with Kanji characters written on them. In his very first game Kasparov came ominously close to humiliating a three-dan player. Report and game.

The magic eye

3/31/2008 – Steve Lopez spent the last several ChessBase Workshop columns discussing a new training feature in Fritz 11. This time he examines a new graphical element which appears in 3D chessboard modes: the "Magic Eye". What is revolutionary training feature and how does it work? Learn more about it in the newest ChessBase Workshop column.

Iranian Chess Championship 2008

3/30/2008 – If you search the phrase “Iran Chess” in one of the search engines, what will appear on your monitor hardly has anything to do with chess as a sport. Most of the search results refer to the politics, the chess battle of Iran and USA, or the nuclear chess game the IAEA has accused Iran of playing. But this is not all that is happening in Iranian chess. Big pictorial report by Arash Akbarinia.

Täby – biggest Women's Open in chess history

3/30/2008 – It was as bold as brass, the intention of the Swedish organizers enter the Guinness record book with the largest women's event ever. In attendance: 46 women grandmasters and 44 international masters (the Moscow Women Open 2008 in February had 26 WGMs and 12 WIMs). The winner in this and the Moscow Open: IM Anna Muzychuk of Slovenia. Illustrated report by Valery Golubenko.

Chess in France – Top 16 in Clichy

3/30/2008 – The first three rounds of the French Top 16 League took place from March 21th-23th, 2008, in four separate venues covering leagues A and B. The teams are playing with eight players per teams and at least one French female player. Clichy and Mulhouse are leading in Group A, with nine points each, while Cannes leads Evry by a point in Group B. Results, games and picture gallery.

DGT presents: World Premiere of the Foidos Chess Broadcast

3/28/2008 – This October there will be a World Chess Championship between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. The event will be broadcast on the Internet by the Dutch technology company DGT, using six cameras to show the action during the games. To demonstrate the new broadcast system DGT is staging a simultaneous exhibition between Kramnik and two strong players on April 2nd. Press release.

Fritz calculation training - part four

3/28/2008 – In our final installment of a series on Fritz11's calculation trainer, our columnist offers suggestions on creating your own "calculation training database", including the option to save your completed training tests. You can discover more about it in the new ChessBase Workshop.

Reader feedback: the great draw debate continues

3/27/2008 – "I propose," writes one reader, "that a draw proposal should reduce the time at your disposal to 30 minutes, so you receive a great penalty at the beginning of the game, decreasing to no penalty when you have only 30 minutes or less (at the end of the game)." These and many other imaginative proposals have reached us in the past weeks on a problem that is occupying the thoughts of our readers.

Melody Amber: Aronian wins with 2½ point lead

3/27/2008 – In the blindfold games 25-year-old Levon Aronian, Armenia's top grandmaster, scored 6.0/11, tying with Kramnik and Morozevich. In the rapid section he had 7.5/11, ahead of four players with 5.5 points each. In the combined scores he was (logically) 2.5 points ahead of his nearest rivals, Carlsen, Kramnik, Leko and Topalov. Aronian's performance: 2868. Illustrated report with videos.

The Nimzo-Indian with Rubinstein’s move 4.e3

3/26/2008 – After 4.Qc2 and 4.a3 in the last two weeks our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos today looks at a move introduced by the great Akiba Rubinstein, 4.e3. The game we look at is Taimanov-Averbakh from the famed 1953 Candidates tournament. It’s well worth watching, at 9 p.m. ET = 3 a.m. CET in Playchess.com’s Broadcast room. The show is free.

Melody Amber: Aronian leads by 2½ points

3/26/2008 – Levon Aronian is on fire: in round nine of the Blindfold and Rapid event in Nice he defeated Vishy Anand 1½:½, and in round ten whitewashed Alexander Morozevich 2-0. This put the Armenian GM in a commanding lead in both categories. In the overall score he leads with 12½ points ahead of Carlsen, Kramnik and Leko, who have ten points each. Illustrated report with lots of videos.

Miskolc 2008: It's Peter Leko vs Magnus Carlsen

3/26/2008 – Two world-class players, both chess prodigies. This year the city of Miskolc in the north-east of Hungary will host a spectacular eight-game rapid chess match between national hero Peter Leko, Hungary's top grandmaster, and the 17-year-old Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen. The event lasts from May 27 to June 1st and takes place in the National Theatre of Miskolc. Press release.

Topalov: 'I think this is a very good time for chess'

3/25/2008 – Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov is one of the most interesting players in world chess. His participation in a tournament guarantees uncompromising aggressive chess on at least one board. In November he is scheduled to play a World Championship qualifier against US grandmaster Gata Kamsky. Yuri Vasiliev spoke to Topalov about his general feelings about chess. Sport Express interview.

Women's World Championship in Istanbul?

3/25/2008 – The Atatürk International Women Masters was a great success, enjoyed by all involved. At the closing ceremony, where the players were given a tour of the sponsoring bank, there was an important meeting between the Turkish Sports Minister and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Result: the faltering Women's World Championship will most likely be held in Istanbul. Big illustrated report.

Fritz calculation training - part three

3/25/2008 – In the third of four Workshop columns by Steve Lopez on Fritz 11's new calculation trainer, we learn more about the feature's special function, including how it checks for move legality (and penalizes for illegal moves). Find out more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Eighth PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament with $16,000 prize fund

3/24/2008 – A "Freestyle tournament" is one in which computer assistance – or help in any conceivable form – during the game is allowed and encouraged. The Eighth PAL/CSS Freestyle tournament will take place on the Playchess server on two weekends, April 11-13 and April 25-27. The main sponsor, the PAL Group in Abu Dhabi (UAE), has provided a $16,000 dollar prize fund. Join the fun.

Melody Amber: Aronian leads by a full point

3/23/2008 – After seven rounds of the Blindfold and Rapid event Levon Aronian has 9.0/14 points, one more than Vishy Anand, who is in second place. Anand had some problems in his round six blindfold, but pulled off a convincing victory anyway. Others were not that lucky. Then again Anand suffered his first ever defeat against Magnus Carlsen in round seven. Illustrated report with video links.

Atatürk Istanbul: Hou Yifan wins Atatürk Masters

3/21/2008 – A quick final-round draw clinched it. The youngest participant, 14-year-old WGM Hou Yifan, won the Atatürk International Women Masters Chess Tournament in Istanbul with a full point lead, and a rating performance of 2674. Does anyone doubt that we are talking about a future world champion? Second was Swedish GM Pia Cramling. Illustrated round nine report.

Fritz calculation training - part two

3/21/2008 – In Part Two of our ChessBase Workshop series on Fritz11's new calculation training feature, we learn how Fritz can take nearly any chess position and turn it into a test of your chess visualization, even grading you on how well you calculate a variation. Sound too good to be true? Learn more in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Melody Amber: Aronian leads by a full point

3/20/2008 – Armenian GM Levon Aronian has taken the sole lead in the Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament that is taking place in Nice, France. Vladimir Kramnik defeated Veselin Topalov in their match, which started without a handshake. Vishy Anand lost his match against Peter Leko, but was adequately compensated by receiving a third honorary doctorate. Results, games and video reports.