Two weeks ago, in
1994 Sanghi Nagar
(January 2023), I developed a list of Kasparov and Karpov columns from
Chess Life in the 1990s. I also gave myself an action:-
Of immediate interest are the four Karpov columns discussing the FIDE Sanghi-Nagar events. I'll look at these four columns in more depth in a future post.
I've documented the FIDE Sanghi-Nagar events on my page
1994-96 FIDE Candidates Matches
(m-w.com). There I split the matches into three stages, listed below in chronological order:-
- Quarterfinal matches - Wijk aan Zee, I, 1994. [six matches]
- Semifinal matches - Sanghi Nagar, VII-VIII, 1994. [three matches]
- Final matches - Sanghi Nagar, II, 1995. [two matches]
For the 'Quarterfinals', the ten top finishers from the
1993 Biel FIDE Interzonal Tournament
(also m-w.com; July 1993), were joined by two players (Timman and Yusupov) eliminated in the last stages of the previous cycle,
1991-93 Candidates Matches
(ditto; Final match in January 1993). The six winners were then reduced to three players in the 'Semifinals'. They were joined by Karpov in the 'Finals', after which the two victorious players met in the
1996 FIDE Title Match
(ditto; June-July 1996).
That's how I understood the FIDE cycle at the time I created those pages in 1997. It turns out that my understanding was not in line with official terminology. Let's follow Karpov's explanations from his Chess Life (CL) columns.
CL 1994-12 Sanghi Nagar
The match of my future opponent [Gelfand - Kramnik] was
of most interest to me personally. If we
talk about forecasts, then it must be
stated that many preferred the chances of the
young star, Vladimir Kramnik. His victories
over Kasparov were mentioned in this regard.
But his opponent was also not the easiest to
deal with. It is no accident that Boris Gelfand
was clear first in the 1993 Interzonal, and tied
for first with Ivanchuk in 1990.
Karpov also discussed the Kamsky - Anand match played at the same time. He continued the discussion in the next column.
CL 1995-01 Sanghi Nagar, Part II
White's passive play [i.e. Anand] in game seven decided the
outcome, and the match became tied! The last game
of regulation time ended in a draw, and the match
went into overtime and was decided by Rapid Chess
games! What a horribly stupid idea of FIDE -- mixing one kind of chess with another. If not for all of
the twists and turns of this match, Anand would have
been the clear favorite in overtime, judging by the
results of Rapid Chess tournaments. But the situation in the match was already abnormal. Kamsky
was on the rise, and Anand was in a depression!
Kamsky won the match, having overcome a 0-2 deficit after four games of the main eight-game match. Karpov's condemnation of the tiebreak stage -- 'mixing one kind of chess with another' -- sounds curious in 2023, where progressively faster time controls are the norm for tiebreak. The next stage of the FIDE Candidates Matches, with Karpov participating, was held six monthe later.
CL 1995-06 Sanghi Nagar: The Semi-Finals
After a successful quarterfinal, our new chess admirer, Ravi
Sanghi, decided to sponsor the semifinal
match in Sanghi Nagar. For the first time
we played under the reformed FIDE
rules, whereby the reigning world champion enters before the final match. However, we maintained the old terminology,
which creates confusion. In comparison
with the old system, this would have
been the finals. The system needs to be
further refined, but I believe this is more
democratic and offers less advantage to
the world champion in defending his
title.
NB Karpov: 'In comparison with the old system, this would have been the finals.' Hello, confusion! Looks like I misunderstood in 1997. The *error* has been on my page for so long, that I'll just leave it as is. Karpov continued,
Nowadays, missing a stage in the cycle
(and having more time to prepare for the
most dangerous opponent) confers a
great advantage upon the defending
world champion. When the changes
were proposed by the FIDE Expert Commission I didn't oppose them, but simply
restated my position which I had already
expressed in 1988.
There is one major inconsistency in
the new system, which is when the world
champion doesn't pass through the first
stage. According to the rules, the world
champion maintains his title until the
end of the cycle, but in reality this is
ridiculous. Fortunately for the new ideas
and changes, this did not occur during
this new FIDE World Championship
cycle.
Karpov's column discussed games from the Kamsky - Salov match, won by Kamsky and thereby qualifying him into the title match. The column was 'continued' in the same issue of Chess Life, a two page report titled 'Sanghi Nagar, photo essay by Bill Hook', pictured in full below.
Chess Life, June 1995, p.46-47
The Bill Hook report was the only CL report on that stage of the FIDE Candidates Matches, where an American qualified into a World Championship title match. Karpov's column for the following month discussed his match with Gelfand, who was eliminated for the title match.
CL 1995-07 Sanghi Nagar, Part II
[Nothing special to highlight]
We've already seen a high level look at the title match by CL on my main blog in
May 1970 & 1995 'On the Cover'
(May 2020). Where can we find more detail about the two Sanghi Nagar events?
