Topalov – Anand blitz in Sofia

2/1/2004 – On Sunday Feb. 1st there will be a live TV match in Sofia, Bulgaria, between the top national player Veselin Topalov and world's number three Vishy Anand. It consists of two 10-minute blitz games with a possible 5/4 tie breaker. The two have a 50% score in classical chess, but Anand is clearly ahead in fast games. Details...

The king in an iron grip

2/1/2004 – After a week of absence (GMs occasionally do play in tournaments) Saidali Yuldashev has returned to Tashkent to take up the game against Uzbek TV audience and the ChessBase public. Unfortunately our king is in a cage, so that most people think we are fighting for a draw, while some are more optimistic. There's a lot of excellent analysis in Jamshid Begmatov's weekly report.

Kramnik defeats German national team 2,5:1,5

1/31/2004 – On Thursday Vladimir Kramnik played a clock simul against the German national team at the Centro Dannemann in Brissago (Switzerland). His opponents were Christopher Lutz, Rustem Dautov, Robert Hübner and Klaus Bischoff. Kramnik defeated Dr. Hübner and drew the other three games. We bring you a picture and the games.

Sorokhtin takes on Kasparov

1/31/2004 – He asked for it, now he's getting it – in full force. After the appearance of Garry Kasparov's book, My Great Predecessors, the author invited readers all over the world, even if they are amateurs, to send in analysis and corrections. Nobody has taken him up with such vigour as Sergey Sorokhtin, a construction manager from St. Petersburg. Read about it all in our Analysis Focus #5

Help for the Handicapped: The search for a weak chess program

1/30/2004 – The quest to create the strongest computer chessplayer continues, but creating a weak opponent may be more important. All the top programs can crush you, but can they give you a fair and fun fight? Mig's latest ChessBase Cafe column looks at the sophisticated handicap features in Fritz and friends. Send in your own questions for next month's column. See the index.

Making chess part of the US school curriculum

1/28/2004 – America's Foundation for Chess (AF4C) is committed to making chess a larger part of America's cultural fabric. By making chess accessible in schools and in popular culture AF4C hopes to elevate the profile of chess in America so that it will soon become a regular part of every child's classroom experience. The full story is told in this lovely video clip.

Breaking news: Kramnik vs Leko in September

1/28/2004 – The Swiss tobacco company Dannemann has just announced that the Classical Chess World Championship between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko will be staged from September 25 to October 18, at a still to be disclosed location. Here are first details...

Moving ahead with the ACP

1/28/2004 – Things will be moving ahead in the chess world, if the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) have their way. The union now counts 146 members, including ten of the top 15 in the world. We bring you the press release after their recent board meeting, and some nice pictures of GMs planning their future.

The Mozart of Chess

1/27/2004 – That is the title conferred by GM Lubomir Kavalek of the Washington Post on Magnus Carlsen, a 13-year-old Norwegian who made his first grandmaster norm and won the Corus C-group in Wijk aan Zee. We bring you a portrait and the games of this remarkable young lad whom you will definitely want to watch carefully in the future.

Corus Round 13: Anand Anand! Wins 2nd straight Wijk aan Zee

1/26/2004 – Vishy Anand played a short draw to get the half point he needed to guarantee at least a share of first place. That was enough for clear victory when Adams and Leko also drew. They shared 2-3 a half-point back. Topalov and Bologan both won and shared 4-5. Bruzon won the B group and 13-year-old Carlsen the C. We've got lots of photos and a video clip of Anand-Sokolov! Report and games

Workshop: Powerbook 2004 and Endgame Turbo 2

1/26/2004 – In order to play a better game, chessplaying engines have access to opening books and endgame tablebases. In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we look at these "Openings and Endings" as we examine the new DVDs Powerbook 2004 and Endgame Turbo 2. ChessBase Workshop

Kasparov for the Oscar?

1/25/2004 – No, we’re not talking about the chess prize awarded by the venerated Russian publication, 64, but the Oscars given out in Hollywood each year. With a full-length feature film on Garry Kasparov's infamous match against Deep Blue in 1997 starting in movie theatres in Britain we bring you a spectacular trailer and an interview with the director here...

