Web Week

By PETER SINCLAIR

World Chess Championship: the only loss chess supremo Gary Kasparov has suffered in 15 years was to IBM computer Deep Blue in 1997. Now it's anyone's match as he defends his chess crown online against former pupil Vladimir Kramnik for $US2 million in prize money – the two have tangled 23 times in previous tournaments (three wins each, plus 17 draws). Net startup BrainGames is sponsoring the challenge so that chess fans worldwide can watch the tussle live for the first time. It's also the world's first real-time wap chess-site. Enabled mobiles can log on at http://wap.chromefish.co.uk/braingames.

WinBoost: so you've taken the plunge with Windows Millennium Edition – now the adventurous can tweak it with WinBoost, a shareware utility that lets you personalize the look and feel of your new system. Using WinBoost's attractive interface, you can configure more than 100 hidden settings, many of them hard to locate via the default menus, plus hundreds of tips to help you get the most from ME. Live dangerously!

Style.com: Vogue has long been famous for its cool, as well as lively journalism. But its Style.com chat-rooms reveal a new and vicious side to the elegant magazine's persona with the kind of dirt the fashion industry has always dished without fear or favour. One TV personality is a "twit"… a certain actress is "a boozer"… The site's gossip forums have suddenly become one of the web's hot hits.

MacOS: experience the wicked thrill of the Windows alternative at this faintly scary site. But who says you can't go home again? - hint: click on the Trashcan.

Links:

World Chess Championship

Deep Blue

WinBoost

style.com

MacOS