A fond farewell to Jinan

4/23/2005 – The tournament is over, the participants have returned to their homes, all with a feeling of nostalgia after a wonderful time in the Chinese metropolis. Our roving reporter Ali Nihat Yazici sends us a final report, with pictures of the last round, the prize giving and the closing ceremony. He also introduces us to a future world champion.

Making your own playbook

4/22/2005 – A recent column by Mig Greengard on Garry Kasparov's "opening playbook" has our readers clamouring for information on how to build such a database of their own. We're happy to oblige with a three part ChessBase Workshop series; you'll find Part One here.

Tournaments – Cuba, Gausdal, Sigeman, Sochi

4/22/2005 – Currently there are a lot of great tournaments going on, such as the Cuban championship, the Russian team championship or Sigeman & Co in Copenhagen (where Nakamura has just played 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 against Sasikiran). Playchess.com is broadcasting many of the games live. Here are short reports, games and links.

Pictures of the Moscow assault

4/22/2005 – A week ago Garry Kasparov was attacked in Moscow, by a young man posing as a chess fan who wanted his chess board signed. Now it turns out that the incident was captured, by two cameras from different angles. Apparently some people may have known it was coming. Here are the pictures and Kasparov's commentary.

FIDE 2005 World Championship in San Luis, Argentina

4/21/2005 – FIDE's plans for a classical chess world championship seem to have materialised, with the announcement that a sponsor has been found for a one million dollar prize fund. The event will be staged in San Luis, Argentina from September 27 to October 16, 2005. Details.

Bidding for the FIDE World Championship

4/20/2005 – The World Chess Federation has published the conditions for its classical chess world championship in October 2005. Eight players, Kasimdzhanov, Adams, Kramnik, Leko, Kasparov, Anand, Topalov and Morozevich, are invited to take part in a double round robin. A prize fund of $500,000 is guaranteed, but FIDE is seeking bidders for more.

Confucius say: Ni hao and Xie Xie!

4/20/2005 – Last Sunday the participants of the World Ladies Tournament in Jinan visited the famous city of Jining. It is the seat of the Torch Group. This company is sponsoring the Chinese Chess League, for which the girls are doing a promotional. Ali Nihat Yazici has sent us another spectacular pictorial report.

Chess in the mainstream world today

4/19/2005 – Last Sunday ESPN aired a story about Bobby Fischer. Jeremy Schaap traveled to Iceland and reported on what he found. But he mainly went there to confront and provoke Bobby. Susan Polgar, who knows and admires Schaap, is distressed to see chess reduced to this theme on a national sports channel. Here are her thoughts on the subject.

Lubos Kavalek – distracted by a whale

4/19/2005 – We thought we had heard them all, but the following excuse for blundering in a game of chess tops the list: "I was distracted by a whale!" Well, it actually happened, during a game on Cooper Island, where a traditional chess picnic has been staged for many decades now. GM Lubos Kavalek describes his latest adventure.

Monokroussos on Pachman vs Fischer

4/17/2005 – The Czech/German GM Ludek Pachman was a very strong GM and a fine chess author as well. In 1959 he faced the young Bobby Fischer, and their game, which Dennis Monokroussos will show us in his Monday night lecture on Playchess.com is full of sacrifices, counter-sacrifices and special effects. Join us for a terrific show.

Our man in Jinan

4/17/2005 – The World Ladies Tournament is under way, with our intrepid reporter Ali Nihat Yazici on the scene to give us his pictorial impressions of the Chinese metropolis of Jinan. Ali tells us about the chess, the sponsors, the people, a simultaneous exhibition, lunches, dinners and a memorable foot massage. Don't you wish you were there with him?

Turmoil in the Indian chess community continues

4/17/2005 – India is one of the emerging chess superpowers (the other is China). With so many exciting talents in the country it is unfortunate that the national federation is in turmoil. The president and his team were recently restrained by an Indian court, rival officers received recognition by FIDE. Now the original federation is fighting back.

