Some thoughts on aging

4/25/2006 – Today Grandmaster John Nunn turns 51. Not a reason to panic, but our circumspect friend and advisor uses the occasion to reflect on aging and life expectancy in today's world. And we use it to start a collection of oldest grandmasters and active chess players. You can contribute.

The Velimirovic Attack... continues

4/24/2006 – Last Monday our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos examined an extraordinary correspondence chess battle, initiated by the Velimirovic Attack in the Classical Sicilian. The game is so instructive that it will be continued in this Monday's lecture. Don't miss it.

Wolfgang Unzicker, 1925–2006

4/24/2006 – After the war, until around 1970, he was the strongest German chess grandmaster. But Wolfgang Unzicker, seven times German champion, never made chess his profession, practicing law instead. He played in thirteen Olympiads and represented his country on the national team 400 times. Unzicker died of heart failure during a holiday in Portugal on April 20, 2006. In memoriam.

Klitschko checkmates Byrd to win IBF title

4/24/2006 – Vladimir Klitschko, the younger of the world champion heavyweight boxing brothers, took the new International Boxing Federation title on Friday night, defeating Chris Byrd of the US by technical knockout in the seventh round. The Klitschkos are great chess fans and promised their friend Vladimir Kramnik, who was present at the fight, to attend his matches.

Russian Club Championships begin

4/24/2006 – The idyllic town of Black Sea town of Sochi is paying host to the Russian Club Championship, which runs from April 19 to May 1st. Present are stars like Ivanchuk, Morozevich, Gelfand, Shirov, Ponomariov, Kasimdzhanov, Grischuk and many other world-class GMs – including a large contingent of foreign legionaries. Big photo report.

Ganguly, Sandipan, Singh win Indian Championship

4/22/2006 – The trio of grandmasters scored 14 points each in the grueling 20-round event, which is also the qualifier for the Olympic team. Ganguly took first on tiebreak. In the women's section WGM Swathi Ghate scored a maiden victory in her eighth attempt at the national championship. From Visakhapatnam we bring you a report, pictures and games.

On the other side of the lens

4/21/2006 – For two years now she has been providing us with photos. Her chess photobase has grown to around 2,000 high quality shots (of which she claims to like just about ten). Her dream is to make series of styled shots of the best world chess players. But before she could achieve this dream she herself was the subject of a photo shoot. Meet the remarkable Ms Boytsun.

Election 2006: could Topalov be excluded from the next cycle?

4/20/2006 – Recently FIDE announced a match between the classical chess and FIDE world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov. Presidential candidate Bessel Kok, who initiated the reunification process back in 2002, has directed a number of pertinent questions to FIDE, e.g. is this a FIDE or Kirsan match, and will Topalov be excluded from the next cycle if he loses?

Bidding to play Garry Kasparov

4/20/2006 – Right, we know he has retired and is now concentrating on politics. But if you want to play a game of chess against him you still can, live and in person, at the New York Athletic Club. Tickets for participants, who can bring up to three guests each, can be obtained on eBay's nonprofit "Giving Works". Bidding start on April 21st.

Workshop: Hiarcs 10, Big and MegaDatase

4/20/2006 – The Big and Mega 2006 Databases are now available, as well as programmer Mark Uniacke's brainchild Hiarcs 10. Get a sneak peek at all of these DVD offerings in the new Chessbase Workshop.

Books, a dangerous Najdorf, et al.

4/19/2006 – Tonight on Playchess our host Andrew Martin looks at three interesting new books, a dangerous line in the Najdorf, a Nisipeanu loss in the Sicilian and a blistering win in the Centre-Counter. There is also the weekly chess puzzle, to improve your endgame tactical skill. See you on the server.

European Champs, Santa Lucia on Playchess

4/18/2006 – Easter weekend was very special for our chess server. The European individual champioships ended, and apart from being able to follow all important games live on Playchess, visitors were treated to special indepth interviews by both the winners. On Sunday the closing ceremony was broadcast live, with a baritone aria sung by chess legend Lajos Portisch.

