Chess is a game that rarely draws a massive amount of attention from the global public, but a rematch between Kasparov and Karpov reminds us that it throws up the occasional great rivalry.
When Garry Kasparov challenged Anatoly Karpov in 1984 for the chess world championship, it was the beginning of a titanic struggle.
The contest lasted five months and featured a series of successive draws of 17 and 15 games. It was controversially ended by the chess authorities over fears for the health of the players, both of whom had lost weight during the struggle. Kasparov had been resurgent at the end, although Karpov still held a lead.
In 1985, Kasparov beat Karpov for the title. They played for it again in 1986 and again Kasparov won. In 1987, Kasparov was one down going into the final game, but recovered to tie the series and therefore retain his crown.
It was a great chess rivalry, but it was more than that to the watching public and pundits.
"It was very symbolic of what was happening to the Soviet Union," says grandmaster Raymond Keene, chess correspondent for the Times. "It was obvious the USSR was going through a period of great turmoil."
And the rivalry was perfect in pitching a brilliant, brooding outsider against the Soviet establishment's main man.
"Kasparov was a southerner, half-Jewish, half-Armenian, much younger, in the vanguard of a change, taking on the golden boy of the old Soviet Union," says Keene.
This particular rivalry failed to get going
Keene organised the London matches of the third series between the players in 1985, which took place both in the UK and Leningrad. He was surprised by the stark disparity between the Soviet and the Western ways of organising things.
In London, after the matches, a list of moves with annotation was faxed all over the world within 15 minutes of the conclusion. In Leningrad, a sheet bearing only the moves was typed up, a press officer with a minder was taken to the local party HQ where the only photocopier was to be found, the sheet was copied and then manually handed only to the journalists present at the event.
"They were still mired in Soviet bureaucracy and fear of publicity. I thought 'this place is doomed'.
"It was a gigantic metaphor for the collapse of a creaking, unviable, introspective, conglomerate empire."
There had been other rivalries that never succeeded in sparking the imagination. Mikhail Tal against Mikhail Botvinnik in the early 1960s had the same hallmarks of the non-Russian outsider against the Soviet stalwart, but failed to develop into a sustained struggle. And the earlier battle between Vasily Smyslov and Botvinnik is probably one for chess aficionados only.
The pair have played nearly 200 times
The other rivalry that spread outside the world of chess was between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Their famous 1972 world championship match became another symbol of the struggle between civilisations.
Fischer was the Western maverick up against Spassky, the emblem of the powerful Soviet machine. And Fischer won.
"It was about Western individualism, depth of analysis, use of the technology available," says Keene.
And the notion that ideas of a greater struggle would be imposed on chess was an invention of the Stalinist era.
The Communist official Nikolai Krylenko took his board games seriously. He was reported to have said: "We must organise shock brigades of chess players, and begin immediate realisation of a five-year plan for chess."
Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer was cut short, but resumed in 1992
He might have approved of the great rivalries with an ideological flavour that grew up in the 1970s and 80s. He would have been less delighted that on both occasions the Soviet establishment's representative was bested.
Other sports have individual rivalries. Tennis has had some great ones.
But perhaps only boxing, with its system of champion and challengers, comes close to replicating the way that the protagonists have to study each other's play and personality, even live in each other's skin, during the mind-bogglingly detailed preparations for a world championship series.
It was billed as one of the great chess rivalries of all-time, and this week there's a nostalgic rematch as old foes Kasparov and Karpov play a 12 game (4 Rapid and 8 blitz) match in Valencia 22nd-24th September, 2009.
The match is held to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the start of their infamous first aborted title match in Moscow in 1984-5; this was followed by an epic series of close World title matches that concluded in Lyon, France, 1990.
ICC will have live coverage throughout of this eagerly anticipated rematch, starting each day at 13:00pm ICC time (19:00pm local CET time). Chess.FM will also provide GOTD coverage with highlights of the best of the day's action with GMs Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen and Ronen Har-Zvi.
Also in Valencia bringing us video coverage for the Chess.FM blog will be Macauley Peterson.
Kasparov - Karpov Match Valencia (ESP), 22-24 March, 2009
Two Kasparov-Karpov rapid games today in Valencia, starting at 1900 local, 1pm Eastern.Official site has a live games link, so cross your fingers and pray to the FSM it works. Not to be a pessimist, but there's about zero chance of the blitz broadcast going smoothly even if the tech is in place. But we can dream, so dream we will. (At the blitz segment of the Botvinnik Memorial event between Kasparov and Kramnik in 2001 we had a foolproof broadcast method. GM Sergey Shipov watched the output of a video camera over the board and shouted the moves to a manual relayer. Who needs sensory boards?)
Karpov drew the white queen and will have the white pieces in rapid games 1 and 3. Kasparov will have white in the first blitz game Thursday. I know Karpov has been holed up with an impressive posse of GMs, but I still don't see him heading for a razor-sharp theoretical line he's not going to feel at home in. And Kasparov has warned that he's been keeping his database up to date despite four and a half years of retirement. His work on the Great Predecessors and Modern Chess books -- the latest of these a monumental series on all his games with Karpov -- require that. And now the work with Carlsen as well. As for Kasparov's seconds in Valencia, there aren't any. As he told me this evening, "say my seconds are [my wife] Dasha, my mother, and Nelly!" (another family member).
