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1994-01-05
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EVANS ON CHESS - April 9, 1993
By GM Larry Evans
PLAYER POWER
The chess world was stunned in February when Gary Kasparov, 30, and
challenger Nigel Short, 28, founded the Professional Chess Association (PCA)
to run the world championship. CHESS LIFE called it, "The most comprehensive
change in the international chess scene since FIDE claimed the world title
in 1948!"
FIDE, the world chess federation, promptly stripped Kasparov of the title and
organized a rival match between two also-rans (Timman vs. Karpov). "They can
play, but who will pay?" quipped Kasparov, whose bout with Short for about $3
million starts in London in September.
Many fans are rooting for the rebels because FIDE is rife with scandal. But
will the pros unite, as they did long ago in tennis and golf, to make chess a
big-time sport?
INSIDE CHESS, which often echoes the FIDE line, blasted both Kasparov and
Short for hijacking the title and touted Bobby Fischer, 50, as "the people's
champion." After hibernating for two decades, he made a comeback in 1992 by
beating Boris Spassky in war-torn Yugoslavia for a purse of $5 million.
Fischer is clearly past his prime yet still claims the crown that he
abdicated in 1975. "But Fischer is World Champion of Nothing until he defeats
Kasparov, or whoever is World Champion at the time," said a bemused fan.
The modern scene is reminiscent of a banquet held a century ago where a toast
was made to the world chess champion. Two players both stood up!
In his book WORLD CUP CHESS, Lubomir Kavalek traces the current conflict back
to 1985 when FIDE illegally stopped the first K-K match:
"Kasparov was contemplating a violent and complete break with
FIDE. He decided that two associates who were both grandmasters
and chess journalists should soon publish the news. At Madrid in
1988 Larry Evans showed me a pamphlet he had written with Raymond
Keene giving 64 reasons why Kasparov should not play the next
world championship under FIDE. Gary was ready after all, but he
did not make the material public."
Here, then, are the first six points of the pamphlet that Kasparov, Keene and
this writer dubbed A Declaration of Independence:
1. Pros have no real voice in decisions affecting them.
2. In February 1985 FIDE president Campomanes exceeded his
authority by halting the first Kasparov-Karpov title match.
3. During four K-K matches FIDE increased its share of the purse
from 5% to 25% and then diverted this extra money from the source
for which it was intended (chess in developing nations). Later it
was learned that Campomanes had siphoned official FIDE funds from
Switzerland to his own bank account in England.
4. Neither the champion nor the challenger had the power to veto
all officials in their title match.
5. FIDE frequently changed rules without consent of the players.
6. After stripping Fischer of the title, FIDE gave his Soviet
successor a bigger mathematical edge than the American had
sought.