World Computer Chess Championships 2008

   On 9/28/2008 the 16’th World Computer Chess Championships began in Beijing, China. The IGCA has scheduled an eleven round accelerated swiss tournament format for the top  chess engines in the world to compete for the the title of World Computer Chess Champion 2008. The accelerated swiss structure strikes me as odd being that there are onlyContinueContinue reading “World Computer Chess Championships 2008”

India in the Chess Spotlight

   The sub-continent that invented the game of chess in the sixth century is now becoming the focus of chess in the twenty-first century. Viswanathan Anand, the current World Chess Champion, has ignited a nationalistic enthusiasm for the “Game of Kings” not seen since the Soviet era. Anand has received rock star status in hisContinueContinue reading “India in the Chess Spotlight”

The 2700 Club Is Becoming Crowded!

The October 2008 FIDE Rating List now has 32 players with ratings above 2700. Here they are in order of ranking: Rank Name Country Rating 1Topalov, VeselinBUL 2791 2Morozevich, AlexanderRUS 2787 3Ivanchuk, VassilyUKR 2786 4Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2786 5Anand, Viswanathan IND 2783 6Kramnik, VladimirRUS 2772 7Aronian, Levon ARM 2757 8Radjabov, TeimourAZE 2751 9Leko, Peter HUN 2747ContinueContinue reading “The 2700 Club Is Becoming Crowded!”

Can Kramnik Win With The Black Pieces? Will It Matter?

   Between 1989 and 2008 Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik played 51 head-to-head games under classical conditions. The results below show that Kramnik has yet to win a game as black when up against Anand. This is a remarkable statistic based on the number of match-ups these two chess players have had. Vladimir Kramnik’s win with white and draw with blackContinueContinue reading “Can Kramnik Win With The Black Pieces? Will It Matter?”

15 Days Until The World Chess Championships

Tonight we look at another brilliancy from the current World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. This game was played before Anand was World Champion and after his opponent Anatoly Karpov had lost his title to Garry Kasparov. Once again we see Anand’s desire to be adventurous in the opening by playing the off-beat line 4. e4ContinueContinue reading “15 Days Until The World Chess Championships”