The 'Game of the Champions' begins

4/7/2006 – It is a four-game match, being played between FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, and reigning European Champion Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania. The venue is Bucharest, the time controls are classic. The first game ended in a draw. We bring you an illustrated report with commentary by GM Mihail Marin.

Election '06: All about Kirsan and Kalmykia

4/6/2006 – Today we received an email from the Kirsan Election Campaign center, pointing us to an article on the "somewhat controversial figure" of their candidate for President of FIDE. It is (piquant, piquant) by members of the rival ticket. Coincidentally there is a big story on Ilyumzhinov and Kalmykia in today's Times, unveiling Kirsan's latest plan.

Reader mail

4/6/2006 – The reader mail created by our two ChessBase Workshop columns on distributed computing and the "solvability" of chess continues to pour in unabated. Our intrepid columnist once again braves the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (or at least those of our readers) to present some e-mail commentary generated by the topic, as well as his replies. Workshop...

'League for Truth and Veracity' – a meta-prank

4/5/2006 – Apparently there is no such organisation. Google finds only one reference to it – in our April 1st story, which resulted in many hundreds of emails flooding our inbox. But wait a minute, amongst these were warnings and threats from LT&V. And some very entertaining efforts, like the wag who wrote: I never meta-prank I didn't like!

7th European Championships start in Kusadasi

4/5/2006 – With 85 GMs (20 over 2600) and 37 IMs from 36 countries in the men's section, and 81 titled players from 27 countries in the women's section, this is a stellar event. The five-star accommodation and a €78.000 prize fund have tempted a total of 234 to the beautiful western Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Big pictorial report.

Kirsan on the campaign trail

4/4/2006 – The next FIDE elections will be held in early June 2006. During the past few months we have been hearing quite a bit from the Right Move ticket. Now the incumbent President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is running for a third term, has launched his own campaign web site. It claims the support of 40 federations and included an interview with Anatoly Karpov.

Heavyweight clashes on the ChessBase Show

4/4/2006 – Our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin shows us how Anand makes a mess of Kasimdzhanov in a topical Ruy Lopez, how Black triumphs in a complicated variation of the King's Indian in Topalov-Svidler 2006, and the scourge of many a one-minute game, 1.d4 c5, as in Fridman-Rustemov from the Bundesliga. Meet you on the server!

Chess in Croatia

4/4/2006 – Although it is slightly smaller than the US state of West Virginia, Croatia today has 17 GMs, 50 IMs and 82 FMs. The country can also look back on more than six centuries of chess. Ali Nihat Yazici travelled to Croatia to check its suitability for the European Youth Championships in 2007. Here is his report.

Freestyle tournament: Finals this weekend

4/3/2006 – After tiebreak matches the eight qualifiers of the Second PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament are ready to battle it out for the $16,000 prize fund. At the faster time controls this time four pure engines made it to the final round. You can come and watch the action at 14:00h CEST on Saturday and Sunday, when the tournament director says: Gentlemen, start your engines.

FIDE's April 2006 ratings without Kasparov

4/3/2006 – For decades we have been used to see him at the top of every chess rating list. Now, a year after his retirement from competitive chess, Garry Kasparov has been taken off the FIDE rating list. His successor is the current FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov, just one point ahead of Vishy Anand. Here are the top rankings.

The outrageous king walk

4/2/2006 – In chess the king usually belongs in a corner of the board, squirreled away in the safety of a castled position. But sometimes the king can perform an outrageous walk into the enemy camp. Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us examples.

Position tutor

4/2/2006 – Our ChessBase Workshop columnist has been showing off the latest Fritz9 features in recent columns. In the latest edition he spotlights what in his opinion is the greatest new feature of Fritz9. Read about it in the latest edition. Workshop...

ChessBase: no more April Fool's jokes

4/1/2006 – In the past years our web site has published a series of elaborate April Fool's stories. Not this year, and not any more. An international watchdog group which calls itself League for Truth and Veracity, is threatening news services as well as private pranksters all over the world with lawsuits for publishing false information. This unfortunate activity spells the end of an old tradition.

