Gold Award for Fritz & Chesster

3/25/2004 – Our children's CD-ROM title has won the 2004 Parents' Choice Gold Award. The reviewers found Learn to Play Chess with Fritz & Chesster "wonderfully unexpected, charming, simply animated, and cleverly designed." It is number 35 on Amazon's top selling software list and has received almost exclusively five-star reviews.

Watch the girls play on ChessBase TV

3/25/2004 – One day all chess tournaments will be covered this way: after the games the most successful players come to a special multimedia booth, talk to a charming anchor and show the game they have just played. All in high-resolution audio and video. Well, the future is already here, at the European Women's Championship in Dresden, live on ChessBase TV.

Analysis for the rest of us

3/24/2004 – As much as we all love to watch Grandmasters strut their stuff, the truth is their games are far over the heads of most fans. With plenty of annotations we might grasp what was going on, but it's not usually applicable to improving the play of players of amateur level. How about annotating the games of us patzers? In this article we have a little of both. GM versus amateur!

Who will be king of the blind in Monaco?

3/23/2004 – For whom will number thirteen be lucky? It's the 13th edition of the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament in Monaco. Yet again the Association Max Euwe and sponsor JJ van Oosterom have brought together a majority of the world's top players for a remarkable spectacle. Bareev (photo) and Kramnik are the early leaders. Report, photos, and games.

Picture Gallery – the Damsels of Dresden

3/23/2004 – The European Women's Chess Championship in Dresden, Germany is under way. After two rounds the favourites are already having a rough time, with a 14-year-talent disposing of the number four seed. We bring you all the links to live coverage, games, results and standings. And a second extensive picture report of the girls in Dresden.

Portrait of a dog

3/23/2004 – The 13th Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament had an unorthodox method for the drawing of lots. All participants had to make felt pen drawings of the two black Labradors belonging to the sponsor's family. Vassily Ivanchuk's ultra-modern rendering only brought him an honorable penultimate place. We bring you a photo-realistic pictorial report from Monaco.

Gata Kamsky for President of FIDE?!

3/22/2004 – Check the date, it is not April first. But chess gadfly Sam Sloan is reporting that the reclusive chess genius, FIDE world championship finalist and once number three in the world, is about to mount a bid to become FIDE president. We cannot vouch for the accuracy of the report, but Sloan does supply some fascinating information on Gata Kamsky today.

Kasparov triumphant in Reykjavik Rapid

3/22/2004 – Had Nigel Short converted his advantage in the first game it would have gone down as one of the more spectacular of Kasparov's few losses. Instead it turned into another bitter pill for the Englishman to swallow. Kasparov turned the tables and won, then drew the second to take the match and the title. Report and games.

Reliving the clash of the Ks

3/22/2004 – Last Wednesday in Reykjavik Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov played a blitz game against each other (it was a draw). This took us right back to the 80s and early 90s, where the two fought perennial battles against each other. Dennis Monokroussos takes us down memory lane and looks at games from this era in his Radio ChessBase lecture.

Kasparov and Short through to the final

3/21/2004 – Youth movement, what youth movement? Two players three times older than the youngest participant in the event are playing for the title in the Reykjavik Rapid on Sunday. 38-year-old Short dispatched Dreev while 40-year-old Kasparov needed to win a sudden death blitz tiebreaker to move past Nielsen. Let the 1993 flashbacks begin. Report and games.

Women play in Dresden

3/21/2004 – This weekend the European Women's Chess Championship starts in Dresden, Germany. The openings ceremony was on Saturday, at the Treff Hotel Dresden, with players, trainers and guests of honour in attendance. We bring you all relevant links and a first picture report.

One K left in Reykjavik

3/20/2004 – Facing 2700 Nigel Short in the second round was a poor reward for Aronian's top seeding. The Englishman won to move into the semifinals. He is joined by Kasparov, Nielsen, and Dreev, who knocked out Karpov despite the elder K's first-ever King's Indian Defense. Report and games.