Today's press conference is up in a few places. Nothing earth-shattering, though Garry was impressed with the virulence of Karpov's statements about FIDE. Karpov's rambling story about how long they've known each other, their playing together at the Malta Olympiad (getting a dig in on how the Russian team has failed to win lately due to a lack of "team spirit"), always respecting each other despite difficulties and different views and events, that Kasparov would still be near the top if he dedicated himself to chess, then how FIDE wasn't present at the match, the WCh situation.. Later he mentioned the 1993 schism and Kasparov founding his own organization while he stayed with FIDE, and FIDE winning that war in the end... Then Karpov added, "unfortunately for chess!" Boom goes the dynamite! I can't remember if this is the 14th or 15th time Karpov has gone from exploiting FIDE to slamming FIDE, but I think he still holds a narrow lead over Kasparov in that department. [Funny, was that only in the Russian answer? Listening for his choice of words in the English-only ChessVibes video version I didn't hear him say that. Oh well.]
Garry went 20-0 in his simul in 2 hours, 15 minutes against very weak opposition. Karpov finished a few minutes later and Garry didn't know his score. We can probably assume another clean slate. I'll update this item later today instead of creating a new one for the results. Call'em like you see'em and post all your best coverage links. Fun to see chess back in the mainstream press again. The hyperbole, the mangled metaphors, the factual errors... just like the good old days! Both Ks emphasized they hoped this match and the expected others like it in the coming months might help spur global interest in the sport.
Both players are clearly disappointed they aren't playing in Moscow, where their first (and second) match took place. There is no doubt that it would be all but impossible for any Russian sponsor or venue to provide Kasparov with the huge amount of attention such an event would surely receive. He's been banned from the mainstream Russian airwaves for years, other than the occasional edited hit pieces saying he's a lunatic/American agent/traitor. When major hotel chains cancel our hall reservations when they find out who's meeting there it's hard to imagine even a potentially very lucrative event like this one happening in Russia. I imagined the Kremlin might allow it just so they could run the usual stories saying "see, he's abandoned politics and gone back to chess!" (And such stories are already present in the Russian news regarding Valencia.) But apparently the risk is too great to host such an event. A shame, since interest is very high. The Russian news internet is full of K-K this week.
As they did in their newspaper interviews, both players talked in the presser about the lack of "personality" and "character" at the top level today when answering questions about why their matches were so famous and why nothing like that is happening today. Of course I lay a lot of it at the feet of FIDE and Ilyumzhinov and the "WCh system du jour," but let's stick with the K-K aspect. There was an interesting study about a related topic a few years ago on big American team sports and how they rose and fell in popularity. The conclusion was that dynasties were good for the sport in terms of broadening appeal (as measured by media coverage and stadium attendance). Big rivalries like K-K (e.g. Celtics-Lakers in the 80s) were also good, but a single dominant team/player was even better. Think Tiger Woods. This reinforces how important Fischer was and, even more, how important he could have been.
I wish someone would put up a big online gallery of scanned photos from the first K-K match. There are a few here and there but nothing satisfying. You'd think an official site would be on this. I've seen some spectacular Russian books and magazine spreads with pics not only of the match site and the players, but also of mobs of spectators crowding around display boards, crowds following along on boards in the park while listening to the match on the radio, etc. I have a good German book on the first match that has a few less common pics as well. Need to fire up my new Canon scanner.
Some interview clips, these from Leontxo Garcia in El Pais. Here and here. Skipping or abbreviating the questions where obvious.
Garcia: Who is Anatoly Karpov to you?
Kasparov: Along with being my greatest rival during my sporting career, Karpov was my greatest teacher, the one I learned the most from both in chess and in life. What's more, I've never found another case in all of sports history in which a rivalry between two people had such an impact on history, and on the future.
Kasparov: Unlike Bobby Fischer, chess was never the only thing in my life, not even back then. Now I'm dedicated to important things and, more than anything, I do what my conscience tells me I must do; I fight against what is for me a corrupt dictatorship disguised as a democracy. This gives me peace of mind and I hope that this equilibrium helps me beat Karpov once more.
Garcia: Did you ever have nightmares about Karpov?
Kasparov: In that match no, because it was the first and for me it was basically just a sporting matter. But after that there began to exist tremendous pressure and political and social repercussions that saturated our rivalry for nearly ten years. That was exhausting and transcended the purely sporting aspects.
Garcia to Karpov: What has Kasparov meant to your life?
Karpov: He was my adversary in the greatest rivalry in sports history, which produced a golden age of chess with lasting impact. It was something unique and unrepeatable. As for our personal relationship, now it's much better than before. That's why I tried to visit him in jail when he was arrested.
Garcia: Regrets about the 1984-85 match, how you tried to score 6-0 without risking too much?
Karpov: My worst mistake was accepting to play that match in the USSR because only there could the organizers change the rules at their whim. The Sports Minister was an idiot who had no respect for me despite the fact that I was a national idol.
Garcia: One of the most exciting chapters in your matches was in Seville, in 1987. [Karpov was leading 12-11 going into the final game but lost, allowing Kasparov to retain his title. -Mig]
Karpov: I believe I played better than [Kasparov] in the last two matches, Seville 87 and New York-Lyon 1990, and I should have won both. But I drew the first and lost the second because I made mistakes in winning positions. In Seville, age was a decisive factor: I lost the last game in a drawn position because I was very tired.
