In Chess Video on the Anti-French, polgarfan says, 'I found this new blog that has a cool animated flash chess video with audio commentary. It's potential is great as a teaching tool.' Is podcasting the next revolution in chess?

Here are more excerpts from interviews with the players at the 2005 FIDE World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk (Siberia), Russia. See the official site (linked after the excerpts) for the full interviews. Read more...

A couple of months ago we noticed an eBay auction offering some of the items from Bobby Fischer's infamous storage locker. After the auction closed prematurely, we assumed that someone bought the lot privately. We were wrong, and the items are back. See Fischer items relisted on eBay and Join the Discussion.

There is only way to judge an opening book: by using it in competition. Some considerations have to do with the author's chess knowledge. Other considerations have more to do with technical aspects of writing and publishing. Read more... • See also our reviews of The Bishop's Opening Explained by IM Gary Lane, and of the French Defence - Steinitz, Classical and Other Systems by GM Lev Psakhis.

It doesn't matter whether your favorite phase of a chess game is the opening, the middle game, or the endgame; everyone likes to talk about openings. Here are three recent forum threads. What's your opinion? • In Names of openings boring?, IMJP suggests, 'One of the "boring" issues in chess is the names of the chess openings and variations!? Could we sit down and change them all?' • In Winning Chess Opening Moves, smtalim says, 'Chessbase's Chess Opening Explorer gives the probability of White winning, by adopting a particular move. I would like the experienced players here to throw more light on this.' • And finally, in Maza's Openings?, Kreider204 asks, 'For anyone who has Maza's Rapid Chess Improvement, does he recommend any particular openings?'

The official site of the 2005 FIDE World Cup, Khanty-Mansiysk (Siberia), Russia, has been posting interviews with many of the 128 players. Here are some comments that caught our eye. Read more...

Buying a gift for a chess player is almost as easy as learning how to play the game. No real chess player ever has enough chess sets or enough chess books. Here is a guide to the many product related resources located on About Chess. Read more...

What's new on the World Championship front? In November we had the World Team Championship and the World Junior Championship. Congratulations to all newly crowned winners! Read more...

'How can I improve at chess?' is a question that all chess players ask constantly. What if you could take a test supervised by a world class chess player and trainer? You can! It's the format of IM Khmelnitsky's award winning book. Read more... • See also our review of 'Chess Exam'.