FCPC Backs Down

The previous post on this blog, FIDE Asserts Its Authority (February 2025), ended with a statement from FIDE:-

Attempts by FCPC [Freestyle Chess Players Club] to present their project as a World Championship are in contradiction with the well-established status of FIDE and its authority over world championship titles in all relevant variations of chess - including Chess960/Freestyle chess, as outlined in the FIDE Handbook.

Since that statement, we've seen interviews with responsibles from the two organizations. Both of the following videos are from Youtube channel Take Take Take:-

• 2025-02-04: FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky on the Freestyle Chess Conflict
• 2025-02-07: Freestyle Chess CEO on the FIDE Conflict • Weissenhaus [CEO?] Jan Henric Buettner

For a representative player's point of view, here is GM Fabiano Caruana on his own Youtube channel.

Drama between FIDE & Freestyle Chess | C-Squared (30:31) • '[Published on] Feb 7, 20255'

That clip from Youtube channel 'C-Squared Clips' is an extract from the full video on the main 'C-Squared' channel. A few days later, the FCPC backed down:-

2025-02-10: Press Release (Weissenhaus) • 'At a Sunday evening meeting in Weissenhaus with organizer Jan Henric Buettner, 12 Freestyle Chess Players Club members unanimously decided that the 2025 Grand Slam Tour winner in December (South Africa) will be titled "Freestyle Chess Champion." They also plan to form their own independent association with a qualified legal team to represent their interests.'

For the full text, see Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Participants Agree on "Freestyle Chess Champion" Title (freestyle-chess.com). FIDE is a non-profit association of national chess federations. FCPC is backed by for-profit Weissenhaus and represents an association of elite chess players. Federations and players are often at loggerheads over their particular interests. The two organizations have different objectives, so it's likely that we haven't seen the end of this tension.

FIDE Asserts Its Authority

I first covered the story on my chess960 blog in A Freestyle Fight (January 2025). There I wrote,

A few weeks later, the story became ugly. 2025-01-21: FIDE Statement regarding the "Freestyle Chess" project (fide.com); "With regard to the recent communications from the "Freestyle Chess Players Club" ("FCPC"), FIDE states the following..."

A few days later I came back to the story on my main blog in World Championship Yahoos 2025 (January 2025). This time I wrote,

I'm covering the freestyle saga on my chess960 blog, because 'freestyle' is one of numerous aliases for chess960. The most recent post on that blog was A Freestyle Fight (January 2025), where the last link to a story was 2025-01-22: FIDE Slams Freestyle Chess For Creating 'Unavoidable Divisions,' Threatens Legal Action (chess.com; TarjeiJS). The dispute is about FIDE's claim to have the exclusive right to any 'World Chess Championship'.

Let's go back to 2025-01-21: FIDE Statement (fide.com). After the introduction given above, the statement continued,

The International Chess Federation (FIDE) is the only internationally recognized governing body of chess (in particular, by the International Olympic Committee), regulating all official international chess competitions. While we have always remained open to cooperation with private organizations and initiatives across the chess community, FIDE retains its supreme role with respect to the rules, titles, and ratings. FIDE's status and global responsibilities towards the chess community are distinct and non-negotiable.

FIDE does not oppose commercial platforms, projects, or privately managed clubs, such as the FCPC, engaging with players in their own capacity. However, the attempts by FCPC to present their project as a World Championship are in contradiction with the well-established status of FIDE and its authority over world championship titles in all relevant variations of chess - including Chess960/Freestyle chess, as outlined in the FIDE Handbook.

During the intervening weeks, more statements were issued by both sides, but I'll cover those on the next post for my chess960 blog. In the meantime, here's a reminder of a well known historical incident analogous to the freestyle fight.

Portion of 'Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on 2 December 1804' by Jacques-Louis David

Coronation of Napoleon (wikipedia.org)
'While the Pope recited the formula, Napoleon turned and removed his laurel wreath and crowned himself.'

21 World Champions at a Glance

The previous post, World Championship Posters (January 2025; alternate title: 'Of Posts and Posters'), started,

I discovered a photo of historical interest among others from game 10: [see link to photo; (Photo credit: FIDE / Eng Chin An)] Posters in the background told a couple of important stories.

Along with the posters featured in that post, was a poster with a unique prespective on the official World Champions. It is shown below.

The World Champions
(can be expanded)

The historical path starts with Steinitz in the upper left corner, shows the five non-FIDE World Champions, then drops to Botvinnik in the middle of the second row, who was the first FIDE World Champion, no.6 in the accepted sequence of numbering the World Champions. He is flanked by the two players who beat him in a title match (then lost a rematch), after which the path moves to Petrosian (no.9). The path then runs sequentially through Kasparov (no.13).