Garcia: Did you ever have nightmares about Kasparov?
Karpov: No, I always had a very strong nervous system despite the tremendous pressure I was under.
Both spoke critically of top chess at the present but optimistically about the future.
The first day of the match between the two K-legends in Valencia evoked mixed feelings all over, but did put Garry Kasparov in the lead by a comfortable margin of 2-0. Remarkably, Anatoli Karpov lost both games on time. Report, games and many photographs.
Before saying anything about the actual match, let’s not forget what’s being celebrated here this week: the birth of modern chess in the 15th century in Valencia. To commemorate this event, five lectures were being held today as part of the festivities.
The presentations, however, were sometimes quite difficult to follow for the spectactors. This was partly due to the high technical level of some of the lectures, which could hardly be followed by the live translator (who’s doing an excellent job, by the way), let alone by the mostly uninitiated audience, but also by the amateurish setup of some of the presentations.
In our view, the most interesting lecture was given by dr. Ulrich Schaedler from Switzerland, who explained various aspects of the Book of Games manuscript of Alphonse X – a manuscript, it should be noted, that has nothing to do with Valencia at all. We’ll return to the lectures in a separate post.
After these lectures, the utterly packed auditorium of the Palau de les Arts was finally ready for the first game between Karpov and Kasparov. As it turned out at the last moment, it was necessary to reserve seats beforehand, which resulted in virtually all press being banned to the last rows of the aula after the first five minutes of the game. Also, the press room was rather far from the playing hall, which prevented an easy live transmission of the games.
After Sulaiman Al-Fahim had briefly announced the players, the first move was finally played with arbiter Geurt Gijssen watching the proceedings from close range. Karpov being white, his first move wasn’t too difficult to predict: 1.d4. Kasparov, not too surprisingly either, opted for his beloved Grünfeld Defence, instantly reminding us all of the many classic games the two K’s played in this opening.
An interesting positional middle game position appeared on the board, where Karpov tried to treat the position by small means while Kasparov was looking for activity. The complications sent Karpov into thinking - too much thinking, as it turned out, because just when things started to heat up, he… overstepped the time limit as early as move 24, in an unclear position (which Kasparov evaluated as practically more promising for Black.) This was a huge letdown for everyone, including Karpov, who seemed surprised himself as well about what had just happened.
The second game was rather more interesting. In a Queen’s Gambit Declined, an opening which also occurred numerous times during their matches, Kasparov’s choice of 6.Qc2 was interesting for readers of his latest book on their 1986 and 1987. In his comments to move 6 of game 7 of the London/Leningrad match, in which it was Karpov playing white and Kasparov with black, he writes after the text move 6…g6:
Nowadays the best is deemed to be 6…Bd6! (the source game: Beliavsky-Geller, Moscow Interzonal 1982). I remember that Geller played this after a long think, stood up from the board, and, sorrowfully shaking his head, whispered: ‘I seem to have blundered a pawn…’ Of course, this was a joke – in fact 7.Nxd5?! Bxf4 8.Qe4+ Ne7 9.Nxf4 Qa5+ 10.Kd1 Bf5 favours Black. Beliavsky chose 7.Bxd6 Qxd6 8.e3 Nf6 9.Bd3 and won the game, after which 6…Bd6 almost went out of use. But later the idea of 8…Ne7 9.Bd3 b6! and …Ba6 was found, with a comfortable game for Black (…). In the end 6.Qc2 lost its attraction because of 6…Bd6!
Karpov actually played 6…Bd6 and 8…Ne7, but after 9.Bd3 he went for 9…Nd7 which gave him a slightly passive position. At the press conference, Kasparov indicated that 15…Qb8 was probably “too passive”, after which Black has a very difficult position. After 21.Qd2! Black position seems very difficult to hold already, and in time trouble Kasparov had no difficult finding the win Rybka had spotted immediately.
When we asked him whether Karpov’s choice of variation had surprised him, Kasparov replied that Karpov probably wanted to play a solid game but he didn’t refer to their game played in London in 1986. The interpretor couldn’t keep up with Kasparov’s stream of variations, which inspired Kasprov to remark that ‘the chess moves aren’t important anyway’. In any case, the win gave Kasparov a very comfortable 2-0 lead in their rapid games, and we seriously wonder if Karpov will be able to overcome this painful match.
After the game, Karpov was apparently too devastated to attend the press conference. If anything, this indicates that despite all the media attention, the need for sponsors, business opportunities and the wish the promote chess both in Valencia and the rest of the world, Kasparov and Karpov are still chess players when it comes down to it. They still hate losing and still take chess seriously, even though they claim to see this match mostly as entertainment.
Perhaps this is why Kasparov, too, said he had mixed feelings after this first day. Who knows, it should give us hope for tomorrow and the day after: Karpov surely wants to avoid a total humiliation, and Kasparov can hardly boast about any kind of victory, let alone promote further exhibition matches, if Karpov turns out to be no match for him at all. Can Karpov return the way Muhammad Ali returned against George Foreman? Or are such comparisons preposterous and out of context? Tomorrow, we’ll know for sure.
