Top Hat's Race

8/26/2005 – Do you have any idea what it feels like to be a pawn in a game of chess? Does he want to be there or does he wish he was back in the box? Does he enjoy the game, hate it, or is he indifferent? If you capture him, will he not hurt? If you promote him, will he not rejoice? Designer and playwright Alex Shternshain brings chess to life in this remarkable short story.

Luke McShane wins Igualada

8/26/2005 – One of England's great chess hopefuls, 21-year-old Luke McShane, scored an important victory in the Magistral Ciutat d'Igualada that ended last weekend. The young philosophy student scored two wins and four draws for a 2748 performance against Kortchnoi, Beliavsky and Volokitin. Final report.

Lautier and Skripchenko French Champions

8/26/2005 – They used to be a marital team, now both have won their gender sections of the French Championships, which were held in Chartres from August 15-26. Joel Lautier scored 7.5/11 with a 2682 performance, Almira Skripchenko 9/11 and a 2487 performance. Full report and games.

Material searches in ChessBase 9 – part four

8/26/2005 – In the final installment of a series of instructional columns regarding material searches, we examine toggles for pawn structures and other positional considerations. Read all about it in the newest ChessBase Workshop.

A Congress and an Olympiad in Dresden

8/25/2005 – Over the last week the 76th FIDE Congress was held in Dresden, Germany. Delegates from all over the world gathered to discuss pressing administrative affairs – and to see first-hand the venue of the 2008 Chess Olympiad. Here's a big picture report and video.

Chess in an Italian Paradise

8/25/2005 – Bratto is a beautiful mountain town, close to one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy. It is the venue of the 25th International Chess Tournament, with 383 players of all ages and nationalities. Currently GM Vladimir Epishin leads the main event with 5/5. We bring you a spectacular pictorial report.

Gastón Needleman gets his ticket to the World Cup

8/24/2005 – Last week we published a story on the plight of 15-year-old Gastón Needleman, who according to Argentinian journalist Carlos Ilardo was deprived of a chance to play in the 2006 World Cup when five GMs who ganged up against him in the tiebreak stage of the Continental Championship. Now FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has given the boy a free ticket.

Judit Polgar – preparing one by one with both colours

8/24/2005 – One of the most interesting personalities at the FIDE Classical Chess World Championship in Argentina will be Judit Polgar, easily the strongest female player in the history of the game. In the interviews conducted by the official web site Judit answers the ten standard questions put to each of the participants. Here's what she had to say.

International Chess Festival in Abu Dhabi

8/24/2005 – 34 GMs, 18 IMs, all playing in the beautiful seaside Khalidia Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. This is the 15th annual event and it attracts participants from all over the world. This time it was from 43 different countries. We bring you the games, results and a big picture report.

Long on talent but short on ambition

8/23/2005 – Isaac Boleslavsky was a Ukrainian grandmaster who came within a hair's breadth from challenging Botvinnik, losing narrowly in the Candidates Finals to his future son-in-law Bronstein. He lacked the ambition to make it to the pinnacle but remained a dangerous player and a fine analyst. In his Monday night Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos shows us an instructive game.

The Prince and the Governor

8/23/2005 – The FIDE congress that is currently being held in Dresden, Germany, has attracted a number of illustrious guests. The Governor of San Luis in Argentina, where the next world championship is being held, was there to greet and inform the delegates. On Sunday he met with Alexander Prince of Saxony. We bring you a photo report.

Kasparov detained at Domodedovo Airport

8/23/2005 – Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, now active in Russian oppositional politics, was briefly detained on his return to Russia from a trip to Croatia. Everyone in his group was let through without problems, but border guards spent time checking whether they could prevent a Russian citizen from entering. The Moscow Times reports...

Mark Dvoretsky on Glasgow Radio ChessBase

8/23/2005 – One of the legendary chess trainers is Russian Mark Dvoretsky, who has worked with many of today's stars. His DVD "Endgame Manual" has become a standard for contemporary players. On Wednesday night Dvoretsky will be a guest in our Radio ChessBase show.

Topalov: 'I haven’t a clue, anyone can win'

8/22/2005 – The FIDE Classical Chess World Championship will take place in Argentina in October this year. To promote the event the organisers are interviewing each of the eight participants, asking them identical questions. This time it is Bulgarian Super-GM Veselin Topalov, number three in the world rankings, and one of the hot favourites to win. Here's what Veselin said.

Intelligent mistakes

8/21/2005 – A few owners of chessplaying software have sometimes wished that their chess engines would make more "intelligent mistakes" when set to a handicap level. Columnist Steve Lopez dissects this apparent oxymoron and delves into the nature of errors in chess in his latest ChessBase Workshop.

British and French championships

8/20/2005 – The first is over and was won – again– by Scotsman Jonathan Rowson. Trick question: when was the last time an Englishman won the title? In the French championship a 14-year-old boy – yes, another one of those – and a 21-year-old lady are in the lead. We bring you games, results and pictures.

All the action in Igualada and Reykjavic

8/20/2005 – The Catalan town north-west of Barcelona is hosting the Magistral Ciutat d'Igualada, featuring Kortchnoi, Beliavsky, Volokitin and McShane, while in Iceland the national championship is under way – lots of interesting activity over the weekend. Status reports.

Leko: decision in the last round or tiebreak

8/20/2005 – As the FIDE World Chess Championship draws closer the organisers are interviewing each of the eight participants, asking them the same set of ten questions. After Vishy Anand it is Peter Leko who gets into the hot seat. The Hungarian GM predicts that the tournament will be very tight and will only be decided in the final phases.

'Checkmate for great aspirations'

8/19/2005 – At the American Continental Championship, which ended some days ago, the hero was clearly 15-year-old Gastón Needleman, who tied with seven other players for second. In the tie-break tournament for six tickets to the FIDE World Cup a local paper reported that the GMs ganged up against the boy to force him out. Carlos Ilardo reports.

Material searches in ChessBase 9 – part three

8/19/2005 – In the third in a series of ChessBase Workshop columns on Material searches, we go a bit more in-depth to show you how to find total material on the board as well as locate material imbalances (Jeremy Silman will love it). Read all about it here. Workshop...

Bruzón wins Continental, Kamsky equal second

8/18/2005 – Cuba's top GM Lázaro Bruzón won the American Continental Championship, which was staged in Buenos Aires from August 5–17. Gata Kamsky, coming out of retirement, almost joined him on first, but was stopped in the final round by a 15-year-old lad. From now on we will be watching a new chess prodigy: Gastón Needleman.

Liepajas Rokade won by Loek van Wely

8/17/2005 – The annual chess festival on the west coast of Latvia is played in two sections: a rapid chess open and a "Superturnirs" with invited and qualified players. The latter was won by the very much in-form Dutch captain. We bring you an illustrated report with a lot of pictures and with a whole bunch of bright new faces.

High-level instruction...

8/17/2005 – In the new ChessBase Workshop, we preview two "high-level instruction" disks. The first is the Chess Media System DVD "How to Play the Najdorf, Vol. 1", latest in the "Mr. Kasparov" series, the second is Alexander Bangiev's CD "Squares Strategy 2: The Opening". More...

Glasgow Radio ChessBase back on the air

8/16/2005 – After the horrors of the European Team Championships in Gothenburg (for Scottland, not the Netherlands) IMs Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw return for their regular Wednesday night radio show, with dramatic and entertaining chess played during the last week.