Really enjoyed this interview with one of the chess greats. What would have happened if he had played Fischer in 1975? Sadly we will never know, Fischer would have been the favourite, but in a heavyweight sporting contest anything can happen!
A Chat With Karpov in 1979
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I think Karpov would get it, after all he won the most tournaments, Fischer was losing energy on unimportant things, from what the armchair is like, what the figures are like, etc., Karpov was more mentally stable, so my vote goes to Karpov
if you read the interview, Karpov was also losing energy every chair height.
I think Fischer would have beaten Karpov in 75 and perhaps 78 but by 81 I think Karpov was at least equal and has a good chance to take it.
This is of course just comparing to ‘72 Fischer, because in the real world Fischer was not playing chess anymore and so certainly declining in strength.
I think Fischer would have beaten Karpov in 75 and perhaps 78 but by 81 I think Karpov was at least equal and has a good chance to take it.
This is of course just comparing to ‘72 Fischer, because in the real world Fischer was not playing chess anymore and so certainly declining in strength.
@batgirl wrote:
Botvinnik was into AI back in the 1950s. As I understand it (and this is way over my head) Botvinnik's approach was to try to make computers think in human terms. Number crunching won out. However, maybe this AlphaZero is a vindication of sorts.
What I've heard from a person that studied in the Soviet Union: There wasn't anything conceptually wrong with Botvinnik's research. He was just persistently outcompeted internally for the resources which went to groups doing research useful in aerospace, nuclear energy and heavy industries. Ultimately even their purely-theorethical on-paper-only research got lost with various organizational and political reshuffles.
Nothing, or almost nothing, remains available, neither in Russian nor in English.
Oct 22, 2021
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#27
Rodic68 wrote:
I think Karpov would get it, after all he won the most tournaments, Fischer was losing energy on unimportant things, from what the armchair is like, what the figures are like, etc., Karpov was more mentally stable, so my vote goes to Karpov
After every one of Fischer's self-imposed "exiles" from competition, he came back stronger than ever. He would have broken and destroyed Karpov.
Oct 22, 2021
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#28
Rodic68 wrote:
I think Karpov would get it, after all he won the most tournaments
And yet it took almost 20 years before anyone was rated as high as Fischer was when he retired.
For many reasons it's easy to dislike Fischer the person, but only a fool would carry that dislike into their evaluation of Fischer the chess player. He dominated his "peers" in a way that won't ever happen again in chess.
Great interview. with Karpov he was never bored, one of the greatest players.