Susan breaks all records

8/3/2005 – She strode 9.1 miles, in high-tech sneakers, drinking orange juice. She faced 326 opponents simultaneously, scoring an unprecedented 99.03%. After breaking the Guinness Book's simul record Susan Polgar went on to break a few more, like 1,131 consecutive games played in one session. Here's the full illustrated report.

ECTC R5: Israel trounces Azerbaijan to take the lead

8/3/2005 – The Israeli team defeated Azerbaijan ½-3½ to join France in the lead with nine match points. Russia beat Iceland 3:1 to inch their way forward to place six. In the women's section Poland beat Romania to take the lead, while Russia trounced France for second place. Now with games, results and pictures of the ladies.

Postcards from Mainz

8/3/2005 – Next week the traditional Mainz Chess Classic will start in the German Rhine city. There is an Unzicker Gala (with Karpov, Korchnoi and Spassky), a rapid chess match between Anand and Grischuk, a Chess960 championship between Svidler and Almasi, and two opens. And some unusual postcards from artist Frank Stiefel. Press release.

ECTC R2: Holland beats Ukraine

8/1/2005 – The surprise in round two of the 15th European Chess Team Championship was the defeat by Holland of one of the top seeds, Ukraine (Timman was the hero of this victory). Germany beat England and France the Czech Republic. In the women's section the Russian team continues to march. We bring you all results and games.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's a bird, Sergey...

8/1/2005 – In our recent "eulogy" to Nigel Short's Telegraph column we published some pictures from his Greek summer vacation with Sergey Karjakin. On one there was an object that Sergey's mother Tanya interpreted as a UFO. Now another strong grandmaster named Sergey sent us a UFO picture of his own. Here is our correspondence.

ECTC R3: Russia loses to France

8/1/2005 – That was the big news in round three of the European Team Championship. The other was that Germany won their third match in succession, over Sweden I, to stay in the lead. In the women's section Russia scored its third win, while Ukraine went down to Georgia. Oh, and the correct pronunciation is 'yet a boy!'

Winter on Zugzwang

7/31/2005 – Sämisch v Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen, 1923 is the ‘Immortal Zugzwang Game’, yet few magazines or books published it at the time. Nimzowitsch (picture) later went on a propaganda blitz. In an article from his Chess Notes website, the world's leading chess historian Edward Winter relates what happened and how the German term (pronounced "tsook-tsvung") eventually conquered the chess world.

Enough is enough – let's look at Karpov

7/31/2005 – After three weeks of "insanity" our Monday night Playchess lecturer Dennis Monokroussos turns to a player who is know not for cut-throat attacks but for sniffing out and snuffing out his opponent's active ideas well in advance. Dennis shows us a prime example of a 1983 game Karpov vs Jussupow.

Susan Polgar world simultaneous chess record attempt

7/31/2005 – On August 1–2 there will be an attempt to break the record for the greatest number of chess games played simultaneously, as recorded by the Guinness Book of World Records. The simultaneous master is GM Susan Polgar, who will attempt to play 350 opponents at the same time, in a 24-hour period of time. Pictures of the preparation.

Live from Gothenburg: it's the European Team Championships

7/30/2005 – 63 teams from 37 countries, 38 in the men's section and 25 in the women's. Top players are Vassily Ivanchuk, Peter Svidler and Etienne Bacrot. Judit Polgar is expected to play for the Hungarian Men's team. And there is a dinosaur exhibition in the building. Best of all: Radio ChessBase will provide audio coverage.

The Amsterdam Chess Tournament revisited

7/30/2005 – A few days ago we brought you a photo report of the ACT by Fred Lucas. Well, the Dutch have more than one superb chess photographer. Today Frits Agterdenbos, who has contributed pictures and portraits to many chess books and magazines, gives us his own unique impressions of the event.

Gothenburg Team Championships start

7/30/2005 – The first round of the 15th European Chess Team Championship was completed on Saturday, with no big surprises yet. Russia, Ukraine, Israel and France won, only Armenia was held to a 2-2 draw by Lithuania. In the women's section Russia and Ukraine also triumphed. We bring you all results.

