Yes, Virginia, there is humour in chess

10/19/2003 – GM David Norwood was confused. "On the ChessBase website there are not pages upon pages of dry annotations of the latest chess theory. The stories are fun and eminently readable." He got stuck on Plaskett's Puzzle and wrote his Telegraph column on the subject. Nigel Short and Malcolm Pein have also provided very readable articles.

Something black in Denmark

10/18/2003 – What is with the Samba Cup in Skanderborg, Danmark? With seven of nine rounds played we count nine wins for white, which is not so unusual, but ten for black, which certainly is. Not just that the players are collecting points with the black pieces, they are doing so in spectacular style. See for yourself.

Aronian catches Polgar in Holland

10/17/2003 – The 21-year-old former junior world champion Levon Aronian, originally from Armenia, now living in Germany, has caught up with Judit Polgar in the Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen, Holland. With one round to go the two youngest players lead the field with 3.0/5. At the bottom of the table is ex-world champion Anatoly Karpov (1.5 points). More...

Are chess computers improving faster than grandmasters?

10/17/2003 – The battle between humans and machines over the chessbaord appears to be dead-even – in spite of giant leaps in computer technology. "Don't forget that human players are improving too," says statistician Jeff Sonas, who doesn't think it is inevitable that computers will surpass humans. Here is his statistical evidence.

Review: Hiarcs 9

10/17/2003 – In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we tear the shrinkwrap off of Mark Uniacke's brilliant new chessplaying program Hiarcs9 to show you the new features included in the package. Workshop...

Meet Kasparov in London

10/16/2003 – Garry Kasparov, the world number 1, will be at the London Chess Centre on Tuesday, 21st October 2003, to promote his highly successful book series 'Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors'. Volume one is actually sold out and had to be reprinted. The Chess Centre has 100's of copies in store. Don't miss the chance...

A Chess Media System for Fritz

10/16/2003 – The latest ChessBase Magazine 96, due out on Monday, contains a directory with updates of our main software programs: ChessBase, Fritz and Junior. One of these is very special this time. The Fritz 8 update introduces a whole new dimension to our activities on the Playchess.com server. Here are all the details...

Isolating a piece – part 2

10/15/2003 – Did you attend last week's lecture on isolating a piece? This Thursday our Playchess.com chess trainer Dorian Rogozenko tells you how to cut off your opponent's pieces from the main battlefield. Here are the details...

Looking back at Crete

10/15/2003 – The 2003 European Clubs Cup in Crete is over, the players have returned to their many native countries. Our correspondent Anna Dergatschova was there as a reporter and, once back in Germany, sent us a new set of pictures from this exciting tournament. We share them with you.

Analysing with Garry Kasparov – the readers reply

10/14/2003 – In our Analysis Focus #1 GM Karsten Müller led the first session on a game from Kasparov's book "My Great Predecessors": Bird-Morphy, London 1858, p.38. There have been many interesting contributions by our readers. Would you like to join the debate?

Judit strikes with the Lasker sacrifice

10/13/2003 – On the first day of the Essent Chess Tournament in Hoogeveen, the Netherlands, the most aggressive player in the "Crown Group" (with Judit Polgar, Ivan Sokolov, Anatoly Karpov and Levon Aronian) struck out against the most experienced one with a classical Lasker sacrifice on h7. Here's the story...

Mobile phone to g2, mate!

10/13/2003 – A new page in the colorful history of chess was written on Saturday when for the first time a player was disqualified at a representative event when his mobile phone rang during the game. This misfortune did not befall any ordinary player; the miscreant was none other than Ruslan Ponomariov, reigning FIDE world champion. More...

Top players and tournaments to watch

10/13/2003 – This may seem like a time of chess calm, but don't be deceived. Most of the world's top players are out there, busy battling it out in tournaments that are currently being held in Denmark, Holland and Bulgaria. We bring you games, results and links.

Deadly threats

10/12/2003 – George Renko, author of Intensive Tactics Course and Killer Moves, has done it again with a new ChessBase tactical training CD: Deadly Threats. Check out a preview in this week's ChessBase Workshop ...

First Samba Cup, Skanderborg, Denmark

10/12/2003 – The First Samba Cup is being held fro October 10 to 19 in Skanderborg, Denmark. It is a category 16 with stars like Ivanchuk, Short and Bologan. We bring you games, results, pictures and links.

Arnie meets a friend

10/11/2003 – On Tuesday Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger was elected California's new governor, replacing incumbent Grey Davis. The Austrian-born body builder and Hollywood action star (Terminator, Predator, Total Recall, Running Man, Conan) becomes the head of the world's fifth largest economy. So can you figure out why all of this is of interest on a chess newspage? You will never guess...

Isolating a piece

10/9/2003 – Everybody knows about isolated pawns, but less known is the concept of playing against a piece, usually knight or bishop, but sometimes even the queen, until it is completly isolated. Our Playchess.com chess trainer Dorian Rogozenko tells you how to go about it. Details...

Analysing with Garry Kasparov

10/9/2003 – Garry Kasparov's book "My Great Predecessors" is causing quite a stir in the chess world. It contains so much analysis that it is a pleasure to study and devour. With so many deep problems it is no wonder that there are still open questions. Kasparov himself has invited us to join him in his search for ultimate chess truth.

Man vs Machine – who is winning?

10/8/2003 – Every year computers are becoming stronger at chess, holding their own against the very strongest players. So very soon they will overtake their human counterparts. Right? Not necessarily, says statistician Jeff Sonas, who doesn't believe that computers will inevitably surpass the top humans. In a series of articles Jeff presents empirical evidence to support his claim.

The Women of Crete

10/7/2003 – Our reports on the 2003 European Clubs Cup in Crete concentrated on male chess players and their spectacular performances. But, we were reminded by one visitor, there was an exciting women's tournament going on at the same time. Our correspondent Pufichek (a.k.a. Diego Garces), sent us a report and some lovely pictures.

Book properties in ChessBase 8

10/6/2003 – ChessBase Workshop columnist Steve "Mathematically Challenged" Lopez risks his sanity and reputation by again tackling a statistical function in ChessBase 8: the "statistics" display in the Book pane, while also explaining the additional display options available in the Book pane. Workshop...

A great triumph and a shocking loss

10/5/2003 – The European Clubs Cup 2003, which ended on Saturday, was won by the NAO Chess Club of Paris. The event was marked by some remarkable performances and a shocking fifth-round loss in 22 moves by Garry Kasparov – who still chalked up the second-highest performance of the tournament (2841). You will find the whole story, including an illustrated report by Anna Dergachova, here...

Natalia on the Isle of Man

10/4/2003 – The Monarch Assurance Chess Tournament on the Isle of Man is under way, eight of the nine rounds have been completed. GMs Sulskis of Lithuania and Lputian of Armenia are in the lead with 5.5 out of 7. Our reporter WGM Natalia Kiseleva is #35 with 4.0/7, but unlike the leaders she has sent us a lovely illustrated report.

Kasparov on the rampage

10/3/2003 – The European Clubs Cup in Crete is turning into a crunch fest. After five rounds there are ten players with performance ratings of over 2800. Peter Svidler has 2831, Joel Lautier 2859, Alexander Morozevich 2932. You do not want to know to what heights Garry Kasparov is soaring. We bring you games, pictures, results and links.