'Another day for you and me in Paradise'

6/11/2003 – This morning we published an open letter sent to us by participants of the European Championships in Silivri, Turkey. A few hours later we received a message from the President of Turkish Chess Federation Ali Nihat Yazici: "I have read the news on the site today. Thank you for covering event. I attach a letter and would be glad if you publish this as an answer." Here it is...

The Girls of Silivri

6/10/2003 – Meet the masters – yesterday it was the men's section of the European Individual Championships in Silivri, Turkey. Now by popular demand we bring you the women's section with 28 portraits of some of the finest female chess players Europe has to offer. You will admit that we will all have to abandon certain age-old prejudices we have held about chess-playing women.

Ponomariov outlasts Topalov in León final

6/9/2003 – It wasn't chess for the highlight reel but somehow his nerves were enough for Ruslan Ponomariov to pick up the winner's check. The Ukrainian FIDE champ won the final match when Veselin Topalov melted down in time pressure and let his flag fall with a repetition on the board. Diagrams and analysis of Topalov's missed opportunity plus photos here.

Favorites into León final after Ponomariov cruises

6/8/2003 – Ukrainian FIDE champ Ruslan Ponomariov continued his domination of Spaniard Paco Vallejo by routing him in their semifinal match 3.5-0.5. This set up a final of favorites between Topalov and Ponomariov. The good news for Vallejo is that he now has something in common with Spassky and Karpov. Report and games

Meet the masters – at the board and at play

6/8/2003 – The European Individual Championships is under way in Silivri, Turkey. After eight rounds five players tied for first with six points each, followed by 17 with 5.5 points. We bring you all the games and necessary links to follow event, plus a set of great new action pictures directly from the tournament site in Turkey. Today we start with the men's section...

A hand for Topalov

6/7/2003 – They've put away the computers in León, Spain, and the only thing advanced are your feelings of age when you look at the face of 13-year-old GM Sergey Karjakin. The "advanced chess" experiment might be over but the Ciudad de León tournament is still going strong with this 16th edition. Topalov, Ponomariov, Vallejo, and Karjakin play. Report and games

Action and pictures from Turkey

6/6/2003 – What is this lovely young lady doing, standing in the water in front of a racy speedboat? Participating in the 4th European Individual Championships in Silivri, Turkey, that's what. We bring you results (Aleksandrov leads in the men's section, Galliamova and Skripchenko among the women), games, links and lots of new pictures.

Susan Polgar – Grandmaster of the Year

6/5/2003 – The four-time Women's World Chess Champion Susan Polgar has just been named "Grandmaster of the Year" by the United States Chess Federation. This is the first time in history that a woman has won this most prestigious award. Susan is also to lead the US women's team at the next Olympiad. Here is the full story and some personal pictures from the past.

It's raining awards and prizes!

6/4/2003 – Our top programs are doing pretty well out there in the media scene. Europe's biggest computer magazine gave Fritz 8 the top place for board game software (Shredder 7 came in second), and the Bologna Children's Book Fair gave Fritz & Chesster the top children's media prize. More...

Remembering Paul Keres

6/3/2003 – Twenty-eight years ago one of the brightest stars of chess, Paul Keres, unexpectedly died of a heart attack on his way back home from a tournament triumph in Vancouver, Canada. We take a look at the career of a man who beat nine world champions and use this year's Keres Memorial games to help you improve your tactical skills. More...

The Prodigal Returns. And wins.

6/1/2003 – Ivan Sokolov picked up the biggest check at the 2003 Bosnia tornament, leaving big names like Shirov and Bareev in the dust. Sokolov long ago left his native Bosnia for the Netherlands, although he continued to play for the Bosnian team until last year. In 2002 he played for the Dutch squad in the Olympiad but in 2003 he came back to Sarajevo to win clear first in the annual supertournament. Crosstable, games to replay online, and key positions with diagrams and notes here.

Welcome to Istanbul!

6/1/2003 – The 4th European Championship has started in Istanbul and lasts from May 30 until June 14. The men's section has 164 GMs, 31 IMs – and one 13-year-old girl (guess who!). The prize sum is $192,000, in the women's section $44,000. We bring you information, links and lots of pictures of the participants at work and at play.

