Chess News, Chess Programs, Databases

Pie in the sky?
03.09.2003 – Yesterday we reported on a Supertournament in Mumbai. After all it was splashed all over the biggest Indian newspapers. Now most of the top players say they know nothing about this event. Even more embarrassing: it turns out our August 27th report on the "Face on Mars" was also flawed. Here is the whole shocking truth.

Dima takes on the tennis stars
03.09.2003 – The 2003 U.S. Open is being plagued by rain, which forces the players to pass the time with other activities. Capriati naps and pedicures. Myskina and Likhovtseva play cards, Agassi gets a rubdown. But many players and celebrities are taking up the challenge to play Dmitry Schneider at simultaneous chess. It all there in the world sports press.

Top columnists at the Telegraph
03.09.2003 – If you want news and gossip, on a weekly basis, the British Telegraph newspaper is a good address. It has three correspondents, GMs Nigel Short and David Norwood, as well as IM-journalist Malcolm Pein. In the past weeks the latter told us about the Staunten Memorial (won by Speelman), while the GMs handled more general subjects. Details...

Megastars to meet in Mumbai
03.09.2003 – A top chess event has just been announced for December in Mumbai. 13 GMs will participate in the category 20 round robin tournament, including (are you holding on?) Kasparov, Karpov, Anand, Kramnik, Leko, Grischuk, Shirov, Svidler, Polgar, Bareev, Adams, Short. Maybe even Ponomariov and Ivanchuk. What a lovely Christmas present...

Chess in the sunshine of Greek mythology
02.09.2003 – The traditional Acropolis tournament was held for the 18th time in Athens, this time in three groups: GMs, Men's and Women's Opens. We asked one of the participants to write a report and send us pictures, which she dutifully did – mainly from the women's section. Here is Natalia Kiseleva's richly illustrated report.

Postion search shortcuts in ChessBase 8
02.09.2003 – Have you ever been playing through a game in ChessBase 8, seen an interesting position, and wondered whether or not it appears in any other games in your database? That information is just a right- click away -- we'll show you how to do it in this week's ChessBase Workshop.

The Ultimate Mobile Game: Chess!
01.09.2003 – Chess is a fascinating game, easy to learn, fun to play and you can never learn enough. Pocket PC reviewer Andy Sjostrom ia a regular visitor to our Playchess.com server, where he is fighting to maintain a 1400 bullet rating. Andy has written a well-illustrated article on chess servers, chess engines and Pocket chess programs.

Mig on Chess #193: Garry Kasparov's Book of Matches
01.09.2003 – Is Garry Kasparov's new book a timeless masterpiece or is it full of errors and copied analysis? Both? Read all about Part I before Part II comes out. If you are the one who has yet to buy "My Great Predecessors, Part I" this is a must-read. If you already own it, don't worry, you'll be buying it again soon enough. Plus, a photogragh you just can't miss.

Engine management in Fritz
01.09.2003 – Do you have dozens or even scores of engines available in your Fritz engine selection dialogue? Do you get tired of scrolling through long lists of available engines? Do you ever wish the task could be easier? We address the issue in this week's ChessBase Workshop, in which we examine the "Engine management" feature in Fritz8. More...

When an IM and WGM tie the knot
31.08.2003 – They met twelve years ago, over the chessboard. She was a 10-year-old schoolgirl, he a budding chess master. But Aarti showed little respect and beat the five year older Ramesh. Now the two, both well-known players on the international circuit, have joined forces in permanent wedlock. The ceremony was conducted in typical South Indian style.

Arpad Emre Elo – 100th anniversary
30.08.2003 – Many people think that the letters ELO are some kind of acronym, like FIDE or NASA. But they come from Arpad Emre Elo, born on August 25, 1903. Prof. Elo was a strong chess player (two draws against Rueben Fine!) and a physicist. He achieved fame by devising a new rating system that has gained universal acceptance. Here's a commemorative portrait.

FIDE cancels world championship match
29.08.2003 – In a press conference in Moscow FIDE president Ilyumzhinov today cancelled the Yalta world chess championship match, effectively disqualifying its world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. A new cycle will be staged as a classical 128-player knockout tournament in December. The unification process remains in place. Here are all the details.