The angel on Friso’s shoulder

Friso Nijboer already had a nice summer to look back on and prolonged it a bit more last week with a tournament victory on Mallorca. At Calvia, where the Olympiad of 2004 was held, he took sole first price in quite a strong field, thanks to a bit of help from above. full story »

Three IM-norms in Hoogeveen

Besides the crown group the Essent Tournament had a very strong open group this year, with about fifteen grandmasters and several international masters at the participants list. This meant a perfect field for scoring norms and three players did take an IM-norm home: Dutchies Alexander van Beek and Ali Bitalzadeh and Moulthun Ly from Australia. (Robert Ris also scored a norm but he had already enough of those.) full story »

Images of last round Essent

In this post some images of the Essent Tournament’s last round. As could be read already at the tournament site and at Chessbase, the crown group had a terrific apotheosis (except for our compatriot Sokolov). But also the open group had a good finish: after Cheparinov had secured the first spot by drawing quickly, Jan Werle beat Erwin l’Ami in a nice fight to clinch shared first as well. full story »

What about another video

Those videos, they are being appreciated I guess. So we just keep on making them. This time one about yesterday’s game Judit Polgar-Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, where, I cannot say it differently, Judit is taught a lesson. In other words: fragments of the game and the the post-mortem. full story »

Danailov arrived as well - with a sense of humor

The word Toiletgate has been mentioned a few times again in Hoogeveen. Yesterday Dutch journalist Gert Ligerink interviewed Topalov and thus gave him a chance to tell his part of the story to the world. The day before yesterday Veselin smiled and said in the pressroom: “I will not play here without cameras in the toilets.” Judit Polgar answered to that: “Well, not in my toilet!” Topalov then added: “And I want the tapes too!” Today Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov, who joined his protegé yesterday, showed that he too brought his sense of humour to Hoogeveen. full story »

Videos with more impressions from Hoogeveen

The last video I I put online from Hoogeveen, was met by a lot of nice reactions. Thanks for that! Of course it was very stimulating and therefore broadcasting corporation DBU (Doggy Broadcasting Unlimited) announces two new episodes today. Some impresisions of the tournament, and also parts of the post-mortem of Polgar-Mamedyarov. full story »

World champion Kramnik plays Corus

World champion Kramnik has confirmed he will play in the Corus Tournament in Wijk aan Zee (12-28 January, 2007). It will be the first time Kramnik and Topalov meet again behind the chess board, after their reunification match last month. full story »

More photos

Today the two editors doggy and forest had a very unfortunate pairing. We had to play each other. The game was a quick and correct draw, which gave us time to get back to (photo) journalism (yesterday we were both playing a long ending). So now already some pictures of today, the fifth round in the amateur and open group and the third in the crown group. full story »

Video Mamedyarov-Topalov (and Polgar-Sokolov)

The crown group also started in Hoogeveen. You know who I mean, the four world class players that play in their own group and try to annoy the others with moving pieces made of glass. A good opportunity to make a video, we thought! Lots of Mamedyarov-Topalov of course, cause it’s Topalov’s first game since his defeat against Kramnik. Also some images of Polgar-Sokolov are included. Have fun! full story »

In the kitchen of three young Dutch grandmasters

Yesterday night, after the second round of the Essent Tournament, the grandmasters Erwin l’Ami and Jan Smeets were having dinner in the canteen of the tournament hall, and I asked them if I could have an interview with them sometime during the tournament. “Now seems a perfect moment,�? Erwin said. Jan agreed. Later GM Jan Werle joined us. full story »

New photos and analysis

Oak begins his game a half hour later every day, and thus has lots of time to take pictures. And we serve you another game analysis, this time the interesting draw Pruijssers-Smerdon, with comments by Smerdon. full story »

It’s good in Hoogeveen

It’s good in Hoogeveen. The weather is good (quite warm actually), the pizzeria is good (especially the pizza Dynamite) and the results are good. I started well with a draw against a 2500-player but de fourteen year old and very talented Moulthun Ly from Australia did even better by beating GM Ikonnikov with Black. full story »

Hoogeveen here we come!

Today the yearly spectacle in Hoogeveen begins. The crown group of the Essent Tournament is the strongest ever, with the world’s number 1 (the ex-world champion Topalov), the number 12 (the 21 year old Mamedyarov), the number 16 (Judit Polgar) and the number 39 (our own Ivan Sokolov). Besides, there’s an amateur tournament and a very strong open tournament, with e.g. the number 56, Mikhail Gurevich, and the number 83, Ivan Cheparinov (Topalov’s second) and two crew members of this site: doggy and forest. A third reporter (we will also publish lots of great articles here of course) joins us: oak. Furthermore, again we will publish videos and live photos, directly from the tournament hall, onto this site in the most right column! So I would say: stay tuned, don’t go away! (Leave that for your television.)

The Russians dominate at Ech clubteams

Despite the Wch match not many will have missed out the Europan Club Cup that was played last week in Fügen, Austria. With a few days delay I’m still happy to write about this tournament because of some very interesting games. full story »

Fischer’s Game of the Century

It was one of the first books I really loved: The Games of Robert J. Fischer, edited by Robert G. Wade & Kevin J. O’Connell, Batsford 1972. All of Fischer’s games were in it, including his match against Spassky in ‘72, and also lots of fascinating stories of the rise of the American prodigy, by people such as Arthur Bisguier, Harry Golombek and Paul Keres. I played through the majority of the more than seven hundred games at least once, and I guess I’m one of the few that prefers to take this book to a desert island, instead of My Sixty Memorable Games. A few games in the book come with annotations, and one of them is a game played exactly fifty years ago today. full story »

Fight Club / Chess Club

The guys at Chessbase seem to have discovered Youtube. Suddenly they publish all kinds of articles with chess videos. I do not intend to constantly copy their articles with videos about chess, but the one they mentioned today is simply too good not to show here as well. (And here, under the little screen, you can ‘afterwards talk about the movie’!) full story »

Toiletgate good for corporate sponsorship?

It’s a well-known dilemma. A young author makes his debut with a novel. The book reviewer has to plough through a huge pile of books every week, and he chooses this debut novel for his next review. The book is crap, so in his article he burns it to the ground. Should the author be happy to see his book being reviewed or not? full story »

Danailov: “Rematch starts March 3rd, 2007″

Of course Wch title loser Topalov, on his arrival at Sofia, Bulgaria, was asked about a possible rematch against Kramnik. His manager Danailov reacted as determined as ever: “FIDE regulations allow every world champion that has lost the title to challenge the title holder. The total prize fund is 1,5 million dolars. We will find this money and will request the game to take place in Sofia. We will offer an exact date, 3rd of March 2007.” full story »

Videos decisive Wch moment

Now we can also watch video footage about the world championship online. Of course we’re talking about the website Youtube, the Dutch sports programme Studio Sport also put online the moment when Topalov resigned. full story »

KRAMNIK WORLD CHAMPION

Foto: FIDE
full story »

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