Update: Up-to-date links to commentary on current chess events can be found here in the forum. Please leave a comment or post in the forum if you know about websites with good quality commentary.

It is raining right now (at least here). Therefore, I decided to find out how grandmasters play chess. With the first undisputed chess world championship going on right now in Elista, what could be better than watching live world championship chess with some insightful comments? The Internet usually gives easy access to all kinds of news, so this should be easy. Well, as it turned out, it is not that easy...

One of the websites supposedly offering live coverage is the official FIDE page. True, you can find information on the match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov there and even the time and date of the game(s) are shown. Unfortunately, I was unable to find out, which time zone it is in - at least from that site. Furthermore, following the links promising live coverage from there, I only ended up with a pretty dead looking Java chess board on my screen. I slowly start to get an idea, why important chess events get only marginal mainstream news coverage.

Where can one get live coverage of the chess world championship games for free? The Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) is providing a live relay of the match. Simply log on, look for the game with the "games" command and then take a look with "observe". They will also have some video annotations available for download after the games. For free audio commentary, take a look at Chess Live Radio. If you know of other good (and free) sources of chess world championship coverage, please leave a comment!

Comments (6)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/Hide comments

See chess championship free online
written by tjallen, September 23, 2006

Free coverage here, too:
http://www.chessbase.com/

In addition, if you first download their chessbase viewer, free viewing software, you can watch the games with live audio commentary. Be sure to download the software early, before the game starts. Enjoy!

Re: See chess championship free online
written by Sciurus, September 24, 2006

Thanks for the hint! Unfortunately, they charge a (very modest) amount of money starting from game two. However, they have nice and free annotations of the games!

...
written by Chess Analysis, December 16, 2007

Nice website you have going here.
And yes its me M,hayward. I notice a few are wondering about me.

...
written by chess strategy, April 08, 2008

Hi everyone.
Bobby fischer a great chess champion dies. We will miss you.
The man who put chess on the map.

...
written by Chess Strategy, April 23, 2008

Hey Nice Site. Anyways just thought ide give a few chess tips. 1. Choose an opening thats solid. One that offers opportunity for you. 2. Aim for a mid game position that is better for you. One where you can exploit the best of your talent. 3. If possible aim for a continuation to your attacks. This keeps the pressure on your opponent. I used this tip successfully my self for year.and still use them.

...
written by dirty dinho, May 29, 2008

let me play chess for free

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Website

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment