Chess for Peace – with Mikhail Gorbachev

11/2/2005 – Last Friday the city of Lindsborg in Kansas played host to former world champions Susan Polgar and Anatoly Karpov. And to the former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. This warm, humorous gentleman prepared tea for Susan and caused Karpov grief by playing 1.g4 for him in the match against Susan Polgar. Illustrated report.

French bid for FIDE President

11/1/2005 – Leo Battesti, the organiser of the Corsican Circuit and Vice-President of the French Chess Federation, has just announced that he is running for FIDE President at the Turin elections May next year. Meanwhile the incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has been reinstated as President of Kalmykia and is bidding $1 million for the mummy of Lenin. Here are the details.

World Championships and wedding ceremony in Istanbul

10/31/2005 – On November 9th, at 15:30h, the Turkish Chess Federation will stage the opening ceremony of the World Junior Championships, with 160 players from 56 countries. At 17:00h it will host the wedding ceremony of their strongest GM and a Russian WGM. The two will play a blitz match to decide who is the boss in this marriage.

'Chess Bitch' – an eye-opener by Jennifer Shahade

10/31/2005 – This new, interesting and unusual chess book, written by the 2004 U.S. Woman’s Chess Champion, is an eye-opening account of how today’s young female chess players are successfully knocking down the doors to this traditionally male game, infiltrating the male-owned sporting subculture of international chess, and giving the phrase "play like a girl" a whole new meaning.

Open letters from van Wely and the ACP

10/31/2005 – The debate on the FIDE World Cup continues, with GM Loek van Wely (picture) sending us an open letter. In it Holland's top joins Gata Kamsky in his criticism of the way the qualification for the next world championship cycle is being handled. GM Bartlomiej Macieja of Poland joins in and gives the ACP's take on this matter. Food for thought.

'Topalov is better adapted to modern chess'

10/30/2005 – When former world champion Garry Kasparov speaks about his colleagues, one does well to listen. After the San Luis championship, which he admits following with interest and pleasure, Kasparov gave the ChessPro news site an extensive interview, evaluating the performances of Topalov, Anand and Leko, and explaining what Topalov's victory means for the chess world.

Playchess lecture: Halloween feast of fright

10/30/2005 – Monday is Halloween, and the Monday night Playchess lecture will tune into with the spirit of the occasion with opening blunders, chokes, draws agreed in won positions, falling for unethical bluffs. Dennis Monokroussos puts fallen humanity on center stage. Not for the faint-hearted.

Jobava wins the Samba Cup in Denmark

10/29/2005 – The Second Samba Cup in Skanderborg, Denmark, saw a very strong field that included Ivanchuk and Nisipeanu being won by young Baadur Jobava from Georgia. The "cream puff" event was a great success and the sponsors are already planning a third tournament in 2007. Big illustrated report with annotated games.

Veselin Topalov – the homecoming

10/28/2005 – The newly crowned FIDE world chess champion Veselin Topalov has returned to Bulgaria, to an ecstatic reception by the media, chess fans and the indeed the President of his country. Georgi Parvanov even took over the patronage of the next M-Tel Masters, to which the retired Garry Kasparov has been invited. Details and an interesting NYT article.

FIDE changes its plan, players protest

10/27/2005 – Five months ago FIDE announced full details of its next World Championship cycle, which was to culminate in a final one-on-one match. Due to the success of the recent San Luis tournament FIDE has decided to amend the plan and stage an eight-player final. Here are the details – and vigorous protests by two former world championship finalists.

FIDE's reply, Kamsky's rejoinder

10/27/2005 – Yesterday we reported that FIDE had changed its rules for the next World Championship cycle, and that top players like Gata Kamsky and Alexei Shirov had protested. Today we received a reply from FIDE Vice President Morten Sand and a rejoinder from Gata Kamsky. There is conflict in the air.

Topalov vs Kramnik – what the world thinks

10/27/2005 – Last weekend we published two interviews, with the new FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov, expressing reluctance to put his title on the line against classical chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik, and with the latter insisting the matter should be settled in a reunification match. So should they play? Our readers' opinion is quite explicit.

