Freestyle Blitz Tournament August 7

7/25/2004 – Winning Internet chess games with the assistance of computers is quite despicable. People who are caught get stripped of rights and privileges. Not so in the August 7th "Freestyle Tournament" on Playchess.com. There you can use anything you want to win your games. Details...

Fischer a sacrificial pawn?

7/25/2004 – Bobby Fischer is still in detention at Narita Airport in Tokyo, traumatised but stubborn, "behaving like a Samurai". At the same time news outlets all over the world are covering the story, with Fischer's brother-in-law Russell Targ assailing the Bush administration for playing election year politics with the former chess champion's freedom. There's a lot to be read...

Dortmund R4: Kramnik almost Karjaked

7/25/2004 – Today the tournament's young guns took their turn with white against legends Vishy Anand and Vlady Kramnik. Arkady Naiditsch played to win versus Anand, while 14-year-old Sergey Karjakin came oh-so-close to beating the world champion in a wild game that lasted 86 moves. We bring you some remarkable annotations of this remarkable game.

Dortmund R2: Anand wins heavyweight bout

7/24/2004 – The gloves came off today in Dortmund, but the only fighter to land a knock-out blow was Vishy Anand. He beat Peter Svidler in a fantastic display of tightrope calculation to take the lead in Group 1. Kramnik-Leko was an interesting draw, as were the other two games. 14-year-old Karjakin again showed his toughness. Full report with games, results and pictures.

Dortmund R3: Svidler strikes back

7/24/2004 – If there's anything scarier than a super-GM it's a motivated super-GM wanting to come back after a loss. That's what Germany's Arkady Naiditsch had to face today when he sat down across from Peter Svidler. The four-time Russian champ would not be denied. Group 2 kept its 100% draw quotient. Report, analysis, and photos.

McShane beats Ponomariov in Biel

7/23/2004 – 20-year-old Luke McShane is one of England's great talents. However, at the GM tournament in Biel he started with a dismal 0:4 score. On Friday, however, he struck out against FIDE ex world champion Ruslan Ponomariov in a very exciting game. We bring you games, results and pictures.

Short and Dreev lead in Tai Yuan

7/22/2004 – This is something Dortmund didn't have: a food master show as the highlight of the opening ceremony. The average Elo at the GM tournaments is 2634 (category 16), thanks to the presences of guest players like Dreev, Short, Lautier and Lputian. We bring you games, results and pictures.

Dortmund R1: All four games drawn

7/22/2004 – The strongest tournament in Germany, the yearly Chess-Meeting in Dortmund, started with draws on all four boards. But these were neither boring nor quick. Sensationally the two youngsters Naiditsch and Karjakin, were able to hold the top seeds Anand and Kramnik with the black pieces. We have games, photos, and a full report.

A double victory for Shredder 8 in Argentina

7/21/2004 – Shredder again won two tournaments at the same time during the Republica Argentina Chess Festival, but it wasn't easy. The program did dominate the weaker event but was equaled by IM Salvador Alonso in the GM tournament. The programs are getting faster but the humans are getting smarter! Games, round reports, and many photos.

Jubilee DVD with four Gigabytes of memories

7/21/2004 – The new issue of ChessBase magazine is a landmark in the publication's history: our 100th issue. In celebration of the event, we've included a bonus -- the Jubilee DVD, chock full of videos. In this week's ChessBase Workshop, Steve Lopez offers a (sometimes very personal) preview of this retrospective DVD. Workshop...

Ladies and Gentlemen in Biel

7/21/2004 – The 37th Biel Chess Festival is taking part in the beautiful Swiss town, with a category 18 Grandmaster tournament (including last year's winner Morozevich, and Ruslan Ponomariov) and a ladies section with six very strong participants. We bring you games, pictures and links.

Game of Life: Kasparov on Fischer - in full

7/20/2004 – The news of Fischer's arrest in Japan came as a shock to Garry Kasparov, who was in a holiday camp working intensely on the games of his greatest American predecessor. In today's issue of The Wall Street Journal Kasparov assesses Fischer's chess career – for a public that was being exposed to his current situation. We now bring you Kasparov's full article.

