http://blog.playe4.com The Ultimate Online Chess Software Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:36:38 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en By Ram Soffer The last big chess event of 2008, the FIDE Grand-Prix in Elista, finished on a disappointing note. All the leading players drew their games in the final three rounds. Three games were decided, all of them among those who scored 50% or less, so that there were no ... http://blog.playe4.com/elista-grand-prix-chess-tournament-finishes/ By Ram Soffer December 20 2008 After a lukewarm start of four draws in the Nanjing super chess tournament, it was time that the world's No. 1 chess player Veselin Topalov would wake up – and he did! The Bulgarian exploited the white pieces to beat one after the other ... http://blog.playe4.com/topalov-tops-nanjing-super-chess-tournament/ By Ram Soffer The Women Chess Olympiad is usually under the shadow of the Open Chess Olympiad. However, in recent years the women received equal conditions and they play over the same number of boards as the men. Their level is also rising persistently. World No. 1 Judit Polgar played ... http://blog.playe4.com/dresden-2008-%e2%80%93-women-chess-olympiad-and-fide-congress/ By Ram Soffer After the dramatic finale to the 38th Chess Olympiad in Dresden with unprecedented achievements for Israel, it's time to sum it up, starting with the significant rule changes which were introduced, and made this Olympiad different from its predecessors. The open teams were reduced from 6 ... http://blog.playe4.com/dresden-2008-chess-olympiad-open-summary/ If you have downloaded PlayE4 chess software on time, you have probably watched the webcast of Israel Chess Championship on real time with some of the world's top ranked chess players. However, if you have missed the silver medalists of the recent Chess Olympiad playing chess among life size dinosaurs ... http://blog.playe4.com/israel-chess-championship-summary-and-results/ Hou Yifan, the 14 year old hope of Chinese women's chess, has been awarded chess grandmaster at the 79th FIDE Congress, held during the 2008 Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. By that, Hou Yifan becomes the youngest female player to receive the highest FIDE title. The former holder of this ... http://blog.playe4.com/fide-congress-awards-chess-titles/ Waiting for the chess.org.il updates on the Dresden Chess Olympiad, it is a good opportunity to review some of the interesting references of chess in the online media. Washington Post's Alan Cooperman recommends on two chess books: the fictional chess thriller Zugzwang, authored by Ronan Bennett and the nonfictional White King ... http://blog.playe4.com/chess-books-and-more/ By Ram Soffer, The rest day of the Dresden Chess Olympiad provided an opportunity to resolve the issue of the Topalov-Kamsky match, which troubled the chess world for almost a whole year. After tedious negotiations an agreement has been reached between two chess players, and the chess match will be held ... http://blog.playe4.com/breakthrough-in-the-topalov%e2%80%93kamsky-chess-match/ By Ram Soffer At the beginning of the 20th century, the legendary chess champion Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba conquered the chess world by storm. However, in his homeland there were no heirs of similar stature, and for many years the island remained on the fringe of the chess map – ... http://blog.playe4.com/dominguez-is-the-world-blitz-chess-champion/ By Yochanan Afek Nov 09, 2008 The new World Senior Chess Champions have been crowned in Bad-Zwischnahen, Germany. In the men event, there was a surprising winner, the 17th seed American IM Larry Kaufman who took 1st place with 9 out of 11, edging out by a better tiebreak the top ... http://blog.playe4.com/world-senior-chess-championship/ By Yochanan Afek The Russian chess team Ural Sverdlovskaya won the 24th edition of the European Club Cup, held in Kallithea (Greece), with the participation of 63 men and 18 women teams, which included the best chess players of the continent (actually the best chess players in other continents as well). The ... http://blog.playe4.com/russian-chess-team-wins-european-cup/ Interesting interviews with two world chess champions and a finalist at the unofficial world poker championship (who happened to be chess master) have been published recently on the web. Viswanathan Anand was interviewed by Susan Polgar right after his successful defending of the 2008 World Chess Championship. Post world championship Anand ... http://blog.playe4.com/chess-on-the-web/ An important rapid chess tournament is currently taking place at the French resort of Cap D'Agde. The 16 participants were divided into 2 groups, the top four from each groups going forward