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MoC #200: Of Champions and Championships
18.02.2004
– It's lee-NAH-race! Can Kramnik and Leko hold off Kasparov for the second year in a row? Will Topalov make the most of his first Linares in five years? Where is Anand? Does Shirov's presence give Kasparov an unfair advantage? Is Radjabov ready for the next step up? Is Paco for real? What are Kramnik, Leko, and FIDE smoking? The answers here.
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Looking forward to Linares
17.02.2004
– In two days the “Wimbledon of chess”, begins in Linares (Spain). Starring in it are seven of the strongest GMs in the world, including Kasparov, Kramnik, Shirov, Topalov and Leko. Ram Prasad gets us in the mood by looking back at
previous tournaments.
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Kramnik vs Leko – on Radio ChessBase!
16.02.2004
– In tonight's audio lecture by Dennis Monokroussos on ChessBase
Radio the subject will be the upcoming world championship
match between Kramnik and Leko. The lecture starts at 9 p.m. EST (3 a.m. for
Europeans) on the Playchess.com server.
Here are the
details...
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Five-time World Computer Chess Champion
16.02.2004
– It's the five-time World Computer Chess Champion. It comes with a
huge database and opening book. It comes with dazzling new 3D
boards. And it's the subject of this week's ChessBase Workshop.
It's Shredder 8 and you can read all about it in
Steve Lopez' latest column.
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Nine-headed monster wins Paderborn
15.02.2004
– Hydra, described by its authors as a program that will "corner in a bloody confrontation whoever crosses its path", justified this frightening image by winning the computer tournament in Paderborn outright. Second on the table was Fritz and third Shredder. Here are the results and games, and further information on
a blood-curdling program.
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Ruy Lopez on Ebay
15.02.2004
– No, not the opening with 3.Bb5, but a book by the famed Spanish priest who lived in the middle of the 16th century. A first edition Italian version of his lesser-known Il Giuoco De Gli Scacchi is up for sale, with "insect damage to the spine and minute marginal worming". The starting bid is €500 ($640) in this
Ebay auction.
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Chess spectacle in Cannes
14.02.2004
– You don't see very much of this anymore: a chess master giving a blindfold simultaneous exhibition. It's supposed to be bad for your (mental) health. This week a young grandmaster played blindfold chess against twelve opponents, in the festival city of Cannes (France). The spectators and media
loved it.
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Daniël Stellwagen wins Complete Chess match
13.02.2004
– He has been called the “Dutch incarnation of Boris Spasski”. 16-year-old Daniël Stellwagen defeated his 15-year-old counterpart from Germany, David Baramidze, in the computer-assisted match in Maastricht. The final score in the four-game match was 2.5-1.5. Here's a
report, pictures and annotated games...
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Watch Yannick and Almira online
13.02.2004
– Remember our last Radio ChessBase broadcast, with stunning video images of Elisabeth Pähtz? Well, tonight (16:00h GMT) we have another visual feast: Swiss GM Yannick Pelletier will appear live on the show! Oh, yes, he will be joined by Almira Skripchenko, France's top female grandmaster. Here are full instructions on
how to tune in.
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FIDE World Championship Headed to Libya?
13.02.2004
– We joked about it,
but it looks like it may be no joke. A website quotes the Russian news agency
Novosti in this
report saying that the next FIDE world championship will be held in Tripoli
under the auspices of Muammar Qaddafi (spelling of your choice). The supposedly
reformed terror
sponsor is said to have pledged 1.6 million dollars, as announced at an Ilyumzhinov
press conference in Libya. We are awaiting confirmation and details from FIDE.
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Open Letter from the ACP to the ECU
12.02.2004
– The Association of Chess Professionals, which has been holding board meetings in Wijk aan Zee and Paris, has just released an open letter to the European Chess Union, a branch of FIDE. In it they criticise past practices and demand specific and substantial changes. We bring you a summary and the
original letter.
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Watching the stars at the Dutch Blitz Championship
12.02.2004
– Last weekend there was an interesting blitz championship. It was held for the 19th year in succession in the Dutch town of Dordrecht (near Rotterdam). What makes it interesting is that there were many international stars present – Sokolov, Short, Dreev –, but also our reporter Jeroen van den Belt, who sent in
a pictorial report.
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