Imagery of Chess: Hikaru's blindfold simul

10/26/2005 – On October 21, US Champion Hikaru Nakamura took on six opponents in his first blindfold exhibition ever, at the opening of The Imagery of Chess Revisited at the Noguchi Museum in New York City. Hikaru recreated a 1945 exhibition by the legendary blindfold master George Koltanowski. Illustrated report.

Chess for Peace – with Karpov, Polgar and Gorbachev

10/26/2005 – What do the three have in common? Well, the former Soviet president is Anatoly Karpov's old friend, and he will be visiting the Karpov Chess School in Lindsborg, Kansas, to help launch a worldwide campaign of promoting peace through chess. He will also attend a match between Karpov and Susan Polgar. Stand by for a chess weekend in Kansas.

Chess on the Arctic Circle

10/25/2005 – It is unusual when a chess tournament is held in a town that exactly straddles the Arctic Circle. That is the case for Salekhard (or Salegard), where ten teams are playing – with all participants required to be under 17 years of age, and one under ten. Here's a beautifully illustrated report by Eldar Mukhametov.

Playchess lecture: Caro-Kann or Semi-Slav

10/24/2005 – What, another Boris Gelfand win? No, this week he's the victim, losing to another relatively unnoticed member of the sometimes-2700 club, Alexey Dreev. When facing 1.e4 he's a Caro-Kann specialist, but against 1.d4 it's as if Alexey becomes a different person – a Semi-Slav specialist! Learn all about it on Playchess in the Monday night lecture by Dennis Monokroussos.

Chess stars of the Baltic Sea region

10/22/2005 – The International Youth Team championship of the Baltic Sea Countries in Narva, Estonia, saw 60 champions of the region playing in six teams – from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, and Estonian. There were ten players per team, from 10 to 18 years in age. Read all about it in Valery Golubenko's illustrated report.

Topalov says Nyet to Kramnik

10/22/2005 – The chances of a reunification title match between the newly crowned FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov and Classical Chess world champion Vladimir Kramnik took a dive when the Bulgarian stated unequivocally that he was not willing to take up a challenge by someone 60 points below him. "That is a different class altogether," said Topalov in this Sport Express interview.

Kramnik willing to face Topalov

10/22/2005 – "I firmly believe that I am the real World Chess Champion." With that Vladimir Kramnik makes his case to participate in a unification match against new FIDE champ Veselin Topalov. In brief comments Kramnik also addresses his lineage and Topalov's recent arguments for not having such a match. Read quickly, before the next reply comes out.

The Ugandans are coming!

10/21/2005 – Recently the Ugandan Chess Federation staged a qualification tournament to determine which of their national team would be included in a trip to Germany. After tie-break games eight player were selected, and spent some quality time in the beautiful town of Forcheim. Harold Wanyama reports.

San Luis: The return of the participants

10/21/2005 – Earlier this week, at the end of the very exciting but also quite exhausting FIDE World Championship, players, dignitaries, journalists and friends packed their bags and embarked on the journey back home. So too your newsteam from ChessBase.com. We bring you farewell pictures from San Luis and, for those who missed something, a list of all video links.

14-year-old Carlsen with 2792 performance

10/20/2005 – Schachwunderkind Magnus Carlsen strikes again. In devastating form the young Norwegian GM took first place at the Arnold Eikrem Memorial in Gausdal, a full point ahead of exprienced GMs and with a performance never yet seen from one so young. On the next rating list Magnus will be just a few points shy of 2600. Here's an illustrated report by Tarjei Svenson.

San Luis: The prize-giving ceremony

10/18/2005 – After three intense weeks in Argentina one of the most exciting world championships in memory came to an end, with a spectacular prize-giving ceremony. We bring you one of a series of picture reports while we ourselves embark on the journey back home.

'Where's my Fritz 9?'

10/17/2005 – That was the most common greeting we received when we arrived, ten days ago, in San Luis for the FIDE World Championship. Prudently we had taken a bunch of pre-release programs with us. This week the full English version for Fritz 9 will become available in our shop. Here's what's so special about it.