North Urals Cup: Humpy wins, Xu Yuhua second

7/15/2005 – The North Urals Cup 2005, a super-tournament for female players, ended in victory for Indian GM Humpy Koneru. Second was another Asian, Xu Yuhua from China, third the Russian Women's Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk. Humpy is slowly emerging as an extraordinary figure in women's chess, quite on the lines of Judit Polgar. Illustrated report.

Dortmund R6 – From tomorrow: live Internet coverage

7/14/2005 – Round six of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting was blisteringly exciting, Naiditsch-Kramnik especially so, with the audience in Dortmund applauding loudly when it ended in an astonishing must-be-seen draw. Michael Adams defeated Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen and analysed his game for TV ChessBase. Full illustrated report.

The Chinese secret to success

7/13/2005 – What is the reason for the remarkable success of Chinese players in the international chess circuit? According to Prof. David H. Li it is entirely due to the fact that they are all weaned on XiangQi, the fast and combative Chinese version of the game. The outspoken academic elucidates in part two of his interview with René Gralla.

Dortmund R5 – Leko beats Nielsen with black

7/13/2005 – Round five of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting saw a lot of hard-fought draws and one win: Peter Leko defeated Danish GM Peter Heine Nielsen to join the lead group before the rest day. On our live post-game commentary on TV ChessBase Emil Sutovsky demonstrated exciting lines in his draw against Svidler. Full report.

Glasgow Radio ChessBase: Everything Except Dortmund

7/12/2005 – ChessBase Television is providing daily coverage from Dortmund. Now ChessBase Radio will complete the job by reviewing every other recent chess tournament in the world. IMs Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw will cover all the best incidents and accidents from the last two weeks.

Ivanchuk, Shirov, Bologan at Canada Open

7/11/2005 – It is not often that one gets to see the world’s top players in Canadian tournaments. But the Canada Open in Edmonton is starring Super GMs Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov and Viktor Bologan. Shirov even treated the spectators to a lecture – on quiet positions, would you believe it. Illustrated report.

Dortmund R4 – Bacrot scores against Sutovsky

7/11/2005 – First results from the Sparkassen Chess Meeting: Top French GM Etienne Bacrot, who was languishing with half a point from three games, struck out with black to defeat Emil Sutovsky. All the other games were drawn, although van Wely had Svidler on the ropes. Full report with video.

North Urals Cup: Xu Yuhua, Humpy lead

7/11/2005 – After six rounds there were four players at the top of the tables in this super-tournament for female players: two Russians and two Asians. Then disaster struck for the Russian girls: one lost cleanly to a compatriot, the other turned a brilliancy chance into a traumatic loss. So now the Asians are favourites to win.

Kasparov's Greatest Chess Games

7/11/2005 – He may have retired from chess, but his name is still permanently in the news. Not a bad thing for Gambit Publications, the producers of some of the finest chess books that are available in the world today. Gambit has released grandmaster Igor Stohl's latest work: "Garry Kasparov’s Greatest Chess Games: Volume 1". We bring you a sampler.

Dortmund R3 – three sensational games

7/10/2005 – This is turning into one big slugfest. In round three of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting Vladimir Kramnik beat Veselin Topalov, young Arkadij Naiditsch outplayed Peter Leko, and Loek van Wely beat Michael Adams with black. We have a full report and video replay of our first (test) TV ChessBase broadcast from Dortmund.

First International Black Sea Tournament in Istanbul

7/10/2005 – This event was held in the Turkish metropolis from July 1 to 5. The goal was to extend the cultural and sporting relations between the countries bordering the Black Sea. Romania won the team event, Motoc and Zarkua won the women's and men's sections. And everyone had great fun sight-seeing on the Bosphorus. Pictorial report.

Mikhail Tal – too complicated to analyse?

7/10/2005 – The legendary Latvian world champion was famous for his intricate games. In his Monday night lecture on Playchess Dennis Monokroussos examines one of the most excruciating examples, a game Tal himself did not dare to annotate. But it worth a try, since it exemplifies the magic and ferocity of Tal's chess.