After Kasparov, the path resembles spaghetti. Kasparov is succeeded by Karpov and Kramnik (no.14). Karpov is succeeded by Khalifman then the other three FIDE Knockout (KO) World Champions plus Topalov. The Bulgarian is succeeded by Kramnik then Anand (no.15). The Indian is succeeded by Carlsen then Ding Liren (no.17). The current World Champion, Gukesh (no.18), is not shown.

The total of 17 numbered World Champions plus five FIDE World Champions makes 22 faces. Who's missing? No one, because Anand sits on two paths, as the second KO champion and for beating Kramnik in 2006. Karpov's win as the first KO champion in 1997/-98 is not shown, probably because he succeeded himself.

The colors used for the arrows could have been better chosen, but that's a detail. All in all, it's an informative chart with tons of info and good photos packed into a small space. Kudos to its designer. For more clarity on the spaghetti portion of the chart (ten faces), see the main page of my World Chess Championship (m-w.com) site.

Why 1993 Karpov - Timman?

In Small Projects 'On the Cover' (October 2023), I flagged,

2023-04-18: 'news of Kasparov's non-FIDE World Championship title; see also the letter from Karpov'

In this post I'll tackle the letter from Karpov. It shines a light on one of the most obscure matches in World Championship history. For the original post, see April 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (April 2023). For the circumstances surrounding the match, see FIDE/PCA Chronology (m-w.com). For the match itself, see 1993 Karpov - Timman FIDE Title Match (ditto). Following is the full text of Karpov's letter.

During my recent participation in the 1998 U.S. Amateur Team East Championship in Parsippany, NJ, I had time to read several American Chess magazines. In the January 1998 issue of Chess Life I came across an article about the history of the World Chess Championships. I don't wish to discuss the biased nature of the article, or the factual inaccuracies, which should be presented as the author's personal views. Instead the actual title portrays this as a historical account of the history of the World Championships. Even in this case, just to have a valid opinion you must know the facts. Therefore I would take a moment to correct the most serious mistake in the author's interpretation of modern chess history.

It was written that when Kasparov and Short left FIDE -- "Surprisingly FIDE ignored another player, Artur Yusupov, who lost in the same round as Karpov, but was not even given a chance." (Jan. issue, page 43, column 1, paragraph 2). This FIDE action had nothing to do with Karpov and favoritism as alleged in the article. Nobody expected that Kasparov and Short would not play under the auspices of FIDE. However, in any serious organization, you must be prepared for all contingencies.

As it happened, FIDE had regulations pertaining to exactly what did transpire. "In case the Challenger can not play with the World Champion, he will be replaced by another Finalist." That player was Timman, at that moment in chess history. In case both World Champion and Challenger could not or refused to play the match, then FIDE would organize a match for the World Championship between the second finalist and the highest rated player in the World. In the regulations you do not see any semi-finalist mentioned. For many years and at that moment in history I was the highest or top ranked player (considering Kasparov was out) in the world. Therefore FIDE was simply following the regulations established prior to each cycle and approved by the FIDE Congress.

Best regards, Anatoly Karpov

The four-page article in the January 1998 Chess Life was titled 'A Brief History of the World Chess Championship' by Michael Khodarkovsky. Nowhere in the article was the author's close relationship to Kasparov mentioned. In Michael Khodarkovsky (wikipedia.org), we learn,

[Khodarkovsky] was a member of Kasparov's coaching team during the 1995 and 2000 World Championship matches and during the 1996, 1997 matches versus IBM's computer Deep Blue.

In 1993, many observers of the international chess scene, including me, assumed that Karpov had received favorable treatment from FIDE in being invited to play the match with Timman. It took me 30 years to discover Karpov's side of the story.

Competing World Championships in 1998

Continuing with Small Projects 'On the Cover' (October 2023), the next follow-up is small enough that I have time to handle a second project. Together the two follow-ups provide a snapshot of the World Championship in 1998.

(1) August 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (August 2023) • The two part match report by GM Leonid Shamkovich started in the July 1998 issue of Chess Life and ended in August 1998. Since I gave the full introduction to the first part of the report in the August 'On the Cover', I'll repeat only the first paragraph of that intro here:-

Two outstanding young grandmasters, [Kramnik and Shirov], crossed chess swords in the best of 10 World Chess Council (WCC) World Championship candidates' match. The match started May 24 and finished June 5 in the small Spanish city of Cazorla, in Andalusia. Alexei Shirov, who won the match with a score of 5.5-3.5, will meet Garry Kasparov in October for the WCC World Championship.

