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Attention: this is not Judit Polgar!
03.12.2001
– We reported (on Nov. 13 below) that there is a fan site dedicated to Judit Polgar, the strongest female chess player in the history of the universe. Unfortunately we chose the one picture from the photo gallery which was not of Judit, as she informs us. And on Nov. 29 we mentioned that Watu Kobese, Elo 2373, was Africa's strongest player. Jonathan Bone had, well, a bone to pick with us over this. "Egypt's Fouad El Taher is 100 Elo points stronger, Algeria's Aimen Rizour is 2464. For that matter, Kobese isn't even the strongest player in South Africa. That distinction goes to George Michelakis at 2405." We stand corrected.
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We're going to have to watch this kid
03.12.2001
– He has just turned 18, hails from the Ukraine and became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 0 months, 17 days. Today Ruslan Ponomariov is equipped with 2684 Elo points and has won all of his last five games in the FIDE world championship. No glamour gallery, though. In the other games Ivanchuk and Bareev won, all other men drew. In the women's section Peng Zhaoqin beat Maia Chiburdanidze. There will be no games tomorrow. You can replay or download all today's games here...
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FIDE world championship Round 4
03.12.2001
– The games are under way, coverage is working perfectly, so go and watch them battle it out. If you have ChessBase or Fritz this is the best way to get the games into the system: click "Download PGN" below the Java board, save the file on your hard disk and double-click it in the Windows explorer. This will fire up ChessBase and display the game on the board. Press Alt-F2 to analyse with Fritz. You can dial in to the FIDE site
here...
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Moscow: Kramnik-Kasparov draw, FIDE results
02.12.2001
– The first classical game between Kramnik and Kasparov saw spectacular chairs and less interesting moves. You can find the game
here. At the FIDE world campionship Morozevich, Sakaev, Gelfand, Ye, Ponomariov, Svidler and Dreev won their games, whereas in the women's section only one of eight games was undecided. Report will follow, you can find the results and games here...
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Botvinnik Memorial: exciting draw in game two
02.12.2001
– In their second encounter Kramnik played the Sicilian – hmm, didn't he have this thing with the Berlin? Kasparov came out with the sharp Kan Variation (5.c4) and the game became a thriller. White seemed to have the advantage early on, but then slipped at move 46 and ended up fighting for the draw. You can play through the games here...
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Favourites go through in FIDE world championship
02.12.2001
– In the end the favourites held the day: Anand, Adams, Topalov, Morozevich, Shirov, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Svidler, Lautier, Ehlvest, Ponomariov
went through, the most prominent loser was ex-world champion Alexander Khalifman. In the women's section Skripchenko cruised through to
keep her husband (Lautier) company in the next round. Elisabeth Pähtz succumbed to time pressure and bowed out after a plucky performance. Results and games here...
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Like a knife through butter
02.12.2001
– She was born in the Russian city of Perm on April 23, 1984, became a WGM in 1998 and an men's IM in 2000. Alexandra Kosteniuk also writes poems and likes all kinds of sports. She's also into glamour photography. At the FIDE world championship she has gone through the women's section like a knife through butter, conceding only a single draw so far. You will find a report on this remarkable young lady
here...
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Kasparov-Kramnik clash begins tomorrow
30.11.2001
– The The Botvinnik Memorial encounter between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik is being held in Moscow from December 1 to 8, 2001. The event consists of three matches: classic, rapid and blitz. The prize fund is $500,000 and the winner the player who wins the most overall points. Some interesting pre-match comments were heard in the players' online press conference. For full information visit our special Botivnnik Memorial site.
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Anand through, Karpov falters
28.11.2001
– Vishy Anand won his second game against Touzane and went on to win the tiebreak. Meanwhile Anatoly Karpov, who had announced that he wanted to bring the title back to Mother Russia, was knocked out in round one by a player called Zhang Pengxiang. You will find more information including reports, results, games and pictures at our special FIDE World Championship site.
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FIDE shocker: Anand loses first game
26.11.2001
– The FIDE World Championship started in Moscow today with a shock loss by Vishy Anand (with white!) against the Internet qualifier Oliver Touzane. Here's the fateful game with annotations. You will find more information including reports, results, games and pictures at our special FIDE
World Championship site. You can follow the games live at the official Fide site.
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Whoops there goes another online project
26.11.2001
– It was billed as the biggest tournament of all time. Online World Chess, the brainchild of chess organizer Bessel Kok, had a total prize fund of $1.4 million and expected "tens of thousands" of participants (see our news item of 19.10.01). Now it has been cancelled, due to "the present economic situation and dramatic turn down of internet sales in the aftermath of September 11". Pity – the likes or Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Karpov, Polgar were seeded to the finals. More...
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European Chess Championships 2002 cancelled
26.11.2001
– In a bitter announcement the Chess Groningen Foundation has cancelled the European Chess Championships 2002, scheduled for Dec. 19 2001
to Jan. 4 2002, as well as all tournaments of the Groningen Chess Event. "You will probably not believe it, but it is the harsh reality. Due to lack of cooperation by the ECU and the FIDE the organization has come to the conclusion that it would be irresponsible to continue with the 3rd ECC." More...
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