London Terror: Twenty Minutes to Eternity

7/9/2005 – The Thursday atrocities in London left the world stunned, with terrorists hitting the nerve centres of the city's transport system. After the initial horror had subsided, and the phones were working again, we started contacting our friends. None had been harmed, but one escaped disaster by just twenty minutes. It is hard to believe who that was...

Dortmund R2– Kramnik loses to Sutovsky

7/9/2005 – The shocker of round two of the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund was the loss of classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik to Israeli GM Emil Sutovsky. Topalov came back after yesterday's defeat to beat Naiditsch, and van Wely took the full point against French GM Etienne Bacrot. Games, pictures and analysis.

The Polgar Sisters' Las Vegas Triplex Simul

7/8/2005 – We promised that it was coming, and here it is, a big pictorial report of the reunion of the Polgar sisters, who appeared together in Las Vegas for the first time in 12 years. There were lectures, autographs, a TV special and an unusual triplex simul. What a promotion for chess!

Dortmund R1 – Four wins in five games

7/8/2005 – The Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund started with a bang Friday afternoon. Four games ended in white wins: Leko outplayed Van Wely, Adams defeated Topalov, Naiditsch beat Sutovsky and P.H. Nielsen took a point from Bacrot. Kramnik drew to his sometimes second Svidler. We bring you a full illustrated report.

Workshop: Into the mailbag again 2

7/8/2005 – He *definitely* thinks too much. In another trip to the ChessBase Workshop mailbag, columnist Steve Lopez looks at a short, insulting e-mail and somehow spins it into a philosophical discussion on life, love, learning, and the pursuit of twelve-ounce frosties...

Dortmund 2005 – with Internet TV coverage

7/7/2005 – On Friday the strongest tournament on German soil begins, a category to 19 with ten participants who include Topalov, Leko, Kramnik, Adams and Svidler. This year the games will not be transmitted live on the Internet, they will only become available after the games have ended. But then with live TV reports and interviews.

First British Internet Schools Championship

7/7/2005 – They got the Olympics, now they are taking on youth chess. British schools are invited to register for the first Internet Championship, which, if successful, will be widening out into Europe, and eventually all over the World. The organisers call this event a gateway to the future of chess in education.

Where a Hundred Cultures Met

7/7/2005 – Everyone who attended the Sixth ASEAN Age-Group Chess Championships took back memories. For ten days you could witness the meeting and blending of a hundred cultures – in a region with half a billion people, called Southeast Asia. It was staged in Pattaya, Thailand. Here's Leung Weiwen's illustrated report.

Anatoly Karpov speaks his mind

7/6/2005 – In August the twelfth world champion, now 54, will take part in a veteran's summit in Mainz (with Unzicker, Spassky and Kortchnoi). To promote the event he has given the organisers an extensive and very outspoken interview on Kirsan Ilyumzhinov ("dickhead"), Kasparov ("pitiful"), and the general situation in the chess world.

Live 8 and chess in Philadelphia

7/6/2005 – The World Open is a Philadelphia fixture each year during the week that includes July 4, Independence Day in the USA. This year it shared the spotlight with Live 8, but that didn’t deter 1025 chess players, from US Champion Hikaru Nakamura all the way down to rank beginners, from turning up and having a grand chess time. Pictures and impressions.

A Grandmaster in Beirut

7/5/2005 – It is not often that you can spot a veritable chess grandmaster in this war-torn region. But Nigel Short, who had made friends with Lebanese players on the Playchess server, undertook the trip to the Middle East, to give a simul, see the country and meet the people. Illustrated report.

North Urals Cup: Ladies Super-Tournament

7/5/2005 – For the third time the city of Krasnoturinsk in Central Russia is hosting the strongest women's tournament of the year, with a number of world and Russian champions, and an Elo average of 2490. We bring you a special report great pictures by Vadim Smalkov.