Happy Birthday Helmut Pfleger!

8/6/2003 – Who is the best-known German chess player? If you count the number of people who know his name or would recognize him on the streets then GM Helmut Pfleger wins the contest hands down. Not because he was one of the most talented players in the sixties and seventies, but because he has brought chess into the mainstream media. Today Helmut turns sixty.

ChessBase 8.0 statistics - part one

8/5/2003 – Have you ever wanted to know just how well a certain player does statistically when handling either the White or Black pieces? In short -- yes! You can do this in ChessBase 8. It's easy, quick, and can yield some pretty interesting results. Steve Lopez explains how it's done (in the first article of a series) in this week's ChessBase Workshop. More...

Judgment day for chess players

8/5/2003 – Muscles and chess are not mutually exclusive. We know that heavyweight champions Lewis and Klitschko are fans, but now we hear that superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger plays chess between shoots. This was revealed by a Spanish newspaper, and we found further evidence on a German chess site. Unfortunately your incompetent reporter let the biggest fish get away.

Dortmund Round 5: Anand: It's nice to be winning.

8/5/2003 – We are halfway through the Dortmund tournament and the big story, the only story, is Viktor Bologan and his +3 score. A short draw against Radjabov left him a full point ahead of Kramnik. Leko-Kramnik was a wild draw that required great defense from Kramnik. Anand scored his first win after giving Naiditsch a lesson in the Sicilian. Report and analysis

Dortmund statistics: who will win

8/4/2003 – Five days ago we asked our visitors to predict who was going to win the Super GM in Dortmund. We agreed to accept predictions based on any of the great divination methods. Most used common sense, one, Jeff Sonas, ran a multi-million-game simulation to reach his conclusions. Here are the results.

Alexander Morozevich sensational in Biel

8/4/2003 – Some of his moves look like typographical errors and so do some of his scores. The 26-year-old Russian scored 8/10 in the strong (avg. Elo 2640) Swiss round-robin. His performance rating was close to 2900 as he racked up six wins and four draws to finish 1.5 points ahead of Bacrot and Smirin. We also link to an forceful new interview with the winner. Report and games

Abhijit Kunte the new British Champion

8/4/2003 – He's not British but he is the winner of the 2003 Smith & Williamson British Championship and that's what matters. The 26-year-old Indian played solid chess and punished his opponents' errors in an efficient display. He survived a close call in the final round against Gallagher. This is the second consecutive Indian takeaway at the British, but eligibility changes mean it will likely be the last. More..

Dortmund Round 4: Bologan keeps living the dream

8/4/2003 – Are we dreaming or is it just Viktor Bologan's dream and we're all living in it? After beating Peter Leko with black the Moldovan has now defeated the world #3 and #4 on consecutive days and leads Dortmund, 2003 by a full point ahead of world champion Kramnik. Naiditsch won the teen battle over Radjabov. Anand-Kramnik fizzled into a non-game draw. More..

Dortmund Round 3: Bologan leads after beating Anand

8/3/2003 – Maybe it's something in the water and only Anand is drinking it because everyone else in Dortmund traditionally drinks beer. Whatever the reason, Anand has now lost four of his last six games in the German city if you go back to his disastrous result in 2001. This time the damage was at the hands of Viktor Bologan and the Moldovan underdog is now the clear leader. But it's not champagne time yet. The other two games were drawn. Report and games

The strongest native-born American woman

8/3/2003 – At 22 Jennifer Shahade, the 2002 U.S. Women's Champion, is the strongest American-born female chess player in history. In a profile, published in the latest edition of the Smithsonian magazine, Paul Hoffman, author and chess player, introduces us to a generation of female chess champions and the new, cool world of competitive chess.

