mclure@SRI-Unix@sri-unix.UUCP (08/10/83)
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Date: 10 Aug 83 1138 PDT
From: Jim Boyce <JEB@SU-AI>
Subject: more kasparov-korchnoi
To: chess^@PARC-MAXC, mcclure@SRI-KL
Kasparov To Appeal Korchnoi Win
MOSCOW (AP) - Soviet grandmaster Garri Kasparov, who forfeited a
world champion chess semifinal match to Soviet defector Victor
Korchnoi, said today he is appealing the loss to the congress of the
International Chess Federation.
''On Aug. 6, FIDE (International Chess Federation) President
Florencio Campomanes is known to have declared me a loser for not
appearing at the venue of a match in Pasadena (Calif.) and declared
Korchnoi the winner of an unplayed match,'' the 20-year-old chess star
said in a statement carried by the official news agency Tass.
''I hold that this decision, just like the FIDE president's stand in
the question of venues of semifinal matches, runs counter to the
interests of chess. Therefore, I am addressing the FIDE congress in a
request to reconsider the decision by Campomanes and to ensure the
legitimate holding of the present title contenders' cycle.''
The Soviet Chess Federation said it too considered it a violation of
FIDE rules to have Korchnoi declared the winner of the Pasadena
match, Tass reported. The federation said that when the FIDE congress
convenes in October it will ask it to consider the ''question of
canceling this unfair decision.''
Korchnoi, who defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, was declared
the winner by default of a semifinal match between himself and
Kasparov after Kasparov did not show up.
Kasparov did not attend the match because of Soviet protests that
FIDE had picked Pasadena as a site over the objections of the Soviet
player. Pasadena is a suburb of Los Angeles. The Soviets said they
objected to it because of security concerns and lack of ''unhampered
entry'' by Soviet representatives.
Korchnoi was agreeable to holding the match in Rotterdam,
Netherlands, but FIDE still refused to change the match site, the
Soviets said.
Kasparov hinted earlier that he intended to file an appeal. In a
telephone interview Sunday with The Associated Press, he said from his
hometown in Baku that he did not think the chess dispute was over.
''It is only beginning,'' he said.
Kasparov also said Sunday that he doubted world chess champion
Anatoly Karpov, of the Soviet Union, would be willing to meet the
challenger emerging from the semifinals.
Korchnoi and Kasparov were to play one of two semifinal matches that
were to have started Saturday. The other, between Zolta Ribli of
Hungary and Vasily Smyslov of the Soviet Union, was to have been
played in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. But the host country
withdrew following the Soviet protests over Abu Dhabi as a site and
the match was never held. A final ruling must be made on the status of
that match.
The winners of the two semifinals were to play one another for the
right to face Karpov.
Karpov was in Hannover, West Germany, competing in that country's
chess championships.
ap-ny-08-09 1202EDT
***************newman@utcsrgv.UUCP (Ken Newman) (08/13/83)
Will it never end? Will the sordid Soviets always put on such a disgusting petty display in world championship matches? Their protesting over sites that aren't on their side of neutral is nauseating. This has happened several times in the past, too, things like planting "hypnotists" in the audience, etc etc. They have succeeded in degrading chess to the level of all their other international endeavours in which they regard the important thing as winning at all costs, to hell with how you play the game. K. Newman decvax!utzoo!utcsrgv!newman
ditzel@ssc-vax.UUCP (Charles L Ditzel) (08/15/83)
Ahh, it is not all that one sided. There is little doubt that if Gary Kasparov played in Pasadena he would not be facing an admiring audience. Though rumors abound about Kasparov's immenent defection one wonder's as to the truth. I remember back in 1972 after Fischer's victory over Boris Spasski everyone claimed that Spasski was about to defect. The stories went on for years. Spasski did not defect though he took up residence in France after he married a French woman. Last I heard Spasski (as of informant 35 June 30 '82) Spasski not only has not defected but continues to play chess for the Soviets. So much for long lived rumors. Obviously love was confused for politics in this case. Not to bring 1972 back into the picture. But....the Soviets have not been the only ones to inject politics and crude behavior into chess. I won't go on and on and on about Bobby Fischer's actions in 1972 during his match with Spasski (or Petrosian for that matter) or his subsequent default of his title in 1976 to Anatoly Karpov. Remember that's how Karpov became world champion - Fischer refused to play him. It's true that the soviets regularly do unseemly things in the chess world but they are not the only ones. Another couple of points - Pasadena was definitely Korchnoi's preference. No were else would he have such an impartial atmosphere. Kasparov if indeed he wanted to defect need not have been in the United States to do so... Korchnoi defected while playing in a tournament in Holland. Pasadena must have been the Soviets last choice for a number of obvious reasons. If any of Fischer's semi-final matches (against Soviet players) had been scheduled for say Moscow you know he wouldn't have stood for it. It is a pity that a certain level-headedness had not prevailed early in the site selection. In all of Fischer's negotiations, both he and the Soviet's had definite ideas in mind about where they wanted to play and eventually some compromise was arrived at. The Soviet players for example hated the notion of playing in Yugoslavia(!) because Yugoslav chess fans were wild over Fischer. Whats more Fischer reportedly did not originally want to play in Iceland because he perceived it as a primitive place. Eventually when someone at the last moment offered a larger prize to play in Iceland Fischer played in Iceland. Like I said I don't think Pasadena is neutral territory in a match between a Soviet defector and Soviet representative. Now maybe Ken from Toronto has a different picture of the world. It has been mentioned that Rotterdam was also a choice....hmmm....somehow I view Rotterdam as slightly more neutral in a "cold war" sense then I do Pasadena. My own *opinion* (which is all of the above also) is that someone really screwed up the initial site selection and when the Soviets kept telling them that they were not going to send representatives to play ...the people that originally screwed up either didn't believe them or did not care. At this point there really is a major schism in world chess (which is really too bad). Whether people like it or not a certain amount of politics enters the sports and chess arenas.This is a reality. Things are real mess now because of an absence of compromise. Clearly the Soviets do not have Victor Korchnoi's best interests at heart and vice versa. Neither player should be forced to play in areas that are clearly hostile to them. The question now is how to resolve all the thorny issues. Korchnoi logically should be awarded a forfeit win. Practically, this will be very bad for international chess. This unfortunate delimma could have all been avoided fairly easily if the FIDE bureaucracy had chosen a slightly more tactful road. It is easy to make chauvinistic accusations about what dirty players the Soviets are but I think it would be better to make them at more appropriate moments (and there are plenty of them).
WILKINS@SRI-AI.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (08/23/83)
From: Wilkins <WILKINS@SRI-AI.ARPA> I've always wondered why the site was so important for a chess match. In a temperature controlled playing room, what does it matter what the outoor temperature is? Why does the cold war posture of the hosting country affect the playing of a game of chess within its boundaries? Why does a hostile audience affect the outcome? (As I understand it, you do not have cheerleaders who get the audience to cheer and boo during the match. Or is it that chess players take this ESP thing seriously and feel that a room of people thinking they want you to lose will actually make you play worse?) Huh? David -------
Jin@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA@sri-unix.UUCP (08/23/83)
From: Tai <Jin@COLUMBIA-20.ARPA> It's too bad that politics has so much influence in sports. And that is the case in almost every boycott of a sporting event. Politics takes away the spirit of sports and free competition. Politics should stay where it belongs -- in the minds of politicians. /tyj -------