The rest of the report included annotations for all nine games of the match. GM Shamkovich, after commenting on the ninth game, closed the article saying,

This game turned out to be a final brilliant ending to a relatively dull duel.

An inline text box accompanying the article added,

The World Chess Council (WCC) World Championship Match between defending champion Garry Kasparov and challenger Alexei Shirov will begin October 16 in Seville, Spain. Besides the WCC title, $1.9 million will be on the line, with $1.235 million to the winner and $665,000 to the loser. We will pass along more information on the match as it becomes available.

All in all, largely because the Kasparov - Shirov match was never played, the 1998 Shirov - Kramnik match must be one of the most neglected high-level matches in chess history.

(2) July 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (July 2023) • The post provided some background and introduced an important historical speech by (then) FIDE World Champion Karpov.

Karpov's presence in Las Vegas [for the National Open] was explained in the story '1998 National Open, Part II: "A Really Big Shew"' by Jerry Hanken. A sidebar to the story, titled 'Karpov Speaks', started [...]

Karpov's speech covered many topics relevant to the World Championship in the last decades of the 1900s. Following are the sidebar's bullets (in bold text) and its main points. There is much more of historical value behind the '[...]s'.

• Karpov on his trip to America to play in San Antonio: "I remember 1972, my second trip to the U.S. (The first was to Puerto Rico for the Student Team Championship in 1971.) 1972 was a serious tournament which happened in November. Fischer and Spassky had played in the summer, and when I came through New York in November it was not possible to buy a chess set or book, because all America was crazy for chess and all books and sets had been sold. [...]
  
  
• Karpov on meetings with Fischer: "My first meeting was actually in San Antonio. He was invited by Bill Church, and was to appear at the last round. He was, as usual, late. So the organizers didn't want to start the round. He came and greeted all the people and grandmasters, and then he disappeared almost immediately." [...]
  
  
• Karpov [on] later meetings with Fischer: "Even after '75 we met three times. At the meeting in Washington in 1977, we were very close to signing a contract and agreement to play a match. All the problems were solved. We already had pens in our hands to sign, and then Fischer said, 'OK, we play. We agree to everything but one point. The match should be called ...' [...]
  
  
• Karpov on Kasparov: Karpov disputed Kasparov's contention that the Fischer - Spassky match of 1992 was an amateur level match. He thinks some of the games were quite good and could rank in the top ten games of 1992. [...] • Also: Kasparov's claim to be World Champion, Kasparov's claim that Karpov was not a legitimate World Champion, and a private match with Kasparov.
  
  
• Karpov on the last [1997] FIDE Championships: Anatoly noted the criticism (which came from some American magazines) of his entering the matches at the end. [...]
  
  
• Karpov on the future of chess: 'For [chess] to be in the Olympic Games would be very good. Chess is not a sport in every country, and you can get much better support from sponsors and official organizations [once you are part of the official Olympics]. [...]

Wouldn't it be enlightening to have the full transcript of the talk? I suppose it is lost to us forever.

GM Shirov in 1998

The previous post on this blog, Small Projects 'On the Cover' (October 2023), identified a number of World Championship posts on my main blog that need a follow-up. The first post I'll tackle is the most recent on the list: October 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' (October 2023). There are three topics worth developing, all involving Alexei Shirov. From the October 1998 cover introduction:-

• 'The Kasparov - Shirov World Chess Council (WCC) championship match will not take place in 1998, if indeed it takes place at all.'
• 'Beginning with next month's issue, Alexei Shirov will author a series of articles for USCF members.'
• 'Shirov will also be in the country in time to participate in the FIDE World Championship tournament, which begins November 29 and ends December 27 [1998].'

Re the Kasparov - Shirov match, I have a page, 1998-99 World Chess Council (and more) that places the match in context. See the section titled, 'The WCC loses its sponsors'.

Re the Shirov articles, I found five in a column titled 'Shirov's Inferno' which appeared irregularly. The first article was in the November 1998 issue of Chess Life (CL), the last in August 1999. In February and March 1999, Shirov wrote a two part article, 'Consolation Match', that discussed the collapse of the Kasparov match and a replacement match with GM Zybnek Hracek. [NB: The page 9899GKIX should explain the connection between the two matches.] See also World Championship Columnists (December 2022, main blog): 'Back in the mid-1990s, both Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov -- bitter rivals at the time -- wrote separate columns for the USCF's Chess Life (CL)'

Re the 1998 FIDE World Championship tournament, the October 1998 issue of CL carried the following advertisement. It echoes that issue's 'On the Cover' introduction.

