mclure@SRI-Unix@sri-unix.UUCP (08/11/83)
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Date: 11 Aug 83 1341 PDT
From: Jim Boyce <JEB@SU-AI>
Subject: semi-final protests
To: mcclure@SRI-KL, chess^@PARC-MAXC
a255 1728 10 Aug 83
AM-Chess Flap,410
Soviets Declare War on President of World Federation
MOSCOW (AP) - The Soviet Chess Federation, the most powerful factor
in world chess since the abdication of American champion Bobby
Fischer, declared war Wednesday on the Philippine president of FIDE,
the International Chess Federation.
The Soviet federation condemned Florencio Campomanes' awarding
victory by default in the semifinal matches of the chess challenger
competition to Soviet defector Victor Korchnoi and Zoltan Ribli of
Hungary.
The FIDE president disqualified the two Soviet opponents, Garri
Kasparov and Vasili Smyslov, because they refused to play at Pasadena,
Calif., and Abu Dhabi, on the Persian Gulf, the two sites chosen by
Campomanes and FIDE's executive council.
The Soviet Chess Federation in a statement published by Tass, the
official Soviet news agency, termed Campomanes' action ''lawless'' and
said he posed a ''serious danger to the chess world.''
It demanded reversal of his decisions in favor of Korchnoi and Ribli
and a general FIDE congress to consider the Soviet contention that
the players should have a veto on the site, date and other conditions
of their matches.
In Lucerne, Switzerland, the headquarters of FIDE, the general
secretary of the world federation, Lim Kok Ann, said the Soviet
protest had been received. He said he thought the majority of the FIDE
members would back Campomanes.
If Campomanes' decisions are not reversed, Korchnoi would play Ribli
to determine who would challenge world champion Anatoly Karpov of the
Soviet Union.
But with Hungary a close Soviet ally, the Hungarian Chess Federation
condemned the awarding of the match to its grandmaster, indicating
that Ribli might refuse to play Korchnoi. And it seemed highly
probable that Karpov also would refuse to play either the winner of a
Korchnoi-Ribli match or Korchnoi if he were declared the challenger
by default.
''One gathers the impression that the recent activities of
Campomanes are deliberately aimed at bringing about a conflict between
the leadership of FIDE and some national federations and leading
grandmasters, which poses a serious danger to the chess world,'' the
Soviet statement said.
The Soviet federation said it refused to send Kasparov to Pasadena
because security arrangements there were inadequate, and it rejected
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, because of the
heat.
ap-ny-08-10 2029EDT
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