Sorry, guys, but he's busy preparing for Fritz

12/19/2001 – Originally Vladimir Kramnik had signed up to play in the traditional Wijk aan Zee tournament in January. But now he has cancelled, specifying his need to prepare for his match against Fritz in Bahrain, scheduled for early February. His place is taken by his second Evgeny Bareev. The other big disappointment for Wijk: Vassily Ivanchuk and Ruslan Ponomariov have cancelled too, due to another match scheduled in Moscow. You will find a list of participants who have not cancelled more

The man behind the notes

12/19/2001 – Steve Lopez, writer, Blues singer, self-confessed chess freak, is one of our longest-standing contributors. He is a leading expert on ChessBase software, having run the USA hotline for our company for many years. If you do not regularly click his "T-Notes" link on the left of this page you will discover that you have been missing some extremely useful tutorial material. Read more about Steve here...

Hey, I can see your house, mate!

12/16/2001 – Well not exactly. But when you install our new high-resolution map data files a visit to the Fritz 7 Playchess server becomes a breath-taking experience. With rivers, lakes and populated areas you get a much better idea of where you opponent is. We have some typical pictures and information on how you can get the world map upgrade here

Who does what at ChessBase?

12/10/2001 – Well just read the labels! Everyone on the ChessBase staff must wear a uniform with his or her job clearly noted on the back. This makes it easier to allocate tasks and call for assistance. For instance someone might yell "Hardware!" or "Chess Engineer!" and the appropriate person will come running. More details can be found here...

who's the strongest one of all?

12/9/2001 – When Fritz7 was released everyone was impressed – including our most competent beta tester, Vladimir Kramnik (as reported on October 17 below). But some thought maybe Fritz7 was not so good at blitz. Well, a young Canadian lady named Sarah Bird, who is a dedicated computer chess fan, decided to find out. She played literally thousands of games with top-class programs. You will find her results more

Can you play this endgame?

12/7/2001 – Can you win with a queen vs a rook? Don't be so sure – even the best players on the planet can run into problems when confronted with this endgame. Especially in rapid chess playoff games, during a world championship, with tens of thousands of dollars at stake. We hope he will forgive us for using this painful experience to demonstrate the cold perfection computers in such endgames. At least he did manage to win the playoff in the end. Take a look at the game here...

Chess, cats and free-flowing beer

12/6/2001 – Kilkenny may be Ireland's smallest city, but it has a lot going for it apart from the free-flowing craic – not to mention the equally free-flowing Guinness! Last weekend over 200 players made the pilgrimage to the latest edition of the tournament, which was held in the magnificent surroundings of Kilkenny Castle. John Henderson was there to watch Rogers and McShane win it. You can read his illustrated report for the Scotsman more

We're going to have to watch this kid

12/3/2001 – He has just turned 18, hails from the Ukraine and became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 0 months, 17 days. Today Ruslan Ponomariov is equipped with 2684 Elo points and has won all of his last five games in the FIDE world championship. No glamour gallery, though. In the other games Ivanchuk and Bareev won, all other men drew. In the women's section Peng Zhaoqin beat Maia Chiburdanidze. There will be no games tomorrow. You can replay or download all today's games here...

Like a knife through butter

12/2/2001 – She was born in the Russian city of Perm on April 23, 1984, became a WGM in 1998 and an men's IM in 2000. Alexandra Kosteniuk also writes poems and likes all kinds of sports. She's also into glamour photography. At the FIDE world championship she has gone through the women's section like a knife through butter, conceding only a single draw so far. You will find a report on this remarkable young lady here...

Who's going to win the FIDE world championship?

11/20/2001 – Well obviously Anand. But what are the precise chances of Vishy pulling it off in Moscow? The Kasparov Chess statistics guru Jeff Sonas has worked it all out: Vishy's winning chances are more than twice those of any other single player. But: with so many rounds of two-game matches, the chances are only 23%. That's more than twice as high as for any other player in the field. But: there is a 24% chance that a player seeded #13 or worse will take the title instead. Check out the details in Jeff's article...

Chinese National Championship 2001

11/18/2001 – Just since last year, the regulation of the most important national chess tournament in China has been changed from round robin to Swiss + knock-out mode. After ten rounds of the first stage, 32 men and 16 woman players qualified for the final (knock-out) circle. Our correspondent Wang Wei reports from the Chinese National Championship in Wu Xi, Jiang Su Province. You will find his report more

Kasparov vs the Rest of the World

11/17/2001 – Recently Garry Kasparov trounced the Czech national team 5.5-2.5 in two clock simul matches (see our report). A remarkable display, but not the first of its kind. In two interesting articles Bobby Ang (Manilla) retraces Kasparov's career of demolishing national teams. It started shortly after he became world champion in 1985, and ChessBase played a role in the incredible feats. The articles are here: Part I, Part II.

