4/17/2003 – The Chinese men and women won the Asian Team chess title in Jodhpur. The men ended up with 25 points, India 'A' came second with 23.5, points while Kazakhstan took third place with 22.5. The Chinese women reached 20 points, while Vietnam came second with 19 points and India 'A' took third place with 18.5 points. Here is our second illustrated report from Rajasthan.

4/17/2003 – We have an official Nigel Short sighting going on in Budapest. With three rounds to play the Englishman is on course for his best result in many years. A win over Boris Gelfand in round six gave him three victories against no defeats in a very tight field where wins are few and far between. Judit Polgar is in clear second despite her loss to Leko in round five. The big Short-Polgar showdown is set for Saturday. Report and games

4/16/2003 – It is held every four years: this time the Asian Team Championships is taking place from April 7th to 17th in Jodhpur, which lies in the state of Rajasthan, India. The participating teams include India, China, Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kazhakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. We have received a lot of pictures from the tournament and the royal town in the middle of the desert. Here is Vijay Kumar's report from Jodhpur.

4/13/2003 – Judit Polgar didn't let getting the last number in the draw of the Hunguest Hotels tournament get her down. Undaunted by having black in the first two rounds, she went out and beat both Korchnoi and Acs. Her 2/2 score puts her in clear first. Only one other player (Nigel Short) has scored even a single win. Favorite Peter Leko has yet to make his move. Report and games here.

4/13/2003 – At a time when chess players should be slipping, Garry Kasparov is still at the top of the chess world, where he has now been perched for over 18 years. Today is his 40th birthday, and instead of putting together a summary of his career we simply clicked a few times in ChessBase and allowed the database which he originally initiated to put together some biographical information.

4/10/2003 – In recent months we staged a number of prize contests. Our readers were asked to pick the winners of big chess tournaments or solve chess puzzles. They could win software autographed by the world's top players. One of the awards was hand delivered to the winner, who lives in a charming Italian town with beautiful churches and run-down stadiums. We got some very nice pictures out of it. More

4/10/2003 – Some time ago we linked to an article in which discovering the laws of physics was compared to learning chess by observing games. At the end of his article there is mention of a 1959 short story by Robert Heinlein, which turns out to be a special favourite of Dr John Nunn. The Oxford mathematician and chess grandmaster tells us why this tale is important and gives us a list of the best works of science fiction.

4/8/2003 – Big names like Shirov, Khalifman, and Linares participant Vallejo were left in the dust as Russia's Alexander Rustemov took first with 6/9. His score was matched in the final round when Dreev wore down Campora in a marathon, but Rustemov won the title on tiebreaks over his countryman. Report, photos, and a selection of games here.

4/8/2003 – Viswanathan Anand, the "33-årige indisk verdensmester", won the SIS-MH Masters, Denmark, held from April 4-6 2003 in Middelfart on the Danish island of Funen. The other players were GMs Peter Heine Nielsen and Curt Hansen of Denmark, together with Swedish GM Jonny Hector, the event was a double round robin of rapid games. The Danish television station DR2 made a 30 minutes program to be broadcast on April 14. You will find a report and the games here...

4/7/2003 – The French Championship "National 1" is one the most attractive in the world. 'From April 3 to 6 the eight top teams of the country battled it out in Besançon, a lovely Roman city situated near Switzerland. Jean-Michel Péchiné of the French chess magazine Europe Echecs has sent us this link-filled illustrated report.

4/7/2003 – A tale of two simuls. His website never made it to Wall St. but Garry Kasparov made it to the New York Stock Exchange anyway, for a 24-board simul. When it was done he had to catch a plane to Germany where he logged on to Playchess.com for an online simul. Four of his opponents were back in New York! Mig was on the scene for both events. More..

4/6/2003 – It was a private event, staged by the successful German chip manufacturer ZMD. To celebrate the laying of the foundation stone for a new ZMD campus Garry Kasparov played a clock simul against six opponents located in Germany and America. But if you were logged into the Playchess.com server you may have followed the action. In case you missed it here's a full illustrated report.