The world's second-youngest grandmaster

12/19/2004 – Ngoc Truongson Nguyen is a name you're going to have to remember. The lad from Vietnam, blessed with a 2527 rating, has just completed his third GM norm at the First Saturday tournament in Budapest – just over two months shy of his 15th birthday. A number of IM norms were made by other players, none older than 17. We bring you games, results and pictures.

The American Chess Gladiator

12/19/2004 – 17-year-old Hikaru Nakamura may have missed breaking Fischer's record for the youngest US Champion, but he is well on the way to smashing every other one and becoming a true American sporting star. In this week's Playchess.com lecture Dennis Monkroussos takes a look at some very interesting and instructive games from this exemplar of fighting chess.

Clinton, Kasparov at the Accoona launch

12/18/2004 – Accoona is a new company that specializes in two things: creating and running an advanced Google-style search engine, and building business relations between China and the rest of the world. And they are interested in chess. Last week the company was launched, in a swanky restaurant in New York with a glittering array of special guests.

RJF Committee mobilizes pro-Fischer forces

12/18/2004 – While Bobby Fischer remains incarcerated in a Japanese prison a special committee in Iceland is moving to get him free and find him a home on the North-Atlantic island country. Iceland's foreign minister and a prominent political scientist have spoken out. Here's a report on Fischer's Iceland Connection...

Tigran Petrosian Memorial Tournament

12/18/2004 – An international Internet chess tournament is taking place, dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the birth of the 9th world champion, Tigran Petrosian. Four teams, from Russia, China, France and Armenia, are participating, with none of the players leaving their places of residence. More...

US Championship Larsen prize

12/17/2004 – Few tournaments have a first prize of $5,000. Alex Fishbein won that much as a reward for his fighting chess! There was a five thousand dollar "Bent Larsen" prize for the player who most epitomized the uncompromising spirit of Danish legend. Draws were way down, and Fishbein had only one! Plus, a US Championship photo album.

Nakamura finishes off Karjakin in Mexico

12/17/2004 – It was V for victory for Hikaru Nakamura. There would be no GM draw to round out the match. The US champion won again to make the final score 4.5-1.5 over Ukraine's Sergey Karjakin. We talked to the winner after he returned home for the first time since winning the US Championship. Report, games, and photos.

Fischer to get refuge in Iceland?

12/16/2004 – The news today on Bobby Fischer, who is currently being held in a Japanese detention facilities pending extradition to the US, is that the Icelandic government has offered to grant him a residence permit. In a telephone interview Fischer speaks about his plight in Japan and reacts to statements by Garry Kasparov on Fischer Random Chess. Full details...

Aagaard & Shaw: with Ari Ziegler

12/15/2004 – On their Wednesday evening lecture live on Playchess.com our Glasgow Chess Radio commentators IMs Jacob Aagaard & John Shaw will again discuss the Nakamura-Karjakin match and a strong six-player event in Israel. Guest is Ari Ziegler, who is there to bring sanity to the show.

Fritz and Chesster volume two

12/15/2004 – The original Fritz & Chesster children's teaching program is currently number two on Amazon's overall top selling software list, just behind Adobe's latest Photoshop Elements 3.0. Quite unprecedented for a chess program. First reviews of volume two lead us to suspect that it will do as well as the original.

Impressions of the Super Final – Part four

12/14/2004 – In the past weeks Misha Savinov has provided us with a unique insight into the games and players of the Russian Championship. In his final report he takes us through the eleventh round, where contrary to expectations the fighting chess continued. Report with pictures and interviews.

Nakamura wins Mexico duel

12/14/2004 – US champion Hikaru Nakamura's first event as US champion has been a big success. With victory in game five he won his match against Ukraine's Sergey Karjakin with a game to spare. The match has been a slugfest and the only draw was perhaps the most exciting game of the match! Photos and analysis.

Who's afraid of the Bayonet Attack?

