Amber 12: Bareev beats Anand 2-0 in first round Kriegspiel

4/1/2005 – He may have finished at the bottom of the table in the Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament, but Russian GM Evgeny Bareev started with a stunning 2-0 victory over Vishy Anand in the Kriegspiel section which started today in Monaco. He and Peter Leko (2-0 against Svidler) are expected to dominate. Full illustrated report.

ChessBase Cafe: How the pros do it

3/31/2005 – If you've got a burning question about using ChessBase software there's a good place to go for an answer. The latest ChessBase Cafe column describes graphically how Garry Kasparov uses ChessBase to store and manage some of the most profound analyses known to mankind. Mig Greengard gives us an inside view of the legendary Garrybase.

Amber 10: Anand winner on all fronts

3/31/2005 – In the blindfold section he is two points ahead, in the rapid one. With one round to go it is clear that Vishy Anand will win in both groups, and that he will be the winner in the overall tally. Only one player achieved a similar result before, back in 1997. Can you guess who? The answer to this tricky question is given in our illustrated report.

BBC World Service: listen to Garry Kasparov

3/31/2005 – "I was struck by how modest he sounded about his ambitions," says BBC political analyst in Moscow Masha Lipman about Garry Kasparov's plans to go into politics. "He wasn't sure whether he could make a difference, but he wanted to give it a try." Here's a substantial interview conducted on Wednesday by the BBC World Service. Catch it quickly.

Amber 11: Anand wins Rapid and Blindfold

3/31/2005 – There was a theoretical chance that he would share first in the rapid section with Alexander Morozevich, especially since the Russian won his final eleventh round game. But Vishy Anand, the dominating player in Monaco, drew his own game against Gelfand to take uncontested first in all sections. His overall performance: 2871. Games, results and tables.

Amber 09: Mountain tribes of Monaco

3/30/2005 – They wear red bandanas and, armed with bows and arrows, rule supreme in the mountains around Monaco. They also play blindfold and rapid chess. After the Easter Monday rest Vishy Anand, the supreme leader, defeated Dutch champion Loek van Wely 1½:½, increasing his overall lead to three full points. Full illustrated report.

The April Fool's Game

3/30/2005 – Fischer against Karpov? A game buried for 30 years, suddenly emerging on our Monday night lecture? Of course it was too good to be true. Dennis Monokroussos fabricated the exciting encounter from two genuine games played by Fischer and Karpov, but not against each other. In them the players reached exactly the same position after 23 moves...

Easter editorializing on Fischer's escape

3/29/2005 – Thursday night Bobby Fischer arrived in Iceland, looking haggard after a detention of almost nine months in Japan. Over the Easter weekend journalists all over the world have sat down to write down their own personal views on the case. From the hundreds of articles that have appeared in the world press, here are a few of the more striking ones.

Jambo Commonwealth!

3/29/2005 – Mombasa, a town with almost a million inhabitants, has just one chess club – with ten members. Recently Super-GM Nigel Short visited Kenya and met with chess players of the country. Nigel is determined to improve the situation. For this reason he is running for President of the Commonwealth Chess Association.

Radio ChessBase: Danish Championship Knock-out

3/29/2005 – "A full report by a sour loser and his grumpy sidekick" – that's the title for our Wednesday night lecture on Playchess.com, brought to you directly from Scotland Wednesday evening at 20.30 CET by IMs Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw. See you there...

Amber 07: Anand loses to tail-ender Bareev

3/28/2005 – He went into round seven in high spirits, but tournament leader Vishy Anand suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Evgeny Bareev, number 12 on the cross table. In spite of that Anand remains 2½ point ahead of the field. The other five matches in round seven were drawn, two with decided games. We bring you a full illustrated report from Monaco.

Fischer vs Karpov – the secret game

3/27/2005 – In 1976 Anatoly Karpov met with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines, hoping to arrange an unofficial world championship match. It didn't happen, but the two grandmasters did play some informal games. One was revealed to our Playchess.com lecturer Dennis Monokroussos in 1987. He kept it under lock and key for 18 years. On Monday the secret will be revealed.

