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1994-01-05
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EVANS ON CHESS. May 28, 1993. By GM Larry Evans (Copyright)
THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
The greatest rivalry in chess history began in Moscow on September 10, 1984,
when champion Anatoly Karpov, 33, faced challenger Gary Kasparov, 22. Alas,
FIDE president Florencio Campomanes bent the rules to cancel the match, a
misdeed that ultimately cost the world chess body control over the world
title, its main source of revenue.
The first to win six games, draws not counting, would be crowned. FIDE rules
gave Karpov the right to a rematch if he lost, but this seemed unlikely when
he bolted from his corner with four wins in the first nine games. After a
record string of 17 draws, he won game 27 to lead 5-0. Now he needed just
one more win to hold the title he seized by default from Bobby Fischer in
1975.
This is the one that got away. Kasparov's amazing comeback changed the
course of chess and led to the Professional Chess Association (PCA) taking
charge of the title in 1993.
With Kasparov's back to the wall, he beat his nemesis for the first time
ever in game 32. Then they drew 14 more games until he won 47 and 48. Years
later in 1988 Karpov's manager Victor Baturinsky, once a member of Stalin's
secret police, revealed that his man was on the verge of a breakdown. He
said that he pleaded with Karpov over and over to play game 49 -- but in
vain.
Instead, like a woozy boxer ahead on points, Karpov tried to stop the fight
and postpone the last round. This ploy marred his reputation, already shaky
after he won two title bouts from Viktor Korchnoi, a Soviet defector whose
family was held hostage in the USSR. Karpov led 5-3 but that sixth win still
eluded him. He was exhausted by the five-month ordeal and had shed 22
pounds.
At a press conference in Moscow on February 15, 1985, Campomanes told the
world, "At this very moment, I don't know what I intend to do." CHESS LIFE
branded this: "A gigantic whopper. The Soviet news agency Tass announced
minutes earlier precisely what he intended to do. He later was picked up on
TV informing Karpov, 'I told them exactly what you told me to tell them.'"
But Karpov was furious at the decision to start from scratch later in the
year. He felt betrayed by the denial of a rest and the consequent loss of
his two-point lead. He now demanded that play resume -- which his opponent
had wanted all along -- but this plea fell on deaf ears.
After Campo cancelled the match for medical reasons, the chess press dubbed
him "Karpovmanes." When asked whether he consulted any doctors, he shrugged
that it wasn't necessary since he came from a medical family.
Kasparov won the next bout. As a token of good faith he gave up the rematch
clause, a big edge, and then infuriated the Kremlin by offering a title shot
to Bobby Fischer, who spurned the challenge.
The aborted K-K match still haunts FIDE to this day. "It was an action
condemned as profoundly unethical not only by the fraternity of chess
players but by the world at large," stated the first PCA press release.