In ten years of chaos in chess politics this may be the most bizarre storyline yet. The FIDE championship/unification semifinal between Ruslan Ponomariov and Garry Kasparov has been cancelled. Now things move to the next cycle with 128 players in...
August 2003 Archives
Oy. An interview with FIDE Prez Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in the Russian paper Sport Express explains some of Ponomariov's protests (see DD140 below) and really makes it sound like the Ponomariov-Kasparov FIDE world championship match will not happen as scheduled. Here...
The biggest current chess event you probably don't know anything about is the American Continental Championship going on in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Most of the top players from Canada all the way down to Chile are fighting for slots in...
Quick update to DD141. Ponomariov has refused to meet FIDE's deadline to sign the player contract for his FIDE world championship match with Kasparov, according to a Russian sports site. Siberian posted this Russian news link in the message boards...
There's a new chapter in the USCF rulebook and it might be Chapter 11. The United States Chess Federation – fresh from board elections, the discovery of a massive fiscal shortfall, and a spate of resignations (DD 135) – just...
A set of interesting new interviews and news items from the world's elite has hit the web in the past few days. A few weeks ago Anand spoke about the current world title mess. Nothing new and Vishy is always...
Speaking of interviews and expired titles, Ruslan Ponomariov finally got a contract from FIDE for his FIDE world championship match against Garry Kasparov scheduled to begin in Yalta on September 19. And he's not happy about it. No specifics were...
You would think the sheer ignominy of pathetic non-games nicknamed "GM draws" would be enough, but no. John Henderson brings to our attention this tidbit from the interesting notes of Jerry Hanken on the just-finished US Open in Los Angeles:...
Well, as David Mamet said, that happened. In February we had a newsletter delayed by a blizzard when I couldn't get home from a tournament to send it. Last week it was the largest blackout in US history to delay...
(With apologies to the Monkees.) Speaking of monkeys and trains, the United States Chess Federation has been doing their best impression of a train wreck this month. Little of this will come as a surprise to anyone who has watched...
A local paper has a little story on the increasing popularity of games in the US home, including chess. This is apparently based on the increase in sales of fancy game tables. The given causes include everything from 9-11 to...
The Dortmund supertournament is halfway through. The German event is obviously the biggest from Linares to the Ponomariov-Kasparov match in September. The whole chess world is watching Kramnik, Anand, and Leko battle with outsiders Bologan, Radjabov, and Naiditsch. There is...
I just finished reading Garry Kasparov's new book for the second time. The first time it was as a reader, the second time as a reviewer with a pile of other books next to me for reference. (The full review...
Just when you think you've seen it all, the innovating fund-raising methods of Seattle-based America's Foundation for Chess strike again. I suppose a well-manicured hand could intimidate an opponent. Maybe a set of those long, twisty dragon-lady nails, too. "Join...