A video of the first day and the press conference will be added as soon as possible.
Rivalries are always riveting. Just mentioning the names involved in some of them — Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, Andre Agassi vs. Pete Sampras, Jack Nicholson (mea culpa, that should be Jack Nicklaus) vs. Arnold Palmer — conjures powerful memories.
Not surprisingly, chess, where the struggle is psychological and intellectual, has spawned great, and sometimes heated, rivalries, among them Alexander Alekhine vs. José Raul Capablanca, Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky and Viktor Korchnoi vs. Anatoly Karpov. In terms of duration and passion, however, none of those surpass the rivalry between Karpov and Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov and Karpov played five matches for the world championship from 1984 to 1990. In those contests, they faced each other 144 times and they were almost evenly matched. Kasparov won 21 games, Karpov won 19 and the other 104 were drawn.
Starting Tuesday, they will renew their rivalry by playing a 12-game match in Valencia, Spain. In the first four games, played on Tuesday and Wednesday, each player will start out with 25 minutes and have five seconds added to his time after each move. The last eight games will be Thursday and will be blitz (five minutes per player per game, with two seconds added to each player’s time after each move). There will be another match in Paris, from Dec. 11 to 13, and there is talk of having other matches in other cities.
Though the matches may be entertaining, they hold none of the drama of the earlier clashes. Karpov, who is now 58, has declined as a player and recently dropped out of the top 100 in the world rankings. Kasparov, 46, retired from regular competition in 2005, when he was still ranked No. 1, to pursue politics in Russia, and is now a leader of the government opposition. He has not been completely out of chess. Recently, he began training Magnus Carlsen, the talented 18-year-old grandmaster from Norway, who is ranked No. 4.
Kasparov‘s and Karpov’s rivalry is really unique in chess. To find a rivalry that even approaches it in terms of number of games, it is necessary to go back to 1834 when Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais of France and Alexander McDonnell of Ireland played a series of six matches in London, with La Bourdonnais having a decisive advantage.
In addition to its length, Kasparov vs. Karpov was compelling for other reasons. The two players are stylistically opposites. Kasparov plays aggressively and somewhat intuitively, while Karpov is a technician, cool and precise, often taking his opponents apart bit by bit. Karpov was the favorite of the Kremlin. Kasparov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, was half Jewish (his birth name was Weinstein), and was always a bit of a maverick, all of which made him less acceptable to the Soviet hierarchy. The two also intensely disliked each other.
That did not mean they did not respect each other as opponents. During the 1990 match, which was played in New York City and Lyon, France, after one of the games, the two sat on stage talking and analyzing, seemingly at ease. Afterward, Kasparov was asked why he had talked so long with his rival about the game. He replied that Karpov was the only the other person who could understand what was going on.
Anatoly Karpov got on the scoreboard on Wednesday, winning the first game on the second day of his exhibition match with Garry Kasparov. But Kasparov struck back in the second game, to take a 3 to 1 lead. The match is being played in Valencia, Spain, on the 25th anniversary of their first world championship clash in 1984.
The games of the first two days were played at the rate of 25 minutes per player per game, with five seconds added to the time after each move. Thursday, the match shifts to a faster format, with eight blitz games in which each player starts with five minutes and has two seconds added to his time per move.
Karpov, 58, and well past his prime, has struggled with the speed of the games, as much as with Kasparov, 46. Karpov lost both games on Tuesday when he exceeded his allotted time, although he was also in losing positions. But Wednesday, he fought off a speculative sacrifice to win the first game.
The players reprised the opening from the first game of the match. On his 18th move, Kasparov sacrificed an exchange (rook for knight) but also got a pawn and the initiative. In the resulting unbalanced and complicated position, both players had chances. After a couple of errors on both sides, Kasparov blundered, allowing Karpov to march a pawn down the board. Kasparov resigned before Karpov could promote it to a queen.
The second game was the same opening as in Game 2 on Tuesday. That game had ended in a blistering mating attack by Kasparov, but this time Karpov played stouter defense. He ended up in a passive, but perhaps defensible endgame, but he eventually ran out of time.
Karpov’s handling of his clock does not bode well for tomorrow’s blitz games.
Tuesday, Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov in the first two games of a 12-gameexhibition match in Valencia, Spain. The match is being held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first world championship match between the two players. Then, Karpov was world champion and Kasparov was the challenger. That match was famously suspended after five months and 48 games. Kasparov went on win the title in 1985 and then defended it against Karpov in matches in 1986, 1987 and 1990.
Kasparov and Karpov became enemies during those matches, but many years have passed and they have mellowed. For several years now, they have been willing to capitalize on their rivalry by playing exhibitions and short matches. In 2002, they played a four-game rapid match (time control of 25 minutes per player per game, with time added to each player’s clock after each move) in Times Square in New York City. At the time, Kasparov was still competing regularly and was still ranked No. 1 in the world, but he lost, 2.5 to 1.5.
Kasparov retired in 2005 and Karpov still competes, but Kasparov is 12 years younger and that is a considerable advantage. Though he might not still be ranked No. 1 if he was still playing, there is no doubt that he would still be among the world’s top players. Karpov, however, has slipped noticeably in recent years. It seemed before the current match began that Kasparov would probably have a big edge and the first two games confirmed that.
