Kasparov leads in January 2004 FIDE list

1/3/2004 – Once again Kasparov is at the top, 54 points ahead of his nearest rival. Next come Kramnik and Anand, as usual, with a new player joining them in the top slot: Peter Svidler, who gained 24 points. Judit Polgar is now number eight in the world. Here is the list of the top 100.

Running of the GMs in Pamplona

12/31/2003 – A very hotly contested tournament in Spain ended in a three-way tie between McShane, Sutovsky, and local hero Illescas. No player finished without a loss and only 33% of the games were drawn. Two of the world's youngest Grandmasters, Nakamura and Karjakin, had a rough time but managed to score a pair of wins each. More..

Deep Fritz defeats GM Volkov

12/31/2003 – Lot of excitement on the Playchess server: 29-year-old Russian GM Sergey Volkov faced a mean dual Xeon 3.06 GHz machine running the latest Deep Fritz 8 program. Even though both games were strategic affairs Fritz outplayed the GM (in the King's Indian!) and won the match 2:0. Here are details and the games.

Russian 'Super-Final' with top players

12/30/2003 – With a new and determined man at the helm of the Chess Federation, chess in Russia is enjoying something of a renaissance. On Christmas day Alexander Zhukov announced that there is to be a “super-final” for the Russian Championships in 2004. It will be a 12-player round-robin, with the probable participation of both Kasparov and Kramnik.

December 2003 tournament review

12/29/2003 – Looking forward to Wijk aan Zee? Already counting the days to Linares? Not so fast. There have been many interesting tournaments in the last month and more are underway. We take you from the land of the Mayans to the Subcontinent with crosstables, games to download, and analysis of the most interesting and important games. More..

Fischer signature a fraud?

12/29/2003 – It looked like a great find: "This is a 1972 edition of Bobby Fischer's book" wrote a seller on Ebay. "Fischer has signed it with a sketch and the message 'Checkmate'." The book went for $676.00 on December 23rd. But was it genuine? Experts and friends of Fischer think not.

Demonstrations in the Chess Republic

12/28/2003 – Kalmykia is a slightly obscure Russian republic, more than 1000 miles from Moscow. Recently it saw political unrest, with opposition parties accusing the government of vote rigging. This is of interest to us because Kalmykia and the world chess federation share the same president. Not the man in the picture, though. He's a famous 18th century leader. More...

A chess revolution in Punjab

12/28/2003 – What do you do when you return to your hometown, in the north of India, and discover there is no chess around? One solution is correspondence games. Another is to start building up a chess culture by teaching youngsters. They are thrilled to be playing an Uzbekistan grandmaster in an online game.

Deep Fritz 8 review by Steve Lopez

12/27/2003 – Deep Fritz8 is much more than just a multi-processor version of Fritz. Read all about the new extras included with Deep Fritz8 in this week's ChessBase Workshop.

Man vs the Mean Martin Müller Machine

12/25/2003 – In January GM Sergey Volkov was soundly beaten by Shredder 7. Now this very brave chess player is taking on Deep Fritz, running on one of the fastest machines this side of the Kasparov and Kramnik matches – a dual Xeon 3.06 GHz. You can watch the match live on Playchess.com.

The FIDE World Championship plan

12/24/2003 – The World Chess Federation has published its rules for its next world championship cycle, consisting of qualifiers in four continents, a 128-player knock-out tournament and the winner will play against Garry Kasparov. The winner of that match then faces the winner of Kramnik vs Leko (if this is staged). The first leg will be held before July 1st 2004. Here are the details.

Choosing the best in the US

12/24/2003 – In December, 2004 the best chess players in the country will be heading to San Diego, for the US Championship. Last year’s winners, Alexander Shabalov and Anna Hahn may have some interesting challengers. Susan Grumer reports...

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

12/24/2003 – "...my friends had all gone, Not a chess piece was stirring, I stifled a yawn." But then, suddenly, eight ghostly GMs appear, and out in the sky a voice calls through the gloom "Happy Christmas, keep studying, you might improve soon." Christopher Willard of Montreal, Canada, sent us this Christmas Eve poem.

Christmas dinner on a train – meet the ChessBase team

12/23/2003 – Once a year the ChessBase staff take a break for a traditional Christmas get-together and dinner. Normally this is at a restaurant with has a "Kegelbahn" (a German version of bowling). But this time we took a train ride around Hamburg. Here's a pictorial report you can use to get to know the ChessBase team.

Two new CDs: The Gruenfeld and The Colle System

12/23/2003 – No matter whether you're looking to try a new opening as Black or as White, we have you covered with two new CD releases: The Gruenfeld and The Colle System. Take a look at what you can expect to find on both of these CDs in this week's ChessBase Workshop.

David Levy on Kasparov vs X3D Fritz

12/21/2003 – "The games of the match have been thoroughly dissected and analysed by human players and computers far stronger than I am," writes computer chess guru David Levy. His impressions of the match are of a far more general nature. David talks about the openings (3.5:0.5 for Kasparov), the middlegame and the X3D environment. Levy's report and links...

David Norwood's Christmas Quiz

12/21/2003 – It's the time of year when Telegraph columnist David Norwood likes to test the chess knowledge of his readers. There are 20 questions, mainly relating to chess trivia, but some require thought and research. At least you have plenty of time to finish your turkey and Christmas pudding before you check your results. Here's the Telegraph quiz.

A dollar a game on Tamerlane square

12/20/2003 – In the TV game Uzbekistan + ChessBase vs GM Saidali Yuldashev the latter has unleashed an eagerly awaited novelty. The organisers report that the Grandmaster is receiving his first marriage proposals (even before the novelty!). Sorry, ladies, Saidali is already taken and has three children. So, please, let's concentrate on the game.

The Pirc Defence – a cult CD?

12/19/2003 – According to our reviewer Aleksei Lugovoi’s CD deserves a special praise. "When you learn a particular line, you are immediately challenged: ideas begin with illustrative diagrams, followed by texts and an immediate brainstorm therein. This method, I believe will pioneer the next-generation training CDs..." Read about it in Aryan's testimony II.

It's all about Anand

12/19/2003 – Vishy Anand is in the news – in India. The national superstar is doing a promotional trip for the IT technology company NIIT. And the newspapers are full of it. Anand talks about his current chess success, chess in schools and his upcoming autobiography, which "will not be scandalous". Read all about it in these Indian news articles.

Caught on video: Kasparov in New York and Denmark

12/18/2003 – Have you tried the Chess Media System on our Playchess.com server? If you go there now you will find almost 100 minutes of video footage starring Garry Kasparov. This includes analysis of his games against X3D Fritz and a recent press conference in Denmark. Here is a report, including instructions on how to view the videos.

Joel Lautier, frankly speaking

12/18/2003 – After the GMA and PCA it's now the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) that is trying to improve the lot of professional chess players. Founding member Joel Lautier speaks out extensively on the goals and aspirations of the new organisation. The top French GM is highly critical of FIDE, but does not see the ACP taking over their role. We bring you excerpts and links.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu – a modern-day Tal?

12/18/2003 – He is number 25 in the world rankings, but less famous than many GMs behind him. Unjustly so, says our Playchess trainer GM Dorian Rogozenko. "Liviu-Dieter is one of the most imaginative and creative modern players, some of his games can be compared with Tal's greatest achievements." More about this player in Rogozenko's lecture.

The new CD Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual

12/17/2003 – In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we take a peek at the contents of the new CD Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual and, more importantly, try to help you determine if this Manual is the right thing for you. Read more...