Kasparov assaulted in Moscow

4/16/2005 – Garry Kasparov was attacked after a meeting with youth activists in Moscow. He was approached by an autograph seeking participant. The young man circled Kasparov and delivered a sharp blow to the head with the chessboard. Russian news agencies place the blame on the pro-Putin organisations Nashi. We spoke to Kasparov

Saying 'Yes' to Chess in Nashville

4/16/2005 – It was the largest scholastic chess tournament in history and took place in Nashville, TN, USA. A total of 5230 players, from kindergarten through 12th grade, from over 1,300 schools and more than 600 cities in 48 states participated. The previous record was 4,606 entries recorded at the Super Nationals II in Kansas City. Illustrated report by Paul Truong.

Tournaments – past, present and future

4/15/2005 – A whole slew of high-class tournaments have just finished, are in progress, or have been announced. Dos Hermanas (won by Radjabov), the Cuban Championship, Gausdal, Sigeman & Co, the Russian Team Championship, Sofia and Dortmund – hardly any you will want to miss. We bring you games, results and links.

Bobby Fischer settles down

4/15/2005 – The news was he planned to sue the US Government for $200 million. Now we learn that Fischer has dropped the lawsuit, which may have been filed without his consent. He is settling down in Iceland, enjoying the food (especially seafood and lamb), the space and fresh air, the absence of nuclear plants. We bring you the latest news and lots of new photos.

The Garry Kasparov Interview, part 2

4/14/2005 – In the second installment of our epic interview with the world's highest-rated chess retiree, we discuss Kasparov's picks for his best games, tournaments, and years, his legendary opening preparation, chess evolution over the decades, and the past and future of chess and the championship. And what about Fischer?

The Nigerian Chess Scam – revisited

4/14/2005 – Remember the Advance Fee Fraud involving chess teacher being promised a $150,000 a year salary for training the Nigerian chess team? Well, one chess trainer has applied for the job. Grandmaster Dr Martin Roland, number 19 on the world rankings (Elo 2698), successful Linares player and seven times Olympic gold medalist, has come close to clinching the deal.

World Ladies Tournament in Jinan

4/14/2005 – In 2003 the city of Jinan staged a male + female tandem chess event, now these imaginative Chinese organisers have come up with another winner: inviting twelve beautiful, strong women players to take part in the San Jinan Cup World Ladies Tournament (April 14–19). We enthusiastically bring you a first giant pictorial report.

Sensation: Dubai Open won by Wang Hao

4/14/2005 – Wang Who?? The question and the question marks are justified. The clear first place winner is a Chinese player who left 53 GMs and 30 IMs gasping for air. We say player because Wang has no FIDE title. It gets worse: he turned 16 during round five of the event. Clearly we are going to have to watch this lad. Full report with games, results and lots of pictures.

Viktor Kortchnoi's my life for chess

4/13/2005 – Viktor Kortchnoi has authored an incredible two DVD series for ChessBase entitled "My Life for Chess". Get a preview of these disks featuring the man ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve Lopez calls "a bottled hurricane". Workshop...

Peter Leko takes on the French

4/12/2005 – Recently Peter Leko, Hungary's top GM and the world's number four player, gave a clock simul against eight top chess teams from French schools and universities. Each side had 90 minutes for all the moves, Leko naturally 90 minutes for all his games. The event was held in the Paris Senat. Guess who turned up...

On world chess and crapulent GMs

4/11/2005 – In recent days there has been a spate of articles, editorials and interviews on chess. Anand gave an interview to Rediff; Jon Speelman and Leonard Barden wrote columns in the Guardian; ACP president Joel Lautier was extensively interviewed by the Russian chess magazine 64-Chess; and of course Nigel Short did his thing in the Telegraph. Interesting material...

Anand wins fourth Chess Oscar

4/11/2005 – He won two in a row, in 1997 and 1998. Now Indian Super-GM Vishy Anand has done it again, winning the Oscar for 2004 Chess Oscar after clinching it for 2003. The worldwide poll involving leading chess writers, critics and journalists from 75 countries, and conducted by Russian magazine 64, gave Anand 5205 points for victory.