Topalov, Didier Drogba and romanticism in chess
In what some might consider cruel and unusual punishment, Bulgarian schoolchildren recently played chess with an IBM supercomputer. Fortunately, they had a little help from Veselin Topalov, who after the match gave an interview to Danail Kisov of Klassa.bg.
Women’s Chess Champion Kosteniuk wishes Kramnik a happy birthday
Ex-World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik turned 35 today, and the Russian daily newspaper Kommersant published greetings from the current Women’s World Chess Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Analysing by the riverside with Bobby Fischer
In a remarkable interview given to Yury Vasiliev of Sport Express, the 87-year-old GM Svetozar Gligorić talks about some of his career highs and lows, his friendship with Fischer and the unlikely new career he took up, aged 81.
Gelfand at Crestbook Part II
The second installment of Boris Gelfand’s answers to the questions of Crestbook readers kept up the incredible length and quality of the first. A general title might be, “Everything you ever wanted to know about GM chess but never dared to ask”. He patiently answers questions ranging from “e4 or d4” to “what’s the meaning of life”!
Welcome!
If you’ve stumbled across this site then please feel free to have a look around! It’s still a work in progress rather than a fully-functioning blog, so it may behave erratically… but the archived material is growing (almost) by the day, and it should soon be ready for launch.
Classical Anand, Romantic Topalov
84-year-old Mark Taimanov gave an interview to the Russian site, Smena. He talks about the recent WC Match in Sofia and gives his opinion of how the current players compare to the former Champions.
Aronian: I won’t travel to Baku
On the final day of the World Championship match in Sofia, Levon Aronian was interviewed in Armenia by Vadim Mkrtchian of “Golos Armenii” (“Voice of Armenia”). The interview includes Levon’s view on the match, the FIDE election, opening preparation, and his reasons for not wanting to play candidates matches in Baku.
Chronicle of a suicide
That’s the title Yury Vasiliev gave to an amazing interview with Topalov after the final game of the World Championship match in Sofia. Topalov reveals what went through his mind when he committed consecutive blunders on moves 31 and 32, while Anand also gives his views on the match.
Gelfand at Crestbook Part I
Boris Gelfand’s responses to reader questions at Crestbook were all you could hope for – patient, revealing and full of insights and anecdotes. Remarkably these translations are only a fraction of the original, and this is only part one.
Topalov on Kramnik and the Russians
Topalov gave a long and often interesting interview to the Bulgarian “Capital” newspaper, but one remarkable section stands out. The interviewer’s mention of Kramnik was like waving a red rag at a bull.