to the knockout stages. Among the numerous young stars who participated in the French rapid chess event, the ... http://blog.playe4.com/rapid-chess-tournaments-reports/ Viswanathan Anand of India has retained his FIDE World Chess Championship title after drawing the 11th game in the 2008 World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany. Anand and his challenger, 2006 World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia will be sharing the €1.5M prize fund. The 2008 World Chess Championship ... http://blog.playe4.com/anand-reclaimed-world-chess-championship-title/ Chess match between Earth and Space is going on for about a month, courtesy of the US Chess Federation (USCF) and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The Earth is represented by the present USCF K-3 champions, the members of Stevenson Elementary School chess club in Bellevue, Washington, and the ... http://blog.playe4.com/intergalactic-chess-match/ The stereotype of chess players as poor sports (especially when they lose) got an unpleasantly surprising support last week, when a vocal argument over a neighborly chess match in Iowa City led to a fiscal fight and then to the death of one of the opponents and a second-degree homicide ... http://blog.playe4.com/murder-over-a-chess-game-chess-etiquette/ The second game of the 2008 World Chess Championship, begun on Tuesday, October 14 in Bonne, Germany, ended in a draw after 32 moves. The reigning champion, Indian Viswanathan Anand and his challenger 2006 World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, had to settle the second game with a draw ... http://blog.playe4.com/two-draws-at-the-2008-world-chess-championship/ By Yochanan Afek From the headquarters of the Dresden Chess Olympiad it has been announced that a record number of over 140 countries have registered for the notable chess tournament, scheduled to November 12-25, 2008. Here are some rosters of the leading countries: Russia: Kramnik, Morozevich, Svidler, Grischuk, Yakovenko China: Bu Xiangzhi, Ni Hua, ... http://blog.playe4.com/chess-olympic-rosters/ By Ram Soffer The two chess superpowers are conducting these days at Ningpo (some prefer to call it Ningbo) their fifth confrontation. The chess tournament is held separately on 5 men and 5 women boards, Scheveningen system in 3 categories: classical, rapid and blitz chess. The classical time-limit chess games, which ... http://blog.playe4.com/russia-china-chess-match/ By Ram Soffer The "Grand Slam Final" chess tournament, with the participation of the six most outstanding chess players in the Wijk-aan-Zee, Morelia/Linares and Sofia tournaments, started on the first week of September in Bilbao, Spain. Despite the recent multitude of super-tournaments in the chess world, the Grand Slam Final is still ... http://blog.playe4.com/topalov-leads-in-bilbao-chess-tournament/ Jan Werle of the Netherlands is the European Union chess champion for 2008. The 24 years old law student won the 4th EU Open Individual Open Chess Championship 2008 held in Liverpool between September 9 and September 18, 2008. The new EU chess champion took home the £6,000 1st prize, ... http://blog.playe4.com/grandmaster-jan-werle-won-the-eu-open-individual-champion-2008/ Alexandra Kosteniuk of Russia is the new Women's World Chess Champion, who defeated the 14 years old Hou Yifan of China at the final of the 2008 Women`s World Chess Championship (WWCC) ended last week in Nalchik, Russia. The Women`s World Chess Championship returns to Russia after 46 years where it ... http://blog.playe4.com/alexandra-kosteniuk-is-2008-womens-world-chess-champion/ By Ram Soffer The Ukrainian chess genius Vassily Ivnachuk is recently soaring into new heights, and he is undoubtedly the hottest player of the 2008 summer. The Mikhail Tal Memorial chess tournament was merely the first part of the festival in honor of the magician from Riga. Immediately afterwards (August 29-30) ... http://blog.playe4.com/ivanchuk-dominates-blitz-chess-as-well/ By Yochanan Afek The chess match between the Experience team and the Rising Stars has reached the halfway point, and for the time being it is characterized by the undisputed supremacy of the youngsters. In round 4, they once again defeated their experienced but somewhat rusty chess opponents 4:1, while both ... http://blog.playe4.com/korchnoi-refuses-to-give-up/ By Ram Soffer Vassily Ivanchuk has completed another shining competitive achievement, winning the Tal Memorial chess tournament (category 20) by a full point from his nearest rivals. Until round 6, it didn't seem a likely conclusion, but everything changed in round 7, when Alexander Morozevich, who was dominating the event, was knocked ... http://blog.playe4.com/ivanchuk-wins-the-tal-memorial-tournament/