The Philippine Connection

While writing yesterday's post on my main blog, The Match That Never Was, I had a vague recollection of another fabricated Fischer - Karpov game from a few years ago. Sure enough, I found it on Chessbase.com and added the relevant links to the 'Never Was' post.

One unfabricated fact about the game didn't seem right: that the main negotiations between Fischer and Karpov occurred in the Philippines. The one reference by Chessbase -- Russians vs. Fischer, by Plisetsky and Voronkov (1994), p.366-367 -- mentions only meetings in Tokyo and Cordoba. Then I turned to Kasparov's volume on Fischer, My Great Predecessors IV, where starting on p.467, there is a long, detailed account titled 'Abdication'. Here is a timeline derived from that account.

1972-09	•	Reykjavik: Fischer wins title from Spassky
1972	•	San Antonio: Fischer visits tournament; meets Karpov for first time
1973	•	Manila: Fischer visits tournament; meets Marcos, Campomanes
1973-09	•	Helsinki: FIDE Congress, Fred Cramer presents Fischer's proposals
1974-06	•	Nice: FIDE Congress; Fischer resigns title
1974-11	•	Moscow: Karpov beats Korchnoi in Candidates final
1975-01	•	Philippines offers $5.000.000 for match
1975-03	•	Bergen-aan-Zee, Holland: Extraordinary FIDE Congress
1975-04	•	Euwe declares Karpov World Champion
1974(?)	•	Campomanes takes role of intermediary between Fischer & Karpov
1976-07	•	Tokyo: First negotiations
1976-08	•	Cordoba: Next meeting
1977-10	•	Washington: (1) restaurant, (2) Philippine embassy

There are some gaps in that table, especially months and venues, which I'll fill in from other accounts.