Dortmund Round 2: Radjabov shocks Anand with Black

8/2/2003 – Teimour Radjabov could make a habit out of this. What's so tough about those KKA guys? Sure he lost to Kramnik in round one, but he struck back by beating world #3 Vishy Anand with black in round two. In Linares he beat Kasparov, also with black. Name the last player to beat Anand and Kasparov with black in the same year in classical chess... Photos and games

Dortmund Round 1: Kramnik and Bologan win, Anand-Leko drawn

8/1/2003 – That Elo guy really knew what he was talking about. The rating favorites won in the first round and Anand-Leko was drawn. Kramnik offered his queen to Radjabov and won even though his offer was refused. Naiditsch blundered out of the opening and never came back against Bologan. The Pelikan/Sveshnikov Sicilian was played in two of three games. Games and analysis here with photos and onsite reports to come. Rapid review

Shredder living up to its name in Argentina

7/31/2003 – The ChessBase program by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen is maintaining a torrid pace in the VI Magistral de la Republica Argentina. It's score of 6/7 puts it 1.5 points over its closest challenger, who has a game in hand. In round six Shredder beat Valerga, who had drawn with Tiger and Hiarcs in previous editions of this intriguing Men vs Machine event. Report, games, photos

Morozevich leads in Biel

7/30/2003 – Alexander Morozevich, Super-GM from Moscow, is in the lead at the Super-GM tournament at the 36th International Chessfestival in Biel (Switzerland). He is closely followed by the young French player Etienne Bacrot and Israeli Ilia Smirin. We bring you games, results and an illustrated report.

The equitites man vs the chess champion

7/30/2003 – Belzberg Technologies Inc. of Chicago provides software for global access to equities and options markets. CEO Sidney Belzberg is a 2000-rated player. For the second time recently his company invited Garry Kasparov to give a simultaneous exhibition, this one in Chicago. Here are some impressions and a nice picture of the event.

The legend vs the computer

7/29/2003 – Fifty years ago a young South American player won the World Junior Championship in Copenhagen. Today Oscar Panno is playing in the Magistral de la Republica Argentina. In round four he encountered an opponent who knows no respect: Shredder 7.0 sacrificed a queen and announced mate in five moves. Full report.

Who will win Dortmund?

7/29/2003 – We don't care if you use clairvoyance, omphilomancy, haruspicy – or just plain chess sense. We are asking you to predict the final standings of the Dortmund Chess Meeting, which starts on Thursday. Will one of the Super-GMs win, will the youngsters come in last? There are valuable prizes to be won for the most accurate predictions.

Want to know what they're saying about Judit Polgar?

7/27/2003 – Four days ago she celebrated her 27th birthday. After our story about the world's strongest female player appeared we received hundreds and hundreds of letters congratulating her. All were dutifully passed on to the much-admired young lady. Here are a few samples for you to enjoy.

Where the chess is

7/26/2003 – There are a number of chess events to follow: the British Championships with a thousand players is being staged in Edinburgh, the Biel International Chess Festival (19th July–1st August) is well under way, with Alexander Morozevich in the lead; and Boris Gulko (picture) wins the US Senior Open chess tournament in Delaware. Here are all the links...

Looking back at Dortmund

7/26/2003 – The Chess Meeting 2003 in Dortmund is the 31st edition of Germany's strongest tournament. Ram Prasad, a Chicago-based software engineer and chess junkie, gets us into the mood for this year's action with an illustrated year-by-year look at the Chess Meetings of recent past. A must-read article.

Who is Victor Bologan?

7/24/2003 – In exactly one week Dortmund tournament starts, with three top GMs, plus Radjabov and Naiditsch, who have received a lot of publicity in the Western press. But what about the sixth player, Victor Bologan? You can find out all about this 31-year-old super-GM from Moldavia in tonight's lecture by his friend and colleague Dorian Rogosenko on the Playchess.com server. Here are the details.

Playing with Tigers

7/23/2003 – It's more fun and less dangerous than it would seem: The Chess Tigers, organisers of the Mainz Chess Classic 2003, are staging an Internet battle against "The Rest of the World". It is a game of Chess960, in which the pieces are shuffled in the starting position. Not easy to play, but you do have Vishy Anand and other illustrious partners helping you. More...

Too many Indians in the Commonwealth?

7/23/2003 – The 2003 British Championships has started in Edinburgh, with close on one thousand entries. Unfortunately the flagship event is being boycotted by all England's top players, due to the BCF regulation permitting any Commonwealth master (especially Indians) to play in the Championship. They are castigated for it in this Daily Telegraph article.

Happy Birthday Judit!

7/23/2003 – Today one of the great chess personalities of our day is celebrating her 27th birthday. Judit Polgar is the strongest female player – by a long margin – in the history of the game. She is number 11 in the world men's rankings and 215 points higher than the number two ranked woman. Here is a personal tribute to this remarkable young lady.