The Two Ks lock horns again.

[Wowbagger]

         Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov renew epic chess battle |
            Sport |
            The Guardian
   

When Kasparov wrested the title from Karpov in 1986 I was fortunate enough to have a job as an usher. I think it was Game 11 in London (the second half of the match was played in Leningrad) which won the brilliancy prize and I was supervising the players' private area during which I shared a plate of biscuits with Karpov!

I reckon Kasparov should win this match fairly comfortably.

[clarion]

A bit of a circus, really.  Karpov dropped out of the top 100?  How sad.  He was a mighty player in his time.

[Wowbagger]

I'd say that these two provided the 20th Century's greatest World Championship matches, given that Alekhine always succeeded in engineering it that he never again played Capablanca after beating him in 1927.

When at his best, Karpov's games wee really magnificent, but it was quite remarkable to see even a great player like him go into "headless chicken mode". In one of the 1986 London games he froze terribly, admittedly in the face of a devilishly difficult position, and lost on time with about 6 moves still to make. I understood that it was the first time he'd lost on time since becoming a professional.

Later, possibly in the Leningrad stage of the same match, all the analysts commenting on the game said Kasparov was dead & buried but he carried out a smash & grab raid in the centre and blew poor Karpov away. I don't think Anatoly was ever the same player again.

It was nice to learn that Karpov, who was always put forward as the Soviet Establishment player, tried to visit Kasparov in jail after Putin banged him up.

[clarion]

It was the last great World Championship, really.  Since then, they've been a bit of a damp squib.  But the rot set in with the cold war razzmatazz of the Fischer-Spassky battle.

[urban_biker]

It was the last great World Championship, really.  Since then, they've been a bit of a damp squib.  But the rot set in with the cold war razzmatazz of the Fischer-Spassky battle.

There's nothing like the threat of imminent nuclear destruction to add a bit of spice to a chess tournament. 

[Wowbagger]

It was the last great World Championship, really.  Since then, they've been a bit of a damp squib.  But the rot set in with the cold war razzmatazz of the Fischer-Spassky battle.

There's nothing like the threat of imminent nuclear destruction to add a bit of spice to a chess tournament. 

Many a true word spoken in jest. Fischer wrote a very provocative article entitled "How the Russians have fixed World Chess" in which he described their methods: Bobby Fischer was the only truly World Class US player whereas in a typical Top Rated tourney, probably about half the players would be Russian. Typically they agreed quick draws amongst themselves whereas there was always lots of good reasons to try to beat the American: favour (or otherwise) from high up might depend on it, so Fischer was invariably at the board battling away for his win for many more hours than most of the Russians.

His victory in the 1972 World Championship was a phenomoenal personal achievement. His failure to turn up against Karpov in 1975 demonstrated his paranoia, as did his subsequent ... er... strange antics in Yugoslavia and the Philippines.