Did you spot the great chess player?

We received many hundreds of messages. About 80% of the writers got it right – they spotted Garry Kasparov standing directly in front of window three from the left. Congratulations to all of you hawkeyes. Less numerous were those who spotted other players.

Click the picture to enlarge

The winner of the Fritz 6 CD signed by a reigning world champion – Vishy Anand – is Andrey Mischouk, who was also one of the first visitors to identify Kasparov on the picture (though this was not the reason he was selected).

One question remains: why was Garry Kasparov standing between hundreds of people in front of an East German castle. You will find the answer to this puzzle in the report below.

Kasparov takes East Germany – Part deux

Some months ago Garry Kasparov had a spectacular event in Leipzig, East German. We had a report on that on our web site, and it is also the subject of the video report on ChessBase Magazine 83 extra. The visit was so successful that Kasparov's host, the east German chip manufacturer "Zentrum Mikroelektronik Dresden" (ZMD) decided to do a repeat in their home town of Dresden. CEO Thilo von Selchow (he was mistaken by someone in the picture above as Kasparov in the middle of door four from the left) invited the charismatic ex world champion to celebrate the 40th birthday of his company. In the beautiful Pillnitz castle, which took 100 years to complete (starting from 1720), Kasparov first gave a simultaneous exhibition.

These are the boards with the German women's champions under 12, 10, 14 and 16

Here are some of the games from the simultaneous exhibition.
The notation of the players may not always be accurate.

Kasparov with Thilo von Selchow

At breakfast the next morning

The Dresden opera – giving away drinks on the hottest day of the year

Some of the most beautiful paintings in the world

The Elbe river, which flows through Dresden

The famous sandstone cliffs ("Sandsteingebirge")