FIDE world championships in Libya, Hanoi

3/19/2004 – It's official: FIDE is to hold the next knock-out world championship in Tripoli, Libya. The announcement comes with a set of must-see pictures of FIDE president Ilyumzhinov playing chess against Moammar Al Qaddafi. And another secret is out: the superfinal between Kasparov and the winner is to be held in Vietnam. More...

Boy meets Beast in Reykjavik

3/19/2004 – It was a dream pairing for the organizers. 13-year-old Norwegian Magnus Carlsen faced legend Garry Kasparov in the first round of this Icelandic rapid knock-out event. The result was predictable but it was closer than you'd think. The game is annotated by Almira Skripchenko.

The Aeroflot Chess Festival revisited

3/19/2004 – The Third Aeroflot Festival was held in the second half of February, with over 140 grandmasters. But the flow of information from Moscow was very modest. Spyridon Ilandzis, editor of a Greek chess magazine, took part in the tournament and has sent us an extensive wrap-up with a selection of the most beautiful games.

Short on draws

3/18/2004 – "I know that with perfect play, God versus God, Fritz versus Fritz, chess is a draw," writes Nigel Short, who describes a deadly disease called Severe Acute Drawitis. "Those afflicted with SAD display an uncontrollable urge to offer or accept premature peace proposals." Read about it in Nigel's highly entertaining Sunday Telegraph column.

The shocking novelties of Dorian Rogozenko

3/18/2004 – It happens all the time. A single move can change the evaluation of an entire openings system. A position that was considered winning for one side may suddenly become unplayable. Our GM trainer shows us many instances of this in his Thursday night Playchess.com lecture.

ACP Inaugural Internet Tournament

3/17/2004 – Are you a grandmaster, and a member of the Association of Chess Professionals? If so you are invited to participate in the first Internet Blitz Tournament staged by the ACP. It will be held from April 12 to 17 and will feature GMs from all over the world. The prize fund is $5000. Here is the invitation of the ACP Board.

Blindfold and Rapid in Monaco

3/16/2004 – From March 20 to April 1st the famous Amber tournament will be staged for the thirteenth time, in the spectacular Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo. The event features world class players like Anand, Kramnik, Svidler, Shirov and Leko. They play two games per day: one rapid and one blindfold. Here are details of the participants and schedule.

The Multimedia Circus: Audio/video lessons and more in Fritz

3/15/2004 – One of the top new Fritz features has nothing to do with the playing engine. With a free Fritz 8 online upgrade you can watch and listen to streaming multimedia broadcasts right next to the board at Playchess.com. This is ideal for taking lessons, watching live events, and more. If you want to know how to make it work, check out Mig Greengard's latest ChessBase Cafe article.

Garry Kasparov for president!?

3/15/2004 – Is the chess #1 considering a move to becoming the Russian #1? Running a country easier than playing in Linares? Kasparov recently launched the democratic reform group Free Choice 2008 Committee. Today, the day of Putin's reelection, Kasparov gave an interview to ABC News in which he didn't deny (or confirm!) his own political aspirations.

Rooting for the underdog

3/15/2004 – Admittedly it is great fun to see your top-notch chess heroes trampling on lesser mortals. But it is equally exciting to see a weaker player bite back and upset the big guy. In this week's Playchess.com lecture Dennis Monokroussos looks at some David vs Goliath games – with interesting sidelines to boot. This is how you can attend...

Top players in Iceland

3/15/2004 – Reykjavik, the capital of the volcanic island of Iceland, has been host to many famous tournaments. Currently the XXI Reykjavik Open is being held there. When it ends the top four players join the likes of Kasparov, Short and Karpov in the Reykjavik Rapid 2004, which begins on Wednesday. Here are the details.

Bobby Fischer goes to war

3/15/2004 – Summer 1972. Richard Nixon is president. The Cold War is raging. In Reykjavik, Iceland, an American faces a Russian across the chessboard for the title of World Chess Champion. Now, more than thirty years later, a new book is out on the subject. Here are some interesting reviews and audio interviews.