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A chess shrine for Tony Miles
23.11.2001
– The funeral of Britain's first grandmaster, Tony Miles, took place on November 23 in Birmingham, at Lodge Hill Crematorium, Selly Oak. Miles, aged just 46, died tragically young in his sleep at home on Monday, 12 November. The post mortem revelled that he died of natural causes – heart failure brought on by his diabetes. His team, Slough, had erected a "chess shrine" to Miles: a bronze bust of the player in his prime. John Henderson tells us all about it in his Scotsman column.
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The biggest chess talent that ever lived
23.11.2001
– Alexander Yermolinsky has just won the American Continental Championship, and as such was invited by the Dutch magazine New in Chess to answer some standard questions in the "Just Checking" section of their latest issue (7/2001). One was "Who is the biggest chess talent that ever lived?" Yermo's answer: "A tough one. I'm torn between Fritz, Crafty and Deep Junior." We hasten to add a plug: all three are available by clicking "Shop" on the top right of the screen.
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Oh yes, and no cigarettes either
23.11.2001
– Just after receiving news of FIDE's anti-dope campaign, here we have none other than our own Almira Lautier-Skripchenko talking at the WHO World No Tobacco Day 2001 conference in Geneva ("What must you do to market a product
that kills half of its regular users?"). There are also a number of very nice pictures of Almira in the WHO
Media Center, together with IOC, FIA and FIFA bigwigs. Read all about it here...
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You are so busted, Kramnik
20.11.2001
– Just look at him, drinking Coke in public! Well, FIDE is now really clamping down on such blatent use of stimulants. "The FIDE anti-doping regime is in force", it says on their web site. That's where you can find out how many
cups of coffee or glasses of coke you can drink during a tournament. And which medications are allowed for headaches, coughs or diarrhoea (Loperamide 2 mg tablets, maximum 6 per day). So before you go to your next tournament you better check out the drug laws here...
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World Trade Center revisited
20.11.2001
– eventy days after the horrific attack on the World Trade Center, the ruins are still smoldering, making this the longest burning fire on record. On September 11th we looked back at the 1995 PCA World Championship, which was staged on the Observation Deck on the 107th floor of the WTC. Now we have added a very moving tribute, which you may want to watch during a quiet moment. The link is at the bottom of our commemorative picture gallery.
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Who's going to win the FIDE world championship?
20.11.2001
– Well obviously Anand. But what are the precise chances of Vishy pulling it off in Moscow? The Kasparov Chess statistics guru Jeff Sonas has worked it all out: Vishy's winning chances are more than twice those of any other single player. But: with so many rounds of two-game matches, the chances are only 23%. That's more than twice as high as for any other player in the field. But: there is a 24% chance that a player seeded #13 or worse will take the title instead. Check out the details in Jeff's article...
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You definitely do not want to hide this man's chess set
19.11.2001
– When trainer Emmanuel Steward wants to get Lennox Lewis upset and in the right frame of mind for a big fight, he hides the Briton's chess set. This is what he did ahead of Saturday's heavyweight title fight rematch with Hasim Rahman. "I honestly don't like him playing chess,'' moaned Steward, ''I mean I see him sitting there for ten minutes thinking four moves ahead before he makes one. And he actually does the same thing in the ring – he thinks to much.'' Steward, who has worked with many world champions, has often criticized Lewis for being too cautious, for treating a fight as if it were a game of chess -- becoming too cerebral and not physical enough. More...
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Chinese National Championship 2001
18.11.2001
– Just since last year, the regulation of the most important national chess tournament in China has been changed from round robin to Swiss + knock-out mode. After ten rounds of the first stage, 32 men and 16 woman players qualified for the final (knock-out) circle. Our correspondent Wang Wei reports from the Chinese National Championship in Wu Xi, Jiang Su Province. You will find his report
more
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Kasparov vs the Rest of the World
17.11.2001
– Recently Garry Kasparov trounced the Czech national team 5.5-2.5 in two clock simul matches (see our report). A remarkable display, but not the first of its kind. In two interesting articles Bobby Ang (Manilla) retraces Kasparov's career of demolishing national teams. It started shortly after he became world champion in 1985, and ChessBase played a role in the incredible feats. The articles are here: Part I, Part II.
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BBC Radio on Miles
17.11.2001
– There will be an obituary of Tony Miles as part of the Radio Five Live program "Brief Lives" on Sunday 18th November at 06:00 – 06:30 GMT (01:00 EST) repeated at 20:30 (15:00 EST). You can listen to BBC Five Live on their Internet website.
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Viktor takes Berlin
16.11.2001
– At 70 you would expect him to slow down a bit, but on the 12th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the indestructible Viktor Korchnoi gave two simultaneous exhibitions. In spite of strong opposition he won both with 24:1. There is a beautiful photo report (text in German) of the event here. Note that Matthias Deutschmann is a political standup, a Bundesliga player and the German voice of Fritz.
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