The games were played at rapid time controls. In the first game, Kasparov used the Grunfeld Defense, which has long part of his repertoire. Consistent with his style, Karpov chose a quiet in which White tries to maintain his spatial advantage in the center and slowly improve his position. Both sides had reasonable chances until, on his last move, Karpov blundered and lost an exchange (rook for bishop). He resigned, though he still had good chances to fight for a draw.
In Game 2, the opening was the exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit. Karpov adopted a passive set-up, which gave White a small, but steady advantage. In a critical position, and under pressure, Karpov missed a tactic and Kasparov launched a sacrificial attack against Karpov’s king. In a lost position, Karpov overstepped his time limit, giving Kasparov his second win.
Games 3 and 4, which are also at rapid time controls, are Wednesday.
The great rivalries of chess
Chess is a game that rarely draws a massive amount of attention from the global public, but a rematch between Kasparov and Karpov reminds us that it throws up the occasional great rivalry.
When Garry Kasparov challenged Anatoly Karpov in 1984 for the chess world championship, it was the beginning of a titanic struggle.
The contest lasted five months and featured a series of successive draws of 17 and 15 games. It was controversially ended by the chess authorities over fears for the health of the players, both of whom had lost weight during the struggle. Kasparov had been resurgent at the end, although Karpov still held a lead.
In 1985, Kasparov beat Karpov for the title. They played for it again in 1986 and again Kasparov won. In 1987, Kasparov was one down going into the final game, but recovered to tie the series and therefore retain his crown.
It was a great chess rivalry, but it was more than that to the watching public and pundits.
"It was very symbolic of what was happening to the Soviet Union," says grandmaster Raymond Keene, chess correspondent for the Times. "It was obvious the USSR was going through a period of great turmoil."
And the rivalry was perfect in pitching a brilliant, brooding outsider against the Soviet establishment's main man.
"Kasparov was a southerner, half-Jewish, half-Armenian, much younger, in the vanguard of a change, taking on the golden boy of the old Soviet Union," says Keene.
Keene organised the London matches of the third series between the players in 1985, which took place both in the UK and Leningrad. He was surprised by the stark disparity between the Soviet and the Western ways of organising things.
In London, after the matches, a list of moves with annotation was faxed all over the world within 15 minutes of the conclusion. In Leningrad, a sheet bearing only the moves was typed up, a press officer with a minder was taken to the local party HQ where the only photocopier was to be found, the sheet was copied and then manually handed only to the journalists present at the event.
"They were still mired in Soviet bureaucracy and fear of publicity. I thought 'this place is doomed'.
"It was a gigantic metaphor for the collapse of a creaking, unviable, introspective, conglomerate empire."
There had been other rivalries that never succeeded in sparking the imagination. Mikhail Tal against Mikhail Botvinnik in the early 1960s had the same hallmarks of the non-Russian outsider against the Soviet stalwart, but failed to develop into a sustained struggle. And the earlier battle between Vasily Smyslov and Botvinnik is probably one for chess aficionados only.
The other rivalry that spread outside the world of chess was between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Their famous 1972 world championship match became another symbol of the struggle between civilisations.
Fischer was the Western maverick up against Spassky, the emblem of the powerful Soviet machine. And Fischer won.
"It was about Western individualism, depth of analysis, use of the technology available," says Keene.
And the notion that ideas of a greater struggle would be imposed on chess was an invention of the Stalinist era.
The Communist official Nikolai Krylenko took his board games seriously. He was reported to have said: "We must organise shock brigades of chess players, and begin immediate realisation of a five-year plan for chess."
He might have approved of the great rivalries with an ideological flavour that grew up in the 1970s and 80s. He would have been less delighted that on both occasions the Soviet establishment's representative was bested.
Other sports have individual rivalries. Tennis has had some great ones.
But perhaps only boxing, with its system of champion and challengers, comes close to replicating the way that the protagonists have to study each other's play and personality, even live in each other's skin, during the mind-bogglingly detailed preparations for a world championship series.
Kasparov vs. Karpov Redux !
It was billed as one of the great chess rivalries of all-time, and this week there's a nostalgic rematch as old foes Kasparov and Karpov play a 12 game (4 Rapid and 8 blitz) match in Valencia 22nd-24th September, 2009.
The match is held to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the start of their infamous first aborted title match in Moscow in 1984-5; this was followed by an epic series of close World title matches that concluded in Lyon, France, 1990.
Official site: http://www.matchkarpovkasparov.com/
ICC will have live coverage throughout of this eagerly anticipated rematch, starting each day at 13:00pm ICC time (19:00pm local CET time). Chess.FM will also provide GOTD coverage with highlights of the best of the day's action with GMs Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen and Ronen Har-Zvi.
Also in Valencia bringing us video coverage for the Chess.FM blog will be Macauley Peterson.
Kasparov - Karpov Match Valencia (ESP), 22-24 March, 2009
Comments:
Marysville, Kansas United States
Member Points: 258
Greg,
Thanks for posting this report. I really enjoyed it as I was unaware of the rematch!
