THE RECENT European Team Championships in Georgia are drawing prominent
coverage on chess websites this week. The new Fritz 6 software
is advertised heavily, and GM Baburin seems to be everywhere.
Several websites are now or are planning to incorporate multimedia
technology, which seems to be the Next Big Thing.
- Stephen Leary
British Chess Magazine
The lead news item is Harriet Hunt's
gold medal performance
on Board 1 at the European Team Championships. Includes
several links discussing the action. Xie Jun graces the cover
of the December 1999 print issue. Inside are an interview
with Bob Wade & a report on Matthew Sadler's final professional
game.
The Chess Cafe
December 15 is the date of the 1999 Chess Cafe Holiday
Quiz, "with prizes worth almost $900."
Tim Harding's column, "Thoughts on the Millennium" is a
lengthy philosophical essay on the origins of chess and
what the future may hold. He concludes with his "Ten Influential
Games of the Millennium." John Nunn's book "Secrets of Rook
Endings" is favorably reviewed.
Chess City
Games are now posted that can be played back with no
Java applet or plug-in required. Several new gambit articles
are available, including the Icelandic Gambit and a few
antidotes to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit.
Chess Mail
The first issue of the new millennium, 1/2000, has now been mailed out.
Featured is American CC-GM Vytas Palciauskas, winner of the tenth
Correspondence Chess World Championship who has returned to
active competition. This website is undergoing a "complete
overhaul & redevelopment" and has been fitted with a new search
engine.
ClubKasparov
A Blitz tournament dedicated to the first anniversary of
ClubKasparov was held in Moscow. E. Bareev was the winner.
CorrespondenceChess.com
The lively bulletin board contains a
discussion on the importance
of "wanting to win" chess games. Some seem to feel caring
deeply about the outcome of a game is a sign of an emotionally
disturbed person. Another viewpoint, espoused by a school
chess coach, is that wanting to win is the reason anyone strives
to improve at chess. Kids who don't care about the outcome
will never become good players.
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FICS
1,509 new player accounts were created in November. The total
is now 55,759 accounts. The 1999-2000 FICS Grand Prix runs
through September, 2000 with a guaranteed $150 prize fund.
FIDE
FIDE is promising, before the end of the millennium, several
new services for visitors to their website: free e-mail,
game zone, chess links, a catalogue and classifieds.
Inside Chess
Yasser Seirawan announces the final print issue of Inside
Chess. Apparently the Internet revolution in providing
instant chess news has been hard on print magazines such as this
one. In the future, Insidechess.com may feature reports by leading players,
annotated games, and attempt to remain "fresh and interesting."
International Chess Enterprises will now work with Chess.net
to create league & tournament play, as well as online chess
instruction featuring video & audio streaming. Yasser's
"12 Years of Inside Chess Magazine" is a recap of chess news
events and the trials and tribulations of publishing a chess
magazine.
Internet Chess Club
The first USCF Quick rated tournament on ICC was played
Sunday, 12 December. "Your Quick rating WILL change in this
tournament."
New In Chess Magazine
NIC issue 1999/8 is previewed. Twelve-year-old Teymur Radjabov
is "A New Boy From Baku" with extraordinary talent. A man who
is engaged in an independent search for truth is examined in "The
Unorthodox Explorations of Rolf Martens."
Polgar Chess Center
Zsuzsa Polgar has been chosen as one of the "100 Young Stars
for the Millennium" in Cadogan's annual publication of
"Europe's Elite 1000 - The Ultimate List."
The Week In Chess
The "TWIC TV in English" First Edition took place Tuesday,
7 December. Included were interviews with Julian Hodgson,
Mark Crowther, & David Anderton.
United States Chess Federation
USCF membership reached an all-time high of 86,645 as of
November 30, 1999 - a 2,000 person increase over the previous
quarter. The press release states that youth & scholastic
memberships have increased from about 5,000 in 1990 to
almost 43,000 now. Adult memberships remained steady
this quarter.
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