Last day impressions of Wijk

1/25/2004 – What do you do on a Sunday when you feel like driving your new car? You find an excuse for your family to spend a day away from home. Useful that on this very Sunday is the final round of the Wijk aan Zee chess tournament. ChessBase programmer and sometimes roving journalist Jeroen van den Belt sent us this illustrated report.

All World Championships review by Steve Lopez

1/24/2004 – A "coffee table" chess book that contained a couple of hundred pictures, scores of annotated games, and a videotape collection of film clips would it cost a mint, and you'd need a coffee table the size of a battleship to hold it. But with DVD technology you can fit it easily in the palm of your hand. Check out the new DVD from ChessBase in this week's ChessBase Workshop.

Corus Round 12: Tough day for top seeds

1/24/2004 – No need to peek into Anand's ear to look for gears and wires, he's human. He suffered his first loss of the event, to Topalov. Leko drew and Adams won, so they are both a half-point behind Anand. Sokolov beat Kramnik. Anand has white in the final round; his pursuers have black. (Bareev (right) actually drew, but we liked the picture!) Full report and analysis

Corus Round 11: Read all about it! Anand wins, Leko gives chase

1/23/2004 – We should thank Peter Leko for at least making it look close. Unstoppable Vishy Anand beat Jan Timman to move to +5. Leko defeated Zhang to stay a full point back. Sokolov seems intent on taking his turn as "Dutch player to finish last in WaZ," a role played by Timman or van Wely for the past four years. Soko lost to Bareev and now faces Kramnik and Anand! Report with photos and analysis here now.

Nigel Short, Commonwealth Champion

1/22/2004 – Last week Nigel Short won the Commonwealth Championship in Mumbai, India. The former World Championship challenger scored 7.5 points in nine rounds. After his return we had an opportunity to talk with him. As always Nigel was interesting and entertaining in his description of the tournament and the players. Here's the must-read interview.

The positional exchange sacrifice

1/22/2004 – After a break to play some chess our online GM trainer Dorian Rogozenko is back with a lecture on the modern positional exchange sacrifice. You can listen in on Thursday night on the Playchess server.

Corus Round 10: Adams doesn't test Anand, no change at the top

1/22/2004 – Mickey Adams decided not to challenge Vishy Anand's tremendous form and offered a draw with all the pieces on the board after 18 moves. That left the Englishman and Peter Leko a point behind Anand with three rounds to play. Bologan won his second in a row, his sixth decisive game running after starting with four draws! Full report and analysis.

Kasparov vs. the Kremlin

1/21/2004 – In the last election the party backed by President Vladimir Putin won more than 300 seats in the 450-seat Duma. Now a group of leading Russian liberals, including world chess number one Garry Kasparov, have set up a committee with the stated purpose of working for fair elections – in 2008.

ChessBase Workshop Q & A

1/20/2004 – Even the most expert user cannot discover all the hundreds of features that are built into our program. And beginners usually have a lot of simple things to learn. In this week's ChessBase Workshop, Steve Lopez fields a variety of questions regarding ChessBase 8 and the Fritz family of playing programs. Questions and answers...

Wijk in the Winter

1/20/2004 – A trip to the Corus Wijk aan Zee tournament is something you don't want to miss – even if it is winter and you have to brave rain and gale-force winds. You are rewarded for your enterprising spirit by meeting a lot of interesting people and seeing a lot of interesting games. Here is our first picture report from the Super-GM in Wijk.

Corus Round 9: Heavyweight battle drawn short and sweet

1/20/2004 – Right after rook sacrifices shook the board in Kramnik-Anand, the players shook hands. Did someone resign? What was going on? It turns out a perpetual check was unavoidable. Adams lost to van Wely to join Leko a full point behind Anand. Full report and analysis.

Guess when he last lost a white game!

1/19/2004 – Tunc Hamarat has become the 16th International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) World Champion. In the finals he scored a remarkable 11/15, but more astonishing is a different record: in correspondence chess Hamarat has not lost a single white game in the last – 40 years! Here's a full report and games.