Sincerely, Sam
Los Angeles United States
Member Points: 18242
Two Kasparov-Karpov rapid games today in Valencia, starting at 1900 local, 1pm Eastern.Official site has a live games link, so cross your fingers and pray to the FSM it works. Not to be a pessimist, but there's about zero chance of the blitz broadcast going smoothly even if the tech is in place. But we can dream, so dream we will. (At the blitz segment of the Botvinnik Memorial event between Kasparov and Kramnik in 2001 we had a foolproof broadcast method. GM Sergey Shipov watched the output of a video camera over the board and shouted the moves to a manual relayer. Who needs sensory boards?)
Karpov drew the white queen and will have the white pieces in rapid games 1 and 3. Kasparov will have white in the first blitz game Thursday. I know Karpov has been holed up with an impressive posse of GMs, but I still don't see him heading for a razor-sharp theoretical line he's not going to feel at home in. And Kasparov has warned that he's been keeping his database up to date despite four and a half years of retirement. His work on the Great Predecessors and Modern Chess books -- the latest of these a monumental series on all his games with Karpov -- require that. And now the work with Carlsen as well. As for Kasparov's seconds in Valencia, there aren't any. As he told me this evening, "say my seconds are [my wife] Dasha, my mother, and Nelly!" (another family member).
Today's press conference is up in a few places. Nothing earth-shattering, though Garry was impressed with the virulence of Karpov's statements about FIDE. Karpov's rambling story about how long they've known each other, their playing together at the Malta Olympiad (getting a dig in on how the Russian team has failed to win lately due to a lack of "team spirit"), always respecting each other despite difficulties and different views and events, that Kasparov would still be near the top if he dedicated himself to chess, then how FIDE wasn't present at the match, the WCh situation.. Later he mentioned the 1993 schism and Kasparov founding his own organization while he stayed with FIDE, and FIDE winning that war in the end... Then Karpov added, "unfortunately for chess!" Boom goes the dynamite! I can't remember if this is the 14th or 15th time Karpov has gone from exploiting FIDE to slamming FIDE, but I think he still holds a narrow lead over Kasparov in that department. [Funny, was that only in the Russian answer? Listening for his choice of words in the English-only ChessVibes video version I didn't hear him say that. Oh well.]
Garry went 20-0 in his simul in 2 hours, 15 minutes against very weak opposition. Karpov finished a few minutes later and Garry didn't know his score. We can probably assume another clean slate. I'll update this item later today instead of creating a new one for the results. Call'em like you see'em and post all your best coverage links. Fun to see chess back in the mainstream press again. The hyperbole, the mangled metaphors, the factual errors... just like the good old days! Both Ks emphasized they hoped this match and the expected others like it in the coming months might help spur global interest in the sport.
Both players are clearly disappointed they aren't playing in Moscow, where their first (and second) match took place. There is no doubt that it would be all but impossible for any Russian sponsor or venue to provide Kasparov with the huge amount of attention such an event would surely receive. He's been banned from the mainstream Russian airwaves for years, other than the occasional edited hit pieces saying he's a lunatic/American agent/traitor. When major hotel chains cancel our hall reservations when they find out who's meeting there it's hard to imagine even a potentially very lucrative event like this one happening in Russia. I imagined the Kremlin might allow it just so they could run the usual stories saying "see, he's abandoned politics and gone back to chess!" (And such stories are already present in the Russian news regarding Valencia.) But apparently the risk is too great to host such an event. A shame, since interest is very high. The Russian news internet is full of K-K this week.
As they did in their newspaper interviews, both players talked in the presser about the lack of "personality" and "character" at the top level today when answering questions about why their matches were so famous and why nothing like that is happening today. Of course I lay a lot of it at the feet of FIDE and Ilyumzhinov and the "WCh system du jour," but let's stick with the K-K aspect. There was an interesting study about a related topic a few years ago on big American team sports and how they rose and fell in popularity. The conclusion was that dynasties were good for the sport in terms of broadening appeal (as measured by media coverage and stadium attendance). Big rivalries like K-K (e.g. Celtics-Lakers in the 80s) were also good, but a single dominant team/player was even better. Think Tiger Woods. This reinforces how important Fischer was and, even more, how important he could have been.
I wish someone would put up a big online gallery of scanned photos from the first K-K match. There are a few here and there but nothing satisfying. You'd think an official site would be on this. I've seen some spectacular Russian books and magazine spreads with pics not only of the match site and the players, but also of mobs of spectators crowding around display boards, crowds following along on boards in the park while listening to the match on the radio, etc. I have a good German book on the first match that has a few less common pics as well. Need to fire up my new Canon scanner.
Some interview clips, these from Leontxo Garcia in El Pais. Here and here. Skipping or abbreviating the questions where obvious.
Both spoke critically of top chess at the present but optimistically about the future.
Los Angeles United States
Member Points: 18242
Kasparov crushes Karpov on first match day in Valencia
23 September 2009, 1.16 CET | Last modified: 2:28 | By Arne Moll | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Match, Rapid chess
Before saying anything about the actual match, let’s not forget what’s being celebrated here this week: the birth of modern chess in the 15th century in Valencia. To commemorate this event, five lectures were being held today as part of the festivities.
The presentations, however, were sometimes quite difficult to follow for the spectactors. This was partly due to the high technical level of some of the lectures, which could hardly be followed by the live translator (who’s doing an excellent job, by the way), let alone by the mostly uninitiated audience, but also by the amateurish setup of some of the presentations.