Torres y Quevedo's rook endgame automaton

7/20/2004 – The very first machine that could play chess, genuinely calculate and execute moves, was a digital electronic computer, right? Wrong! It was a mechanical contraption built at the beginning of the 20th century by a Spanish engineer, who also designed transatlantic airships and a funicular cable-car for the Niagara Falls. Ramón Jiménez tells us the story of Torres y Quevedo.

Short on Tripoli: a one-month blunderfest

7/19/2004 – Nigel Short, one of Britain's top GMs, was one of the 128 contestants of the FIDE world championship in Libya. After his return we spoke to him about the new world champion, the FIDE knockout format, his incredible blunder against Krasenkow and what must be done to reform the chess world. Here is part one of this interview.

Will Fischer be extradited?

7/19/2004 – Chess legend Bobby Fischer, the hero of millions, languishes in the detention facilities of Narita Airport in Tokyo, waiting for a decision by Japanese Immigration authorities on his deportation to the US. We have collected all the documents and reconstructed a timeline to his arrest. Fischer, who has no legal counsel, is appealing for international assistance.

We can learn from chess programs!

7/18/2004 – Recently the Israeli program Junior won the world computer chess title for the fourth time, playing some extraordinary chess in the process. GM Boris Alterman, who was the official live commentator at the event, takes a look at two key games and the fantastic positional sacrifices Junior is able to play. Details...

What is a chess piece worth?

7/18/2004 – How much material we can sacrifice for an attack, with no clear payoff. A pawn, a piece for a couple of pawns, the exchange – all quite common. But more? Dennis Monokroussos shows us a wild game where one side sacrificed even more to win. But was it sound? Find out in his Monday night lecture...

All about Kirsan

7/17/2004 – You only know him as the somewhat controversial figure that has been at the head of the world chess organisation for the last eight years. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is also the President of a Russian republic. How did this all happen to this 42-year-old Buddhist in his 69th lifetime on earth? Read all about it in this fascinating portrait.

Correspondence Database 2004

7/17/2004 – ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve Lopez is a self-confessed friend for correspondence chess. In this week's column, he sings the praises of the correspondence form of play while previewing ChessBase's latest database release: Correspondence Database 2004. Workshop...

Shredder leads in GM and IM tournaments

7/16/2004 – The "Republica Argentina" Chess Festival 2004 is under way, with strong GMs and IMs participating. But it is our program Shredder 8 that is dominating both groups. After six rounds the computer is in the sole lead in the GM "Magistral" section, in the IM group a human being is still hanging on. Read our extensive illustrated report.

Bobby Fischer detained in Japan (updated)

7/16/2004 – It's the latest twist in the sad tale of American former world champion Bobby Fischer. He has been detained in Japan and faces possible deportation to the US to face charges for playing in Yugoslavia in 1992. Fischer's website says he was "very nearly killed" in Japan. The story has been picked up by news services all over the world.

FIDE World Championship closing ceremony

7/15/2004 – After the tiebreak games at the FIDE world chess championship in Libya the new champion was crowned in a splendid closing ceremony, attended by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Libyan OC President Mohammed Al Gadhafi (son of Muammar). We bring you pictures and an interview with Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

Wells' Fritz Middlegame Trainer

7/15/2004 – In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we provide a sneak peek at a brand-new kind of ChessBase Training CD which uses the Fritz Media System multimedia features to provide a wholly different and compelling instructional environment. Take a first look at Peter Wells' Fritz Middlegame Trainer: Strategy and Tactics in the new ChessBase Workshop.

WCCC 08-11: Junior is computer world champion

7/13/2004 – Two programs went into the final round with equal scores: title defender Shredder and the home team of Junior. Interestingly it was another Israeli program that brought Junior the overall victory: Falcon held Shredder to a draw, while Junior demolished ParSOS. We congratulate the new computer world champion.