dbrown@watarts.UUCP (Dave Brown) (02/19/85)
I am a little bit perturbed by the decision to postpone the match. Is it possible that the President was helping his friend, Karpov? Does anyone out there have an opinion?
boris@sftri.UUCP (B.Altman) (02/21/85)
> I am a little bit perturbed by the decision to postpone the match. > Is it possible that the President was helping his friend, Karpov? > Does anyone out there have an opinion? I was looking for something like this to offer my 2 cents. First, let me give youa little history. From the beginning of chess history till about 1936 the world champion would set the rules for the match. They also agreed on the rule that the contender must finance at least $10k of prize money. The formula 6 wins draws don't count was popular. In 1936 right after winning the world championship from Alekhine (sp?) Max Euve (sp?) give the right to set the rules to FIDE. From that point on they always had limits right untill Fisher wanted to play by his rules. At that point (after Karpov became champion) the present formula was adopted and Karpov and Korchnoy played 2 matches. I would say that Kasparov took a very different strategy in this match in order to utilize his "health" advantage -- draw him to death. This might not be the "nicest" strategy, but it is certainly a LEGAL one. I think this is the first time in chess history that such strategy was adopted, and it is also first time that the rules were changed in the middle of the match. Anoter fact is that Karpov is a very "convinient" world champion for the the Soviet government. He has a weak personality and does everything the government tels him to do. He also has no objection when the government "robs" him: for the first match with Korchnoy he earned around $5milllion. The Soviet Union took the money and gave him ... a car (about $10,000 worth). Given all that, it is only natural that they prefer Karpov to personally-strong half-jewish Kasparov. (When he first bitten Karpov about 8 years ago his last name was Weinstein). I am not a big chess expert, but I can see that the ending of the last 2 games Karpov did not play the way he usually does. I do believe that he was "knocked out" and could not continue. The Soviets decided that they want to stop the match and spoken through the mouth of Campomanes -- FIDE president. I think that the Soviets will never more allow the limitless match. Boris Altman ATT Bell Labs Summit NJ {ihnp4, ucbvax, allegra}!attunix!boris
dfw@ll1.UUCP (Dan Webster) (02/22/85)
> I was looking for something like this to offer my 2 cents. > First, let me give youa little history. > From the beginning of chess history till about 1936 the world champion > would set the rules for the match. They also agreed on the rule that the > contender must finance at least $10k of prize money. The formula 6 wins > draws don't count was popular. In 1936 right after winning the world championship > from Alekhine (sp?) Max Euve (sp?) give the right to set the rules to FIDE. > From that point on they always had limits right untill Fisher wanted > to play by his rules. At that point (after Karpov became champion) > the present formula was adopted and Karpov and Korchnoy played 2 matches. As you can see, a bit of the above was received garbled, but there are a few points mentioned above that need straightening out. First... The last pure win match was played between Alekhine and Capablanca in 1927. Alekhine won that match 6 - 3 with 25 (!) draws. It was the lengh of this match that brought about the abolition of the pure wins system. The last two Karpov - Korchnoi were played under a "wins or points" system with a 24 game limit. ............... Previously, it was mentioned on the net that Karpov also wanted to play on. An article in the weeks Sports Ill. states that after the announcement at the press conference Kasparov got up and said that he did not want the match to stop. The press conference was put on hold while the 2 players confered for about an hour with the FIDE president.... Upon resuming, it was stated that Karpov "agreeded" to the cancelation, and Kasparov "accepted" it. In short, Kasparov got screwed! (It was also mentioned that Karpov may demand that the resumed match be started at 2 - 0! )
kek@mgweed.UUCP (Kit Kimes) (02/22/85)
Of course Karpov would say he wanted the match to continue. To say otherwise would make him look very bad in the world press. I'm sure he didn't complain too hard in private. Kit Kimes AT&T Consumer Products Montgomery Works Montgomery, Il. 60538-0305 ..!ihnp4!mgweed!kek
boris@sftri.UUCP (B.Altman) (02/25/85)
> > First... The last pure win match was played between Alekhine and > Capablanca in 1927. Alekhine won that match 6 - 3 with 25 (!) draws. > It was the lengh of this match that brought about the abolition > of the pure wins system. > Wrong. The match Karpov - Korchnoy (1978) did not have limits and lasted 32 games. Karpov won 6:5. Boris Altman attunix!boris