MTel R1: Anand beats Bacrot

5/12/2006 – Vishy Anand has won his first game, from the black side of a Queens Indian Petrosian. The other two games, Peter Svidler vs Veselin Topalov and Ruslan Ponomariov against Gata Kamsky, were drawn. Now with pictures and full annotations by GM Mihail Marin!

Editing player names in ChessBase 9

5/12/2006 – A potential problem with using chess data gathered from multiple sources (especially online ones) is the non-standardization of player names in the game headers. The good news is that ChessBase 9 provides you with the tools you need to help you standardize these miscellaneous spellings and clean up your database's Player Index. Learn how (and why) to do it in the latest ChessBase Workshop.

Election 2006: A lesson in democracy

5/11/2006 – Yuriy Vasiliev is a journalist working for "Sport-Express Daily" in Moscow. In recent months he has thrown his full support to the Kirsan Ilyumzhinov re-election effort, writing a series of articles for the campaign web site. Recently he reacted to an article that appeared on our news pages, using George Orwell's "Animal Farm" to defend the FIDE electoral system of one-country-one-vote.

Tuticorin tournament – faked or flawed?

5/11/2006 – Last September there was a 153-player Swiss Open in Tuticorin, Tamilnadu state, India. The results were submitted and duly rated by FIDE. Only problem: a number of participants listed in the results had never set a foot in Tuticorin or played in the event. Most had names beginning with an "A", some of them are even retired. Fake event or a screw-up with submission?

M-Tel Masters starts today

5/11/2006 – Topalov, Anand, Svidler, Ponomariov, Bacrot and Kamsky, with an average Elo of is 2747, are taking part in this category 20 double round robin tournament from May 11–21 in Sofia, Bulgaria. As in last year's M-Tel they are not allowed to offer draws. Players and schedule.

$16,000 up for grabs in computer-assisted play

5/11/2006 – The Third PAL/CSS Freestyle Chess Tournament on the Playchess server is coming up in June, once again with a substantial prize fund. This time the time controls for our Advanced Chess competition have been increased to 60 min. + 15 sec., in order to give the human component more opportunity for analysis. Like to play? It's lots of fun!

Elections 2006: Does democracy work in FIDE?

5/11/2006 – A recent article published on our news page asked "Who controls FIDE?" and led to vigorous debate in chess circles all over the world. One article we received was from a 17-year veteran of FIDE elections, IM David Levy. In the next days we will bring you a number of articles and comments from all sides of the spectrum. Here for today is Levy's opinion.

Alexei Shirov: My Best Games in the Spanish

5/11/2006 – There are few grandmaster who enjoy the popularity of this man. Born in 1972, he has obviously inherited the uncompromising attacking style of his latvian compatriot Mihail Tal. Alexei Shirov has been delighting chess fans for over a decade. Now he adds teaching chess to his repertoire. Come watch and listen.

Fedorchuk, Sargissian, Petrosian win 8th Dubai Open

5/10/2006 – This year's Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Al Maktoum’s Cup boasted 22 grandmasters, 19 IMs and 40 FIDE titled players in a field of 146. A Ukrainian and two Armenians took the lion's share of the $40,000 total cash prizes. A number of young players made IM or WGM norms. Illustrated report.

Inside the World Championship

5/9/2006 – Have you ever wondered what exactly goes through the minds of the players at the highest level of chess? What the tactics are when the tension is high, what they see, how they plan. On Wednesday night our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin tells it with two games between Petrosian and Spassky.

Timman wins Sigeman 2006

5/9/2006 – We are always delighted when a very young player wins a tournament. For some reason this is also the case when the oldest player is victorious. That was the case in Malmö, Sweden, when Dutch chess legend Jan Timman, 54 years young, finished a full point ahead of the field (performance: 2762). Games and pictures.

Wilhelm Steinitz, the trailblazer

5/8/2006 – He was the first official World Champion, but Wilhelm Steinitz often doesn't receive the honor he's due. In his Monday night Playchess lecture Dennis Monokroussos show you how the 59-year-old defeated world champion Emanuel Lasker in the 1895/96 St. Petersburg tournament. A remarkably energetic effort.

