Back in 1996, during the dawn of the internet, the world's leading chess database company, ChessBase, took a modest first step into digital publishing. Designed at the time as a static HTML website complete with a bright yellow background and blinking text, the platform was spearheaded by company co-founder Frederic Friedel with substantial assistance from the renowned English Grandmaster (GM) Dr. John Nunn. As the duo figured out how the internet worked from scratch, they built a template-driven system where individual HTML files were manually uploaded to a server. This primitive yet pioneering structure successfully served the chess community for half a decade.

September 12, 2001: A Milestone in the Shadow of Tragedy

By the early 2000s, with a rapidly growing readership and evolving web technologies, transitioning to a more efficient and dynamic system became inevitable. After months of intensive development, ChessBase was ready to launch its modern, database-driven news portal. By a twist of fate, the official launch date was September 12, 2001. Going live the day after one of the most horrifying terrorist atrocities in history, the very first report filed on the new platform was not about a chess tournament, but about the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York and a message of deep sympathy for the victims.

The Twin Towers and the 1995 Kasparov - Anand World Championship

While the collapse of the World Trade Center shocked the entire globe, the iconic towers held a deeply personal and unforgettable meaning for the chess world. Just six years prior to the attacks, in 1995, the Professional Chess Association (PCA) World Chess Championship match was staged inside the complex. Sponsored by Intel and boasting a massive prize fund of $1.5 million, this historic title clash pitted the world's top two players against each other: Garry Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand.

Played on the Observation Deck on the 107th floor of the South Tower against the breathtaking backdrop of the New York skyline, the match remains one of the most iconic events in chess history. After a tense start that saw the first eight games end in draws, Kasparov eventually broke through to successfully defend his title. Thus, the inaugural article on ChessBase's revamped news portal not only documented the tragedy of 9/11, but also paid tribute to the unique chess legacy that took place high above Manhattan inside the Twin Towers.