In our view, the most interesting lecture was given by dr. Ulrich Schaedler from Switzerland, who explained various aspects of the Book of Games manuscript of Alphonse X – a manuscript, it should be noted, that has nothing to do with Valencia at all. We’ll return to the lectures in a separate post.
After these lectures, the utterly packed auditorium of the Palau de les Arts was finally ready for the first game between Karpov and Kasparov. As it turned out at the last moment, it was necessary to reserve seats beforehand, which resulted in virtually all press being banned to the last rows of the aula after the first five minutes of the game. Also, the press room was rather far from the playing hall, which prevented an easy live transmission of the games.
After Sulaiman Al-Fahim had briefly announced the players, the first move was finally played with arbiter Geurt Gijssen watching the proceedings from close range. Karpov being white, his first move wasn’t too difficult to predict: 1.d4. Kasparov, not too surprisingly either, opted for his beloved Grünfeld Defence, instantly reminding us all of the many classic games the two K’s played in this opening.
An interesting positional middle game position appeared on the board, where Karpov tried to treat the position by small means while Kasparov was looking for activity. The complications sent Karpov into thinking - too much thinking, as it turned out, because just when things started to heat up, he… overstepped the time limit as early as move 24, in an unclear position (which Kasparov evaluated as practically more promising for Black.) This was a huge letdown for everyone, including Karpov, who seemed surprised himself as well about what had just happened.
The second game was rather more interesting. In a Queen’s Gambit Declined, an opening which also occurred numerous times during their matches, Kasparov’s choice of 6.Qc2 was interesting for readers of his latest book on their 1986 and 1987. In his comments to move 6 of game 7 of the London/Leningrad match, in which it was Karpov playing white and Kasparov with black, he writes after the text move 6…g6:
Karpov actually played 6…Bd6 and 8…Ne7, but after 9.Bd3 he went for 9…Nd7 which gave him a slightly passive position. At the press conference, Kasparov indicated that 15…Qb8 was probably “too passive”, after which Black has a very difficult position. After 21.Qd2! Black position seems very difficult to hold already, and in time trouble Kasparov had no difficult finding the win Rybka had spotted immediately.
When we asked him whether Karpov’s choice of variation had surprised him, Kasparov replied that Karpov probably wanted to play a solid game but he didn’t refer to their game played in London in 1986. The interpretor couldn’t keep up with Kasparov’s stream of variations, which inspired Kasprov to remark that ‘the chess moves aren’t important anyway’. In any case, the win gave Kasparov a very comfortable 2-0 lead in their rapid games, and we seriously wonder if Karpov will be able to overcome this painful match.
After the game, Karpov was apparently too devastated to attend the press conference. If anything, this indicates that despite all the media attention, the need for sponsors, business opportunities and the wish the promote chess both in Valencia and the rest of the world, Kasparov and Karpov are still chess players when it comes down to it. They still hate losing and still take chess seriously, even though they claim to see this match mostly as entertainment.
Perhaps this is why Kasparov, too, said he had mixed feelings after this first day. Who knows, it should give us hope for tomorrow and the day after: Karpov surely wants to avoid a total humiliation, and Kasparov can hardly boast about any kind of victory, let alone promote further exhibition matches, if Karpov turns out to be no match for him at all. Can Karpov return the way Muhammad Ali returned against George Foreman? Or are such comparisons preposterous and out of context? Tomorrow, we’ll know for sure.
A video of the first day and the press conference will be added as soon as possible.
Game viewer
Los Angeles United States
Member Points: 18242
September 22, 2009, 6:58 AM
Karpov and Kasparov in a New Match Tuesday, 25 Years After Their Rivalry Began
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAINRivalries are always riveting. Just mentioning the names involved in some of them — Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, Andre Agassi vs. Pete Sampras, Jack Nicholson (mea culpa, that should be Jack Nicklaus) vs. Arnold Palmer — conjures powerful memories.
Not surprisingly, chess, where the struggle is psychological and intellectual, has spawned great, and sometimes heated, rivalries, among them Alexander Alekhine vs. José Raul Capablanca, Bobby Fischer vs. Boris Spassky and Viktor Korchnoi vs. Anatoly Karpov. In terms of duration and passion, however, none of those surpass the rivalry between Karpov and Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov and Karpov played five matches for the world championship from 1984 to 1990. In those contests, they faced each other 144 times and they were almost evenly matched. Kasparov won 21 games, Karpov won 19 and the other 104 were drawn.
Starting Tuesday, they will renew their rivalry by playing a 12-game match in Valencia, Spain. In the first four games, played on Tuesday and Wednesday, each player will start out with 25 minutes and have five seconds added to his time after each move. The last eight games will be Thursday and will be blitz (five minutes per player per game, with two seconds added to each player’s time after each move). There will be another match in Paris, from Dec. 11 to 13, and there is talk of having other matches in other cities.
Though the matches may be entertaining, they hold none of the drama of the earlier clashes. Karpov, who is now 58, has declined as a player and recently dropped out of the top 100 in the world rankings. Kasparov, 46, retired from regular competition in 2005, when he was still ranked No. 1, to pursue politics in Russia, and is now a leader of the government opposition. He has not been completely out of chess. Recently, he began training Magnus Carlsen, the talented 18-year-old grandmaster from Norway, who is ranked No. 4.
