Luke McShane's mother talks about her son, the new grandmaster. Scenes from a chess hall. Campomanes on the new Philippine organization.
- Stephen Leary
My Son, the Grandmaster
Luke McShane's mother writes about what it was like when her son called her from Copenhagen to announce he had just become a grandmaster.
"The thing about Luke is that when he's sitting at a chess board he becomes terrifyingly cool, cooler than a fridge in a snowstorm, cooler than any teenager has a right to be. It throws other players off balance, it's quite magnificent."
Scenes from a Chess Hall
"Venture to say anything and you're hissed into silence. Feeling foolish for wanting to air your `valued' opinion, you grin sheepishly at someone you know. The slip has been made. One chess fanatic glares while another shows no mercy, solemn as a stuffed frog."
Chess is All High-Tech Now
The days are gone when grandmasters would pore over volumes of books and magazines to find the solution to a problem. "In most cases the chess battles are only an extension of the intensely fought wars with the computer before the player enters the tournament hall."
Profile of Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman
Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman recently became India's first Woman Grandmaster. A recap of her rise to stardom. "She is a resourceful player who fears only God. This recent achievement should stimulate her to greater deeds and see her as a men's International Master soon."
Chathurangam
Interviews with Vladimirov, Vijayalakshmi, Harikrishna, and Prasad.
FIDE
Doping tests are scheduled to begin at the Olympiad in Istanbul.
Chess Cafe
Tony Miles writes an insider's report on the first European Championship with some interesting tidbits. Hans Ree on doping tests.
British Chess Magazine
British Championship coverage. UK tournament results.
About.com
Teeny-weeny trivia. Scotch Gambit opening traps.
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Florencio Campomanes
In his Manila Times column, Campomanes writes about the recent formation of the Philippine Chess Players Association, spearheaded by the country's top players, Torre, Antonio, and Villamayor.
Lubomir Kavalek
In his weekly Washington Post column, Kavalek analyses Tregubov-Lalic from the recent European Championship. Also, the Perenyi Attack in the Scheveningen may make or break the Sicilian in general. Black seemed ok until Svidler trounced Gelfand with it last week at the Biel Festival. Kavalek commentates on Svidler-Gelfand.
Robert Byrne
In his weekly New York Times column, Byrne recaps the Jack Collins International Tournament at the Marshall Chess Club. "One of the most difficult tasks in chess is to admit that you are going in the wrong direction and reverse yourself in time to win." Byrne shows how Rogelio Barcenilla of the Philippines did just that in his game with Gregory Shahade.
Shelby Lyman
In his weekly column, Shelby writes about "Advanced Chess" tournaments in which the audience can follow on a large screen the moves each player subjected to computer analysis. "In fact, advanced chess in its present form is likely to have a short lifespan. As chess-playing machines first surpass and then eclipse human performance, the format will revert to a `human-assisted' one rather than the reverse."
USCF
The USCF will unveil their new, official online chess playing service, "US Chess Live," at the 101st U.S. Open. The service is available to all USCF members; plans include a monthly lecture series, banter games, contests, online play, interactive quizzes and puzzles and more.
El Pais
Leontxo Garcia's reports this week:
Daily Biel updates. Shirov's road to the FIDE Championship begins.
[In Spanish.]
KasparovChess.com
Live games from the Biel Festival. InterWise to power Virtual Chess University. Results from British Championship. Gurevich's impressive performance at the Czech Open.
TWIC
British Championship coverage. Montecatini Terme and Biel Festival updates. Many other results from around the world.
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