Amber R06: Anand three points ahead

3/26/2005 – In round six he drew both games, but since his closest rival Peter Svidler lost one, Vishy Anand increased the distance to the rest of the field to three full points. Alexei Shirov won both his games to compensate somewhat for his disastrous start. We bring you highlights and pictures in our full updated report.

Karpov vs Istratescu in Bucharest

3/25/2005 – Chess legend Anatoly Karpov is playing Romanian GM Andrei Istratescu in a match in Bucharest. There are eight games, four at classical time controls and four rapid chess games. The match lasts from March 20th to 26th March and is being shown live on the Internet. Karpov is in the lead.

Amber: Anand steams on, Vallejo beats Kramnik

3/25/2005 – After a rest day of exquisite meals and laser shoot-up games round five of the blindfold-rapid chess tournament in Monaco saw Anand winning his mini-match against Ivanchuk with 1½-½ to take a 2½ point lead over the field. The sensation came when bottom seed Francisco Vallejo defeated Vladimir Kramnik in their blindfold game. Illustrated report.

Tumultuous welcome for Fischer in Iceland

3/25/2005 – They are scenes like we have never seen before, certainly not in the chess world. Bobby Fischer arrived in Iceland to a hero's welcome from a midnight crowd at Reykjavik Airport. Looking harrowed and gaunt after almost nine months in Japanese detention he took time to speak to TV journalists. We have dramatic live footage from Icelandic TV.

11:30 GMT: Fischer arrives in Iceland

3/24/2005 – Bobby Fischer is on a plane en route to Iceland, where he is due to arrive later tonight. During his departure from Narita Airport in Tokyo he was mobbed by press and TV. At 11:05 p.m. Fischer's plane, a private jet sent to pick him up by an Icelandic TV station, landed at Reykjavik Airport (not Keflavik International, which is a NATO base) at 21:30 GMT. Latest news...

Fischer released in Japan

3/23/2005 – Bobby Fischer is due to be released from the Japanese detention center at midnight GMT. "The passed Fischer pawn has been shepherded home to the eighth rank," wrote Einar S. Einarsson of the RJF Committee. "It can now be promoted into a piece, with complete freedom of movement." Update: we have just learnt that Bobby Fischer has been released!

Jacob Aagaard x2

3/23/2005 – In this week's ChessBase Workshop, we somehow manage to link together the Nimzoindian Defense, South Park, How to Beat Bobby Fischer, cool videos, perfume on a shirt collar, opening ideas, and IM Jacob Aagaard. Even James Burke would have a hard time making these connections...

The tiger is slain – Simon Webb, 1949–2005

3/22/2005 – International Master Simon Webb, successful junior and correspondence player, was killed by his son in his Stockholm apartment last week. The tragedy occurred when Webb returned from a tournament late at night. After the attack the son tried to commit suicide. Simon Webb is best known for his book Chess for Tigers.

Amber shocker: Anand draws a game

3/22/2005 – Chess fans all over the world were stunned. Vishy Anand, who had won seven straight games in the Amber Tournament in Monaco drew the eighth against Vladimir Kramnik. Accompanied, we believe, by a sigh of disappointment by the Guinness people. Still there was a lot of excitement and not a few amusing and tragic scenes in Monaco.

Monokroussos: the forgotten Kasparov game

3/21/2005 – When announcing his retirement Garry Kasparov included among his greatest games an effort far less well-known than many of his brilliant victories – a game most of us aren’t even aware of. In his Monday night lecture on Playchess.com Dennis Monokroussos shows us this key 1985 positional victory against Anatoly Karpov. Enjoy!

Amber: Anand leads with 4:0

3/21/2005 – The Amber Tournament began with a dry score for favourite Vishy Anand. The Indian GM won all four games – with a bit of help from some of his opponents. Due to the unusual format – blindfold and rapid mini matches – we see top GMs blundering badly in their chess games. Read our extensive illustrated report.

Bobby Fischer: ich bin ein Icelander!

3/21/2005 – At 5:06 p.m. today the Icelandic Althingi, has granted former world chess champion Bobby Fischer full Icelandic citizenship. Despite stern U.S. diplomatic warnings, the world's oldest existing democratic parliament voted 40 in favour and two abstentions to make Fischer a full citizen. The readings took just 12 minutes.