Nigel Short axed, future world champion survives

7/28/2005 – For ten years Nigel Short has written one of the most provocative and entertaining chess columns in the world – in the Sunday Telegraph. Now the newspaper, under new ownership, has sacked their star columnist. In the "final episode" Nigel tells us how he recently almost changed the path of chess history.

Volokitin, Gelfand win Biel GM Tournament

7/28/2005 – After leading for seven rounds in Biel US champion Hikaru Nakamura crashed, losing the last three games to end fourth. Boris Gelfand and 19-year-old GM Andrej Volokitin ended on top. In the ladies' section it was Almira Skripchenko and Indian talent Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman. Final report.

The question of the week

7/28/2005 – Science, like chess, attracts bright people, and there are many more males in both fields. So can we conclude that men are smarter? Not necessarily, says Marilyn vos Savant in PARADE Magazine. "Chess was developed by males for intellectual sparring with other males. Maybe females simply don’t find the game as fascinating." Questionnaire...

'One should not expect any gratitude from Karpov''

7/27/2005 – After Anatoly Karpov's sharp-worded attack towards the current FIDE administration, we have received a second rejoinder, from Zurab Azmaiparashvili, FIDE Vice President, whom Karpov accused of "attacking policemen like a madman". Here it is, together with some feedback from our readers on the Karpov controversy.

Shredder 9.0 wins the Copa Mercosur

7/27/2005 – We have to admit: humans and computers are not in the same league anymore. A simply CD-based chess program, running on standard off-the-shelf hardware, will win any regular chess tournament, even if it drops a point due to a technical glitch. Here are the games and results of a typical event in Argentina.

Eljanov wins Amsterdam Chess Tournament

7/26/2005 – With strong GMs like Timman, Sokolov, Akopian and Timofeev participating, the winner of the Second ACT was 22-year-old Pavel Eljanov from Ukraine, who scored 7/9 with a 2757 performance. We bring you the results, all 450 games, and some remarkable photographic impressions by Fred Lucas.

FIDE: Bad opening by Anatoly Karpov

7/26/2005 – "It is unfortunate that Anatoly Karpov’s unconstrained desire to promote himself as a potential candidate for the FIDE Presidency has driven him down a slippery path of falsification of facts," writes FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos. It is a reaction to a recent interview with Karpov that we published on our pages. Here is FIDE's reply.

Nakamura leads the Biel GM Tournament

7/25/2005 – After seven rounds of the double round robin category 16 GM tournament in Biel US champion Hikaru Nakamura remains in the lead with 4.5/7. The draw rate in this section is 71%, while in the Ladies' tournament, where Gaponenko and Skripchenko lead, it is a fighting 47%. Games and pictures...

Bulgaria vs Turkey – preparing for Gothenburg

7/25/2005 – In a few days the European Team Championship begins in Göteborg (Gotenburg), Sweden. Both the Turkish and the Bulgarian teams are taking it very seriously. To prepare they played a friendly two-round match in Svilengrad, Bulgaria. We bring you games and pictures, and introduce you to the young Turkish team.

Dear Kirsan Nikolayevich, Alushta is for real!

7/24/2005 – Is the beautiful Black Sea resort of Alushta a place where Master norms are artificially manufactured? FIDE seems to have suspicions and refused to ratify the norms of several players gained in chess tournaments in the Ukrainian resort. Now 43 GMs have protested in an open letter to the FIDE President.

Spielmann vs Stoltz, a little-known classic

7/24/2005 – In his Monday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos looks at a fantastic 1930 games which contains a magnificent, albeit speculative, sacrificial idea, not by Spielmann, but his less famous adversary. The game is especially interesting for players of the French Defence. Come, listen and learn.

Ivanchuk, Shirov, et al. win Canadian Open

7/23/2005 – This is chess for the fans: a large and varied contingent of featured players, side events like a simul on the Santa Maria, a replica of the ship used by Christopher Columbus, at one of the world's most spectacular malls. Fighting spirit was evident in most games, and upsets were also plentiful, even on the top boards. Report and games.