Chess for psychopaths

5/31/2003 – Rev. Earl Smith, the chaplain at San Quentin State Prison, is ready to make his move with chess pieces crafted from matchbooks. He looks into the dark, fiery eyes of his opponent and tries to read his mind. Which is impossible because it is demented. Here's some possibly vital information for you on chess, psychology and serial killers.

'Distant chess' in St Petersburg and Paris

5/31/2003 – The town is full of dignitaries, from politics and chess. On the day of the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg the famous Russian city played an Internet match against a team of the NAO Chess Club in Paris. Viktor Korchnoi played the only decive game to clinch the match for St Petersburg. More...

Ratmir Kholmov, the 'Central Defender'

5/29/2003 – Grandmaster Ratmir Kholmov has chalked up victories against such players as Keres, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky or even Fischer and Kasparov. For polictical reasons he could only participate in a few tournaments abroad, so he is practically unknown in the West. In this week's lecture (Thursday, 21:00h on the Playchess.com server) GM Dorian Rogozenko seeks to change that. More...

Move over Judit, here comes Kateryna!

5/29/2003 – One of the greatest talents in current-day women's chess is 13-year-old Kateryna Lahno from Kramatorsk (Ukraine). She completed her WGM norms at the tender age of 12 years, four months and two days, breaking Judit Polgar's celebrated record. Today she is 13 and sports an Elo rating of 2417. We bring you a portrait and pictures of this remarkable young lady.

Shredder tops the computer rankings – again!

5/28/2003 – This must be a bit alarming for Fritz. For the second time in a row Shredder has topped the SSDF (Chess Computer Association) ranking list, based on over 90,000 games played by 253 computers. Interestingly, the first program that is not published by ChessBase is ranked number 14. Blush.

Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine

5/28/2003 – Vikram Jayanti has completed an extraordinary feature-length documentary film on – yes, computer chess! Jayanti won an Oscar for his work on the 1996 film "When We Were Kings", covering a vaguely similar slugfest: the boxing bout in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. More...

Do you believe in chess psychology?

5/27/2003 – Feel a little lost going over Grandmaster games? You might learn more from the mistakes of players near your level, and at least you can indulge your feelings of superiority. This annotated game looks at psychological mistakes in beginner games instead of lots of variations, even if Bobby Fischer famously said, "I don't believe in psychology, I believe in good moves." The game

Chess returns to Afghanistan

5/26/2003 – The infamous Taliban had stricly forbidden the game, possibly simply to prevent intellectuals from getting together. Now members of Holland's oldest chess club have got together with the Dutch Embassy to revive chess activity in the capital. With great success. 300 players, male and female (!) have registered for the first tournament. Here are some remarkable pictures from Kabul.

Press release: Kramnik vs Leko in jeopardy

5/26/2003 – The "Prague Unity Plan" for world chess requires that classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik play a match against challenger Peter Leko. The winner must play for the unified title against the winner of FIDE's Ponomariov-Kasparov match. The former now looks in danger of collapse, whereas the latter has just received firm confirmation. John Henderson reports.

So what is going to happen now?

5/26/2003 – The announcement this morning by the Einstein Group in London that it had been unable to secure sponsorship for the Kramnik-Leko match has sent tremours through the chess world. How does this affect the Prague Unity Plan, what alternatives are the organisers and players considering? We discussed the matter with a man who, as the manager of both Kramnik and Leko, is deeply affected. Here is our interview with Carsten Hensel.

Viva Fidel? Viva Granda!

5/24/2003 – The first editions of the Capablanca Memorial in Havana, Cuba, were won by legends like Najdorf, Korchnoi, Smyslov, and Larsen. 2003 marked the third consecutive win by a Spanish-speaking player, to the delight of the fans. Peru's Julio Granda Zuñiga took clear first in Latin America's premier tournament and you could say that his return from farming is complete. Now it's his opponents who want him back on the farm. Report and games

A star rising in the east

5/24/2003 – Our babe watch has spotted a new star on the chess firmament: Ksenya Rybenko, 18 years old, green eyes, blond hair, 5' 2" tall, 97 pounds, 33-24-35 (information taken from her web site). She lives in Novokuznetsk, loves animals, and, we almost forgot, and she is also a Women's IM and a many-time chess champion of Siberia. Here on special demand by a GM fan is a portrait of Ksenya, with (hey, no pushing!) lots of pictures!