ChessBase Magazine Online

Elli Pähtz, Junior World Champion
24.11.2002 – It is hard to contain our delight. Germany's Elisabeth Pähtz, who had shown great form at at the Chess Olympiad in Bled and then played a exhibition match against Garry Kasparov at the Munich Electronica trade fair, has just won the girls' under 18 section of the World Youth Chess Championships in Heraklio, Crete. you will find a lot of pictures of our 17-year-old star here.
 

It's all about chess babes
23.11.2002 – Did you know the top players of the Azerbaijani Olympic chess team are all 17 or under? They finished ahead of the US team, whose players have things in their refrigerator older than that. Did you spot the mate in 30 that Peter Leko missed against Garry Kasparov? And should we to popularize chess by turning it into a beauty contest? This and more is discussed in Mig on Chess #181.
 

Blue Lagoon Cup today
23.11.2002 – The Blue Lagoon is a hot thermal spring in Govrik on Iceland. Iceland is the host of a strong youth tournament this afternoon on Playchess.com. The U-20 talents of Iceland, France, Sweden and Germany play in teams, beginning at 5 pm server time (GMT+1). At 8 pm follows the Thule Trophy, a price money Blitz tournament with all the U-20 players, the six qualifiers from last saturday and six strong guests from Iceland. Participants.
 

Same player, same tournament, forty years later!
23.11.2002 – The small Caribbean island of Curaçao hosted the 1962 Candidates, a quadruple round robin with eight of the world's best players. Four have sadly passed on, three have retired from competitive play. But one, Viktor Kortschnoj, is still one of the world's top players, and certainly one of the most active! He is playing in this year's commemorative event in Curaçao. Here is an illustrated report by John Fernandez.
 

New: World Champion Michail Tal by Johannes Sondermann
22.11.2002 – Despite Tal's short reign on the throne, the magician from Riga already became a legend during his lifetime due to his fantastic attacking style which enchanted the chess fans all over the world. Johannes Sondermann's new monograph includes a detailed biography, a complete game collection plus a big training database with Tal combinations. Read more...
 

GM Training with GM Rogozenko
21.11.2002 – Grandmaster training free of charge. Tonight, GM Dorin Rogozenko will deal with no less a player than... Bobby Fischer! In his lesson, he will explain the easiness and logic of  the great American who seems to fascinate people more than ever. Start is at 21.00 p.m. CET, on our server at Playchess.com
 

Chess youth from 71 countries battle it out in Crete
20.11.2002 – The World Youth Chess Championships is under way in Heraklio, Crete. From (November 15 to 24 2002 some 800 young chess players play in the categories under 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, for boys and girls. You will find games, results and standings at the official web site. Elli Pähtz, fresh from her match against Kasparov in Munich, is leading in the girls' under 18 section!
 

There just ain't no pity – Fischer's pathetic endgame
20.11.2002 – The international chess community tracks Bobby Fischer the way astronomers track the orbit of a dying comet. The reclusive ex world champion lives in Japan and, since January 1999, has been giving interviews, mainly to Philippine AM radio stations. Now the latest has been aired. Rene Chun describes it in a long, interesting retrospective in which we learn about Fischer's 22-year-old girlfriend Justine and their two-year-old daughter. A must-read in Atlantic Online.
 

Looking for a place to play?
18.11.2002 – Did you notice? Our Tournament Chess Calendar, created and maintained by Harmen Jonkman, has been updated. The Calendar has its own link on the left of our main page. You should check it out periodically...
 

If chess is too hard for you...
18.11.2002 – There's a possible alternative. “It’s almost a bit like chess; like a simpler, much simpler, version of chess. It has the same kind of strategy to it,” said one competitor. He was referring to "Rock, Paper, Sissors", which held its world championship in downtown Toronto recently. The game has – we kid you not – it's own organisation and a University of Alberta site where you can play it or download the world's strongest Rock-Paper-Sissors engines.
 

The World of Chess from 2002 to 2007
18.11.2002 – The Prague unity agreement has been signed and approved by all parties. Now comes the tough part – working out the details. American GM Yasser Seirawan, who has become the shuttle diplomat of chess, has worked out the new format for a united World Championship, including the next two cycles. Garry Kasparov helped us to understand it. Here are all the details of the new world championship format.
 

She had him on the ropes!
17.11.2002 – How often have you been a piece up against Garry Kasparov? How often in two separate games? Well, 17-year-old Elisabeth Pähtz did, and had the world's strongest player fighting for survival in two games. in the end, however, Germany's rising chess star succumbed to the five hundred point Elo difference. You will find our illustrated report here.