The tormented life of Jessie Gilbert

8/7/2006 – Ten days ago we reported on the death of 19-year-old chess talent Jessie Gilbert, member of the English Olympiad team, who fell from the eighth floor window of a hotel during a tournament in Pardubice, Czech Republic. We did not delve into the very distressing circumstances of her death, but now details have appeared in all the British broadsheets.

Dortmund R7: Vladimir Kramnik wins Super-GM

8/7/2006 – Who would have thought so a few days ago. With two dramatic victories in the last two rounds classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik snatched victory from the colleagues who had been looming ahead of him during the earlier part of the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Equal first was Peter Svidler. Full updated report.

The four-year career of Rudolf Charousek

8/6/2006 – The Hungarian-Jewish chess player Rudolf Charousek was born in 1873, and launched his chess career at the age of 22. He beat world champion Emanuel Lasker in his debut and came no worse than second in all subsequent tournaments. Charousek died at the age of 26. In his Monday night Playchess Dennis Monokroussos reminds us of his brief but brilliant chess career.

Dortmund R6: Kramnik zaps Jobava in 15 moves with black

8/6/2006 – Stunned by a combination he had overseen Georgian Baadur Jobava resigned to Vladimir Kramnik on move 15. Peter Svidler outplayed Levon Aronian with black to score a second win and join Peter Leko in the lead. The final round starts on Sunday at 13:00 h CEST, with Kramnik vs Leko as its star attraction to follow on Playchess.com. Round six report.

Dortmund R5: Leko, Gelfand win, Leko leads

8/5/2006 – Peter Leko beat Levon Aronian for his second win and the sole lead in this event. After a 7½ hour marathon loss to Michael Adams in round four, Boris Gelfand, 38, was faced with another seven-hour game, but this time on the winning end. He ground down Baadur Jobova in an interesting and instructive endgame queen and pawn vs queen.

The remarkable Alexander Morozevich wins Biel

8/4/2006 – The top seed lost both his games against Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen. But then, apart from a last-round draw, Alexander Morozevich won the rest of his games – all of them. With a 7.5/10 score and a sizzling 2853 performance Morozevich took Biel 1.5 points ahead of the field. Pia Cramling dominated the women's section in similar fashion. Pictorial report.

Harikrishna, Almasi win soccer match

8/4/2006 – There were six decided games at the György Marx Memorial in Paks, Hungary, of a total of 21 in the first seven rounds. India's Pentala Harikrishna won two, as did Hungary's Zoltan Almasi, who also lost one (to Harikrishna). On the free day th players got together for a soccer match, with both Hari and Almasi on the winning team. Picture report and annotated games.

Dortmund R4: Adams beats Gelfand in 7½ hours

8/3/2006 – That was the grind that was! It took Michael Adams 117 moves, requiring seven hours and 25 minutes, to wrest, with a bit of luck, the full point from a tenacious Boris Gelfand and catch up with the leaders at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Aronian was close to victory against Naiditsch, but this and the other two games ended in draws. Report.

Kateryna! 16-year-old Ukrainian wins Women's Supertournament

8/3/2006 – Kateryna Lahno is one of the great contemporary talents in women's chess. At 13 she was the world's youngest WGM, and made a full (male) GM norm. After some years of mixed successes Katya has now won the North Urals Cup 2006, a full point ahead of her nearest rival. In the process she scored another GM norm with a 2700 performance. Big photo report.

World Champion Junior 10 available

8/3/2006 – Come and get it – the freshly crowned program Junior 10 is now on sale. It is known for its unique understanding of dynamic, sacrificial positions and packs all the clout you will need for chess training and analysis. The program is available for single or multiple processors. Order it now or read more about this remarkable new program.

Dortmund R3: All games drawn, but some excitement

8/2/2006 – Once again all four games were drawn in Dortmund, but they did offer moments of excitement for kibitzers from all over the world on the Playchess.com. Arkadij Naiditsch tried to provoke Vladimir Kramnik with the black pieces and almost succeeded in causing him trouble, and Adams played a wild game against Peter Leko. Report.

Heavy hitters on the Radio Show

8/2/2006 – On this week's Radio Show we get concentrated top-leven chess from our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin: Leko-Naiditsch from Dortmund, Carlsen-Volotikin and Carlsen-Morozevitch from Biel, Acs-Harikrishna from the Gyorgy Marx Memorial. Can you afford to miss it?