Kasparov‘s and Karpov’s rivalry is really unique in chess. To find a rivalry that even approaches it in terms of number of games, it is necessary to go back to 1834 when Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais of France and Alexander McDonnell of Ireland played a series of six matches in London, with La Bourdonnais having a decisive advantage.
In addition to its length, Kasparov vs. Karpov was compelling for other reasons. The two players are stylistically opposites. Kasparov plays aggressively and somewhat intuitively, while Karpov is a technician, cool and precise, often taking his opponents apart bit by bit. Karpov was the favorite of the Kremlin. Kasparov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, was half Jewish (his birth name was Weinstein), and was always a bit of a maverick, all of which made him less acceptable to the Soviet hierarchy. The two also intensely disliked each other.
That did not mean they did not respect each other as opponents. During the 1990 match, which was played in New York City and Lyon, France, after one of the games, the two sat on stage talking and analyzing, seemingly at ease. Afterward, Kasparov was asked why he had talked so long with his rival about the game. He replied that Karpov was the only the other person who could understand what was going on.
Good read thanks.
Im just getting into the "Chess World" a bit by joining up here.
Are there any good rivalries going on these days? Other than of course this match. But newer players.
Karpov and Kasparov Split Games on Day 2 of Exhibition Match
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAINWIN
Anatoly Karpov
LOSS
Garry Kasparov
Replay the game »
WIN
Garry Kasparov
LOSS
Anatoly Karpov
Replay the game »
Anatoly Karpov got on the scoreboard on Wednesday, winning the first game on the second day of his exhibition match with Garry Kasparov. But Kasparov struck back in the second game, to take a 3 to 1 lead. The match is being played in Valencia, Spain, on the 25th anniversary of their first world championship clash in 1984.
The games of the first two days were played at the rate of 25 minutes per player per game, with five seconds added to the time after each move. Thursday, the match shifts to a faster format, with eight blitz games in which each player starts with five minutes and has two seconds added to his time per move.
Karpov, 58, and well past his prime, has struggled with the speed of the games, as much as with Kasparov, 46. Karpov lost both games on Tuesday when he exceeded his allotted time, although he was also in losing positions. But Wednesday, he fought off a speculative sacrifice to win the first game.
The players reprised the opening from the first game of the match. On his 18th move, Kasparov sacrificed an exchange (rook for knight) but also got a pawn and the initiative. In the resulting unbalanced and complicated position, both players had chances. After a couple of errors on both sides, Kasparov blundered, allowing Karpov to march a pawn down the board. Kasparov resigned before Karpov could promote it to a queen.
The second game was the same opening as in Game 2 on Tuesday. That game had ended in a blistering mating attack by Kasparov, but this time Karpov played stouter defense. He ended up in a passive, but perhaps defensible endgame, but he eventually ran out of time.
Karpov’s handling of his clock does not bode well for tomorrow’s blitz games.
Kasparov Wins First Two Games Against Karpov
By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAINLOSS
Anatoly Karpov
WIN
Garry Kasparov
Replay the game with some analysis »
WIN
Garry Kasparov
LOSS
Anatoly Karpov
Replay the game with some analysis »
Tuesday, Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov in the first two games of a 12-gameexhibition match in Valencia, Spain. The match is being held to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first world championship match between the two players. Then, Karpov was world champion and Kasparov was the challenger. That match was famously suspended after five months and 48 games. Kasparov went on win the title in 1985 and then defended it against Karpov in matches in 1986, 1987 and 1990.
Kasparov and Karpov became enemies during those matches, but many years have passed and they have mellowed. For several years now, they have been willing to capitalize on their rivalry by playing exhibitions and short matches. In 2002, they played a four-game rapid match (time control of 25 minutes per player per game, with time added to each player’s clock after each move) in Times Square in New York City. At the time, Kasparov was still competing regularly and was still ranked No. 1 in the world, but he lost, 2.5 to 1.5.
Kasparov retired in 2005 and Karpov still competes, but Kasparov is 12 years younger and that is a considerable advantage. Though he might not still be ranked No. 1 if he was still playing, there is no doubt that he would still be among the world’s top players. Karpov, however, has slipped noticeably in recent years. It seemed before the current match began that Kasparov would probably have a big edge and the first two games confirmed that.
The games were played at rapid time controls. In the first game, Kasparov used the Grunfeld Defense, which has long part of his repertoire. Consistent with his style, Karpov chose a quiet in which White tries to maintain his spatial advantage in the center and slowly improve his position. Both sides had reasonable chances until, on his last move, Karpov blundered and lost an exchange (rook for bishop). He resigned, though he still had good chances to fight for a draw.
In Game 2, the opening was the exchange variation of the Queen’s Gambit. Karpov adopted a passive set-up, which gave White a small, but steady advantage. In a critical position, and under pressure, Karpov missed a tactic and Kasparov launched a sacrificial attack against Karpov’s king. In a lost position, Karpov overstepped his time limit, giving Kasparov his second win.
Games 3 and 4, which are also at rapid time controls, are Wednesday.
Wait a minute!
What is going on under my table?
The great rivalries of chess
Where can I find the integral videos of games?
On the Karpov's Video Library...