Knight Magnus defeats King Loek

5/8/2006 – Last week's match between Magnus Carlsen and Loek Van Wely saw all the elements of a battle placed in both a medieval and modern context. The Little Big Man from Norway won the tiebreak, to the delight of the small Dutch village Schagen, also known as "Magnus City". We bring you a big pictorial report by Frits Agterdenbos.

Nigel's sub-Saharan chess tour

5/6/2006 – Recently former world championship challenger Nigel Short toured southern Africa, a trip that stirred up some resentment in one of the countries he visited. But mostly it was a rousing success in an area where grandmasters are a seldom seen species. From South Africa we received this lovely report by Jackie Ngubeni.

Girls: play chess and win a college education

5/5/2006 – The Susan Polgar World Open Championship for Girls will be held in Las Vegas from June 16–18, 2006. The winners take home a laptop computers and other prizes. At least two will get college scholarships to Texas Tech University. The event is for all girls under 21 around the world. Ready for the challenge?

Aruba vs Curaçao via Playchess.com

5/5/2006 – Last Saturday the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curaçao played Internet chess matches between each other. They were staged on the Playchess server without technical problems. The youth team of Aruba won both “rapid” matches against Curaçao, while the Curaçao adult team was clearly stronger than their opponents from Aruba. Report.

Two more weeks to the Chess Olympiad in Turin

5/5/2006 – On May 20th the 37th Chess Olympiad begins in Turin, Italy. It's motto is "Turin 2006: something different", and it is expected to be the biggest and best so far. The venue is a giant sports stadium, the Oval, almost twice as long as a soccer pitch. The players will live in a real Olympic Village just five minutes away. Just two weeks to go!

Criticism and support for the President

5/4/2006 – Returning home from the Russian Club championship Alexei Shirov discovers that instead of the promised details on the forthcoming candidate matches FIDE has announced the Topalov-Kramnik event, which he bitterly criticises. Meanwhile Veselin Topalov explains his position in this matter and throws his support on the side of president Ilyumzhinov. Letter and interview.

Andrew Martin: Great games!

5/3/2006 – The awesomely strong Russian Team Championship brought us many riches. Our Playchess lecturer Andrew Martin has selected two fierce contests for his Wednesday night lecture. In addition one from the Four Nations Chess League in England, and a homage to Wolfgang Unzicker.

Ural wins Russian Club Championship

5/3/2006 – With players like Grischuk, Shirov, Akopian and Dreev the team of Ural Sverdlovsk could not go astray. The won the Club Championship ahead of TPS Saransk with Ivanchuk, Volokitin and Najer; and Tomsk-400 with Aronian, Morozevich, Jakovenko and Bologan. The women's section was won by ABC Krasnoturyinsk, led by Antoaneta Stefanova. Big pictorial report.

Nona Gaprindashvili – the legendary fifth world champion

5/3/2006 – In 1962 a 21-year-old Georgian player defeated the reigning women's world champion to capture the title, and went on to retain it for 16 years, defending it successfully four times. Nona Gaprindashvili was also a frequent (and successful) participant men's tournaments. In 1978 she became the first woman to be earn the male GM title. Today Nona turns 65.

Robots unlimited – life in a virtual age

5/2/2006 – Some day, in the not all too distant future, robots will write poetry and prose so touching that it will make men weep; compose symphonies and judge court cases. Robots will one day be so life-like that a human could fall in love and marry one. That is what computer chess expert David Levy says in his provocative new book.

Elections 2006: Who controls FIDE?

5/1/2006 – Did you know that every member nation in FIDE has exactly one delegate and one vote? That the power wielded by Madagascar, Malawi, Belize and Uganda, who have no tournament players, is equivalent to that of the four top chess nations? André Schulz takes a look at the current stand in the FIDE elections.

Magnus Carlsen vs Loek van Wely: 1:1

4/30/2006 – The town of Schagen in northern Holland is paying host to a four-game match between top Dutch GM Loek van Wely and the Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen, 15. Time controls are classical chess. The event, which includes rapid, youth and school events, is sponsored by the DSB Bank. Picture report.