Election 2006: Karpov and Topalov speak out

4/17/2006 – Former world champion Anatoly has been recently quoted as saying incumbent FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has a 100% chances of winning the election. In a recent interview Karpov modified this statement. Meanwhile FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov is quoted as saying "I hope Kirsan will win again". Election interviews.

Almira Skripchenko: Discovering China – part four

4/17/2006 – Three weeks ago Xu Yuhua won the Women's World Championship. Since 1991 three Chinese players have held the title for a total of twelve years. What is the secret of their success and why this extraordinary boom in women's chess in China? Our roving correspondent Almira Skripchenko gives us an answer in part four of her China pictorial.

Kirsan reveals details of Topalov-Kramnik match

4/16/2006 – FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has revealed further details on the reunification match planned for Elista in September. All contracts have been signed, the prize fund of one million dollars will be split, whatever the outcome of the match, and the loser will have to start in the next cycle from scratch. Sport Express report.

Chess and the laws of physics

4/16/2006 – Two years ago we told you about a book in which Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, used the rules of chess to illustrate the laws of physics. Feynman was famous for his ability to explain complex subjects to a lay audience in a sparkling, entertaining fashion. Now we have found a video of his chess analogy lecture.

Zor-Champ wins Freestyle Tournament

4/16/2006 – In a very exciting final the team of Zor-Champ, located in the United Arab Emirates, took first place and the $8,000 prize money in the Second PAL/CSS Freestyle Tournament. The team was driven by the program Hydra, which runs on multi-processor speical-purpose hardware. Second was IM Vasik Rajlich, assisted by his own program Rybka. Report and games.

The Velimirovic Correspondence Chess Attack

4/16/2006 – The realm of postcard and email chess tends to be wrongly neglected – it is a treasure trove of great, theoretically significant games. Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us a spectacular example. It's for people who love sharp openings and wild tactics.

Ekaterina Atalik and Zdenko Kozul European Champions

4/16/2006 – Croatia's top GM Zdenko Kozul won the men's section of the 2006 European Individual Championships in Kusadasi, ahead of top seed Vassily Ivanchuk. In the women's tournament WGM Ekaterina Atalik, who plays for Turkey, delighted her hosts by taking the title. Report and games.

Breaking news: Topalov vs Kramnik confirmed

4/14/2006 – "Today is a historic day for for our sport!" FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has just announced that the long-awaited match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik will take place from September 21 to October 13 in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia. It will be over 12 games and the prize fund a guaranteed minimum of one million US dollars.

World Computer Chess Champion: Zap!Chess

4/13/2006 – Our new program, Zap!Chess, is the reigning computer chess world champion, written by Anthony Cozzie from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Zap!Chess uses the same singular extensions algorithms as the famous Deep Blue program, and has one of the best parallel implementations in the world. It also uses 64-bit machines to their full potential. Read and buy.

Elections 2006: the battle becomes belligerent

4/13/2006 – "Turkish Gambit" is an article published on Kirsan's Campaign 2006 website, attacking the candidate for Deputy President on the rival ticket. The Israeli delegate Israel Gelfer, a very influential member of FIDE's Executive Board, criticizes Presidential candidate Bessel Kok, who replies forcefully. Campaign news.

Reader mail...

4/13/2006 – As our ChessBase Workshop columnist says at the start of the latest column: "I never intended for ChessBase Workshop to be a column driven by reader questions and comments, but as long as interesting e-mails keep coming, I'll keep printing them." He's printed another batch for your perusal along with his replies in his new column. Workshop...

FIDE's April 2006 ratings – revised

4/12/2006 – FIDE has done a silent update to their April 2006 rating list. Vassily Ivanchuk and Nigel Short had both lost points from games they had never played. Ivanchuk is now at number seven (originally ten) and Short has moved up ten ranks, from 37 to 27. Efimenko lost 14 points and dropped 15 places. Corrected list (updated).