Garry Kasparov in Chess Cafe and on BBC

3/31/2006 – Chess Cafe has done an indepth interview with Garry Kasparov on volume five of his "Great Predecessors". And yesterday a special edition of BBC's Question time, broadcast from Moscow, had the former champion turned politician on the panel. The debate was heated and contraversial – and can be watched in full on BBC's video service. Don't miss it!

Morozevich and Anand win Melody Amber

3/30/2006 – Vishy Anand did it for the fifth time, Alexander Morozevich for the third (in just five appearances). The two shared first at the 15th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Chess Tournament in Monaco, with a score of 14.5/22. Two points later we find Francisco Vallejo, with Grischuk, Topalov and Leko following. Final report.

World champion and mother-to-be

3/30/2006 – We learn that Chinese WGM Xu Yuhua, who recently won the women's world championship title in Ekaterinburg, was in a late stage of pregnancy when she did so. This is a first for the women's chess title. Xu arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to a warm welcome. Meanwhile her predecessor Zhu Chen appears to have problems with her federation. News reports.

Inspiration – taken from the stars

3/29/2006 – Our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin drew his early inspiration from the games of great players. For this he gives us some "unfriendly" examples – Spassky's devastating win over Smyslov in a Leningrad Nimzo, and the violent battle between Baburin and Nunn in a friendly Irish tournament. Well, at least the competition puzzle is peaceful. Tune into the the Playchess airwaves.

Watch the total eclipse – in Antalya or with Fritz

3/29/2006 – You may have heard that there will be a total eclipse of the Sun on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006. The shadow of the Moon will sweep across Brazil, the Atlantic Ocean, the Sahara, the Mediterranean, Turkey, the Black Sea, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. If you do not happen to be located in one of these places you can still watch the eclipse, live on Fritz.

Irina Sudakova wins Mediterranean Flower

3/28/2006 – No, not a prize blossom. What the Russian WGM won was a ten-player women's round robin event, held in Rijeka, Croatia, the sixth of its kind in this beautiful location. Second was Valentina Golubenko, who made her final WIM and her first WGM norm in the process. Valentina's father Valery sent us a big illustrated report.

New Fritz 9 training modes

3/27/2006 – The new Fritz9 program is chock full of new features for developing chessplayers. Among these are three new training modes designed to help you increase your "board vision". We show you how to use Attack, Defense, and Check Training in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Tigran Petrosian – an acquired taste

3/26/2006 – He was a brilliant calculator with a tremendous imagination, but rather than displaying his skills a la Tal, Petrosian's gifts operated in the service of a prophylactic approach – typically the opponent found himself strangled by a slow-motion, python-like squeeze. Our Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos will illustrate in his Monday night lecture.

Monaco: Morozevich leads, Anand in second place

3/25/2006 – With 5.5/7 Alexander Morozevich is doing very well in the blindfold game at the €216,000 Melody Amber tournament in Monte Carlo, Monaco. In the rapid chess section Anand is in the lead. If you count both together Morozevich leads overall with 9.5/14, with Anand trailing by half a point. With four rounds to go only Vallejo and Leko have real chances to catch up. Round seven report.

Xu Yuhua is the eleventh Women's World Champion

3/25/2006 – After winning her first game and drawing the second, Chinese WGM Xu Yuhua today took the title at the Women's World Chess Championship by defeating her opponent, IM Alisa Galliamova of Russia, with the black pieces. According to our calculations this makes Xu the eleventh champion, since Vera Menchik first won the title in 1927. Congratulations Xu!

Alekhine's death – an unresolved mystery?

3/25/2006 – In 1946 Alexander Alekhine, the fourth world champion, was penniless and ailing, ostracized by the chess community. Then, on March 23, the British Chess Federation informed him that preparations for a title match against Botvinnik were completed. The next day Alekhine was found lifeless in his hotel room. There are still questions about his death.