Fischer's dispute with Swiss bank

8/1/2006 – Without giving a reason the Union Bank of Switzerland, one of the world's largest, has transferred the assets of the legendary chess world champion Bobby Fischer to a bank account in Iceland, where Fischer now resides. The sum of three million Swiss Francs (US $2.4 m or €1.9 m) was transferred without Fischer's permission and against his will. Nobody knows why.

Malakhatko, Short, Hector win Politiken Cup

8/1/2006 – The Politiken Cup in Copenhagen was won by three of the highest rated players in the field. Top seed Nigel Short just made it, beating his 13-year-old trainee Parimarjan Negi in the last round – an important victory that proves that it is right for the Negis to pay Nigel for the training sessions and not the other way round. Report.

Pentala Harikrishna leading at Paks

7/31/2006 – The IV. György Marx Memorial, 28 July to 7 August 2006, is being held in Paks, Hungary. The tournament is intended to give the most talented young grandmasters of the country an opportunity to gain experience. This they are doing, at the hands of an Indian, Chinese and Ukrainian GM. Annotated games.

Dortmund R2: All games drawn

7/30/2006 – The two Peters, Svidler and Leko, stayed at the top of the table with a 23-move draw at the Dotrmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. Naiditsch and Jobava, who had lost in round one, drew against Boris Gelfand and Michael Adams. Aronian and Kramnik drew in 43 moves. There is also a women's match to watch.

Dortmund R1: Svidler and Leko win

7/30/2006 – Peter Leko, playing his first serious tournament game in over four months, scored a convincing victory over the winner of last year's Dotrmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Arkadij Naiditsch. Newcomer Baadur Jobava pressed too hard against the world's number five player Peter Svidler, who won with the black pieces. Report and pictures.

Wojo's well-calculated play

7/30/2006 – Aleksander Wojtkiewicz' games games haven't received as much exposure as one might expect from a grandmaster of his strength. In his Monday night Playchess Dennis Monokroussos takes a small step towards rectifying with a beautiful attacking win.

Even more letters...

7/30/2006 – The letters to ChessBase Workshop keep pouring in. In the latest edition, columnist Steve Lopez fields queries and offers observations on games which end in time trouble, Fritz training modes, deleting games from databases, Linux software, database caching, and how Chaturanga fits nicely into his fairly dissolute lifestyle. Workshop...

Morozevich leads in Biel

7/29/2006 – The Biel/Bienne Chess Festival, which included two high-category GM double round robins, has reached its half-way mark. 15-year-old Magnus Carlsen was doing very well until round four, after beating top Seed Morozevich, but the latter won all his other games to take the lead. In the women's section it is Pia Cramling who is leading the pride. Report, games and pictures.

Katya and Zhu lead in Women's Supertournament

7/27/2006 – The North Urals Cup 2006 is under way, and after five rounds Ukraine's 16-year-old Katerina Lahno is leading with 4.5 points and a thumping 2865 performance! She is followed by former world champion Zhu Chen with 4.0 points and a 2770 performance. After neglecting this event we bring you up-to-date with a big pictorial report.

Chess talent Jessie Gilbert dies at 19

7/27/2006 – Another shock for the chess world: Jessie Gilbert of Croydon, England, who won the Women’s World Amateur Championship in 1999 at the age of 11, fell from the eighth floor window of a hotel in Pardubice, Czech Republic, where she was taking part in a tournament. The circumstances of her death are still not clear.

I am-sterdam: Sergey Tiviakov wins

7/26/2006 – The hard-fought 3rd Amsterdam Chess Tournament ended in a three-way tie for first. The winner on tiebreak points (and performance) was Dutch GM Sergey Tiviakov, followed by Sergey Erenburg, Israel, and Friso Nijboer, Netherlands. Splendid foto report by Frits Agterdenbos.

Aleks – GM Shabalov on Aleksander Wojtkiewicz' death

7/26/2006 – On July 14th Grandmaster Aleksander (Aleks) Wojtkiewitz, Polish citizen born in Latvia and resident in the USA, died at the age of just 43. He was well known, but also a sometimes controversial figure in the chess world. A colleague who knew him especially well is GM Alexander Shabalov. He and others have sent in their thoughts on Aleks' passing.