12/12/2004 – Are you attracted to the King's Indian Defense, but tired of dealing with tons of theory in the main lines, or still not sure what to do about the Bayonet Attack? Well fear not: this week's Playchess.com lecture Dennis Monokroussos offers a sound way around those problems! Details...

Teen GMs battle in Mexico

12/11/2004 – When Hikaru Nakamura won the US Championship this week he didn't go to Disneyworld. Instead he went to Mexico to play a match against Ukrainian star Sergey Karjakin. Nakamura just turned 17 and Karjakin is a month shy of 15. The six-game match started with two wins by the US champ. Report and photos.

Mr Cool wins Moscow Blitz Tournament

12/11/2004 – Due to their dynamism, blitz tournaments are always fascinating. Instant duel, instant bloodshed! But when you organize it in the vicinity of the Kremlin, with supertalents like Morozevich, Rublevsky, Vlad Tkachiev and Sasha Grischuk, suddenly the event becomes a global spectacle. Here's a report with lots of pictures.

Impressions of the Super Final – Part three

12/10/2004 – The Russian Championship has been over for some time now. We all know the result and, of course, Garry Kasparov's remarkable +5 victory. "He utilized his pit-stops better than his opponents, he changed his tires early on," writes Misha Savinov, who was in Moscow and sent us this illustrated report.

A royal reception for US women's team

12/10/2004 – The first medal in US women's team history has reached home shores to fanfare from coast to coast. This week they were welcomed in New York by the state's Governor, George Pataki. In the evening there was a media reception. Both events included the team's special trainer, Garry Kasparov. Report and beautiful photos.

Andrew Martin's DVD The ABC of the Ruy Lopez

12/9/2004 – The Chess Media System feature of ChessBase 9 and the Fritz family of playing programs allows instructors to provide video chess instruction in a more engaging manner than standard chess videos by using fully animated chessboards. The latest entry in the Fritz Trainer series is Andrew Martin's DVD The ABC of the Ruy Lopez. In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we tear off the shrinkwrap to bring you details on our latest chess DVD release. Workshop...

FIDE terminates negotiations with Dubai

12/7/2004 – As we reported recently, FIDE was preparing to cancel its plans to hold the reunification match between Garry Kasparov and Rustam Kasimdzhinov, scheduled for January 14, 2005, in Dubai, UAE, and to make arrangements to stage it in Turkey instead. Now FIDE confirms that negotiations with Dubai have indeed been terminated.

Aagaard & Shaw: current events in chess

12/7/2004 – On the Wednesday evening lecture live on Playchess.com in our Glasgow Chess Radio, IMs Jacob Aagaard & John Shaw will again discuss current events in chess. This includes the events at the recently completed US Championship 2005.

16-year Hikaru is US Champion

12/6/2004 – Hikaru Nakamura, a teenage ace from White Plains, NY, beat Alex Stripunsky for the US championship title and $25,000 in prize money. With that Hikaru became the youngest winner of the 159-year-old title since Bobby Fischer.The women's section was won by Rusudan Goletiani. Here are the results, games and lots of pictures in our final report.

Chess lessons from a soccer model

12/5/2004 – Why did a man who looks disconcertingly like Arnold Schwarzenegger visit a beautiful soccer model last weekend? For a chess lesson he had won in a competition? During a trip to a tiny island off the German coast? Which the British had tried to blow up with 6800 tons of explosives? Even if you don't believe this convoluted tale, at least enjoy the pictures...

Tactics at the 2005 US Championship

12/4/2004 – After eight rounds at the 2005 US Championship in San Diego Alex Stripunsky and 17-year-old Hikaru Nakamura are in the lead. We bring you results and games, but also a something special: a set of twelve positions from this event which you can print out and use to hone your tactical skills.

The gentleman boxer world chess champion

12/4/2004 – The fifth world chess champion Max Euwe was a real gentleman and a fine sportsman, respected by all. He wasn’t even a professional player but taught mathematics at a girl’s school! In his Monday night Playchess.com lecture Dennis Monkroussos shows us a beatiful game by Euwe, one that serves as a model for the attack.