FIDE

10/16/2001 – The Internet section of the FIDE world championship qualifier has run into technical problems. In the privacy of their homes players do not always stick to the highest ethical standards. They use computers, playing in effect a form of Advanced Chess (human + computer). One participants notched up an incredible 4000 wins and 0 losses in the playing zone. more

Is Garry Kasparov out of his mind?

10/15/2001 – At the end of this week Garry Kasparov is scheduled to play two clock simuls – against the entire Czech national team! This consists of four very strong GMs with ratings of 2627, 2610, 2566 and 2540. It could well be the strongest simul in the history of the game. Well good luck Garry, you're going to need it. Details about the event are to be found more

Look who's playing chess!

10/13/2001 – We thought it was a game reserved exclusively for us geeks. But would you believe it, a lot of interesting personalities are playing the game. At lease in the film world. We present a number of examples in our puzzle section. You are supposed to identify the names of the players and the films. If you get 70% correct you can win a copy of our brand-new program Fritz 7. The first set of pictures is to be found more

Karpov to to fight for Mother Russia

10/10/2001 – We thought he had signed up to play in the 3K Botvinnik memorial, but now FIDE reports that former world champion Anatoly Karpov intends to try a comeback in the FIDE knockout world championship, which will be held at the same time in Moscow. . “I brought the title back to Russia from the West in 1975," said Karpov. "Now I feel it is my duty to wrest the crown from the East and take it back to Mother Russia.” more

The three at the top of the FIDE rating list

10/6/2001 – Even though Vishy Anand's blackout performance in Dortmund lost him 24 points he remains in the three-player group at the top of the latest FIDE rating list. Vladimir Kramnik is now just 29 points behind the permanent leader, Garry Kasparov, who has built himself a nest at a dizzying hight of 2830. Alexander Morozevich and Peter Leko follow the three at a respectful distance, then come Veselin ("welcome back") Topalov, Michael Adams and Vassily Ivanchuk. For the first time in years Alexei Shirov ist not among the top ten. more

Fritz tops the computer ratings (yet again)

10/1/2001 – Is this boring or what? Once again Fritz tops the latest computer ratings list with a remarkable 2726 Elo score, on an Athlon 1200 MHz with 256 MB RAM. Interesting to note that nine of the top ten programs on the list run as engines under the Fritz interface. The full SSDF rating list is available more

Want to take a look at Fritz 7?

9/22/2001 – At the end of October ChessBase will release the long-awaited Fritz 7. It will be considerably stronger than its predecessor. But it also gives you direct and uncomplicated access to Internet chess. With just two clicks you can log on to the ChessBase Playchess server and start playing against other people all over the world. more

Did you spot the great chess player?

9/19/2001 – Some weeks ago we showed you a bunch of people in front of a beautiful castle. You had to spot the great chess player in the crowd to win a special prize. Well, here's the solution, together with the story behind the picture: the taking of East Germany Part deux. more

Six years to the day

9/18/2001 – On September 11, 1995 New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani played the move 1.c4 to start the World Chess Championship match between Anand and Kasparov on the observation deck of the world Trade Center. Once the TV cameras were switched off, Anand corrected the move to 1.e4. "Wish we could do the same, switch off the TV screens and reverse what the barbarians have done," writes V. Krishnaswamy, who spent five weeks in the WTC, looks back in sorrow at the 1995 match in his India Chess Diary.

The third coming of Bobby Fischer?

9/18/2001 – The story is not going away, in fact it is gaining momentum. Many people believe that Bobby Fischer has returned and is performing miracles on the Internet. Nigel Short said he was "99 per cent sure" he has had played Fischer. Tim rabbé, who was initially skeptical, has now seen the light. We have taken another closer look at the evidence. Check it out more

Europe vs Asia encounter in a fairly remote location

9/17/2001 – Europe vs Asia encounter in a fairly remote location The rapid play encounter Europe vs Asia is currently under way (Sept. 16th-20th 2001) in the Batumi Opera House. Just getting to this remote location is quite an adventure, as the European team captain Alexander von Gleich reports. News, games and pictures from Batumi are available. More...

Brain Games reply to Ten Tough Questions

9/14/2001 – The organisers of the Man vs Machine event have replied to the ten questions posed on the Kasparov Chess web site. "The Bahrain rules were an attempt to level the playing field," write BGN Match Director Raymond Keene and Rules Commissioner Eric Schiller in a statement sent to a large number of journalists and media outlets. "We may not be perfect, and are still making adjustments, but these were our honest conclusions for a genuine test between man and machine."