The primaries and Kasparov

For years, Kasparov has claimed that life imitates chess. Until now, I’ve had a difficult time believing this, if only because life was here before chess, and because chess is a model of life rather than the other way around. full story »

April-column Kasparov in WSJ

In a new column for the Wall Street Journal, Garry Kasparov criticizes Western governments for going soft on China and Russia.

Kramnik plays Werle & Sebag

This afternoon, at 14:00 CET, in Enschede, the Netherlands a special event takes place: in a simultaneous exhibition, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik plays IGM Jan Werle & WGM Marie Sebag. full story »

New column Kasparov in WSJ

A new column by Kasparov has been published in the Wall Street Journal, about the elections in Russia.

Kasparov stopped by police

Opposition politician and former chess champion Garry Kasparov has been stopped by police while in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Ekho Moskvy radio reported Sunday. Kasparov was in a minibus with others at Sochi when he was stopped by police. He told Ekho Movsky from a police station that police confiscated the rented minibus on suspicion the vehicle had been stolen. More at Monstersandcritics.com

Kasparov in Newsweek

http://www.newsweek.com/id/111717

Terror Jaap beats GM Jan Werle

What do you do when you get invited to The Golden Cage? You pick your best suit, deal some smiles and win your game. Well, that must have been GM Jan Werle’s intention. But he got beaten on national television by Terror Jaap. full story »

Bobby Fischer on the Dick Cavett Show

Not to be missed:

Was it only a game?

Now also on YouTube:

(Thanks to Adam Smith)

Video clips and chess?

In which pop music videos does chess play a role? Let’s try and make a list.
full story »

Terror Jaap (Golden Cage) - Jan Werle

Tomorrow (Sunday, Februari 3) GM Jan Werle plays against ‘Terror Jaap‘, a participant of the Dutch TV program De Gouden Kooi (The Golden Cage). The game will probably be broadcast on TV (usually five or six days later) but tomorrow the match can be followed live via livestreaming on the Golden Cage’s site.

Larry Evans on My 61 Memorable Games

http://main.uschess.org/content/view/8175/431

Kasparov on Fischer in TIME

(…)

“At Fischer’s peak, even his adversaries had to admire his game. At the hallowed Moscow Central Chess Club, top Soviet players gathered to analyze Fischer’s crushing 1971 match defeat of one of their colleagues, Mark Taimanov. Someone suggested that Taimanov could have gained the upper hand with a queen move, to which David Bronstein, a world-championship challenger in 1951, replied, “Ah, but we don’t know what Fischer would have done.”"

(…)

» Kasparov’s article in TIME

Great piece on Fischer by Hans Ree

Hans Ree’s Column @ Chess Cafe

Kasparov on Dutch tv

Yesterday night, Garry Kasparov was the (only) guest of a 2,5 hour television program on Dutch tv. You can still watch it here.

Baptista and Papadopoulos love chess

If we’re talking about the promotion of chess anyway, why no bring this story as well. The famous club Real Madrid is at least as successful in basketball as in footbal. One of the players in their football team is the Brazilian player Julio César Baptista; in the basketball team Lazaros Papadopoulos from Greece plays. What these gentlemen have in common? Not only do they both play for Real, but they also love chess! Here an interview with the two.

Fischer’s My 61 Memorable Games

This week a remarkable story on Bobby Fischer appeared on the net: a new edition of the American chess legend’s famous games collection was published, and put on eBay: My 61 Memorable Games. It was said to be a revised edition of My 60 Memorable Games, with “improved analysis and commentary” and a 12-page foreword by the Man himself (the 61st game being the first match game from the Fischer-Spassky 1992 match). full story »

Catching up

Because of the World Cup, we haven’t had much time and space to cover other chess news and events for a while (except for the Bundesliga of course). At this first (and only) rest day in Khanty-Mansiysk, we take the opportunity to do some catching up with a list of short news items. Something we’re considering to do more often. full story »

Kasparov released

After a five-day detention, Garry Kasparov has been released today. In a brief statement Kasparov called his arrest an example of Russia’s transition into a dictatorship. He also stated that the arrest was meant as a warning and that next time it would be a criminal case. full story »

Who still studies the basic endgame?

Last week, a club member of mine (rating around 2250) told me that he almost never studies the endgame nowadays, whereas he used to do this on a regular basis. When games were still being adjourned, he always used to “grab the books” but these days he rarely takes the time to “dive into the endgame”. And I suspect this is the case with many chess players. full story »

Life sentence for “chess board killer”

A former grocery clerk was sentenced today to life in a hard labor colony for slaying 48 people in an effort to fill all 64 squares on a chessboard, luring his elderly, alcoholic victims with vodka and dumping them in a Moscow park. Alexander Pichushkin, who claimed to have killed 60 people, stood in a reinforced glass cage with his hands cuffed behind his back as a judge delivered the harshest possible punishment under Russian law. full story »

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