The postponement of the tournament until 1999 (to be discussed in next month's November 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover') had a negative impact on a possible reset of relations between FIDE and Kasparov. From my page on the '1998-99 World Chess Council':-

In December [1998], FIDE Secretary Emmanuel Omuku verbally rejected Kok's offer to finance the match between Kasparov and a FIDE champion. The FIDE championship in Las Vegas had been cancelled, reportedly due to contract difficulties with Karpov, so the FIDE decision may have been due more to the lack of a player than to any fundamental opposition to the idea. Some observers suspected that the collapse of the Russian economy in August may have been a factor in FIDE's cancellation of the event. The cancellation meant that there was little world class chess in December, as most other events had been pushed off the calendar.

Unfortunately, the USchess.org URL mentioned in the CL ad is not available via Archive.org. To explore what is available from the USchess site around the same time, see Archive.org on 1998 USchess.org. For more about GM Shirov's U.S. activities in 1998, see Shirov's SmartChess Videos (December 2022).

Small Projects 'On the Cover'

Last week's post, Small Projects Checkpoint (September 2023), was all about establishing a plan for the next few months on this blog. For example,

One topic demands attention -- documenting the qualification paths for the most recent World Cup, '2023 World Cup, Baku' (August 2023).

On my main blog, 'Chess for All Ages', the past year has seen a dozen posts on various aspects of the World Championship. It's useful to summarize these posts in order to group them chronologically using this blog's system of labels. Posts marked '(*)' need further attention to develop some interesting aspect which was only mentioned in the original post.

• 2022-11-18: 'A Clock Without Hands' • '"We're nearing the end of this blog's 'Fischer Friday' series". I'll end the series with a post on "1975 Fischer forfeits to Karpov" (m-w.com)'; also summarizes previous posts in Fischer series
• 2022-12-23: Wayback to Chess.net • 'What did former World Champion Karpov say exactly?'
• 2022-12-30: World Championship Columnists • 'In the mid-1990s, both Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov -- bitter rivals at the time -- wrote separate columns for the USCF's Chess Life'
• 2023-01-03: January 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • 'Interviews of Fischer, Spassky, and Gudmundur Thorarinsson, president of the Icelandic Chess Federation'
• 2023-01-05: Chess at Trump Tower • 'Intel World Chess Championship Quarterfinal Matches'
• 2023-02-02: February 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • CL: 'Anand cuts through FIDE knock-out to challenge Karpov'
• 2023-03-09: March 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • 'Karpov defended his FIDE World Championship title'; 'Kasparov will finally defend his PCA World Championship title'; 'Ilyumzhinov has announced plans to make the knockout world championship an annual affair. Las Vegas is high on the list of possible sites for 1998.' (*)
• 2023-04-18: April 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • 'Byrne's progress in that World Championship cycle' [needs better intro in post]; ' news of Kasparov's non-FIDE World Championship title; see also the letter from Karpov' (*)
• 2023-07-20: July 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • 'FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov addressed more than 200 players'
• 2023-08-15: August 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • IZ 1973 Leningrad; Shirov/Kasparov news (*)
• 2023-09-12: September 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • IZ 1973 Petropolis, Brazil; '"Bronstein replaced Stein", doesn't square with related info on my other pages. More research needed' (*)
• 2023-10-03: October 1973 & 1998 'On the Cover' • Vukcevich; Kasparov - Shirov (WCC); *1998* FIDE World Championship, Las Vegas (*)

I trust that the title and description of each post is sufficient to place it chronologically.

Sanghi Nagar: The Kamskys vs. the World

A couple of weeks ago I posted How to Lose a Sponsor in Ten Days (February 2023). It ended with a question:-

What happened between 'Chess deserves to be promoted' and 'I will never organize an event in which Gata Kamsky participates'? It will take another post to explain.

Remember that the post was part of a series about the 1994-96 FIDE Candidates Matches (m-w.com), specifically the 'Final matches', Sanghi Nagar, February 1995: Karpov - Gelfand and Kamsky - Salov. The 'Lose a Sponsor' post quoted from Leontxo Garcia's report in Europe Echecs, April 1995, translated from the French language. Garcia described an incident that defined the matches in the public's memory:-

Karpov has taken a number of precautions: his team is made up of [...] The Kamskys had strengthened their team with Alexander Shabalov, but he has just left after a quarrel with Rustam. According to several witnesses, [Gata] Kamsky's father had hit the second. Which Rustam denies by declaring: "It was a discussion between men" and by specifying that Shabalov was incapable of working more than two or three hours a day, against the thirteen or fourteen that he asked of him. Shabalov, who had a lip injury, explained the situation before returning to New York:

"It is very difficult to work with Rustam. Financially, he always keeps his word but he wants to make all the decisions, including on the purely technical level, despite his poor knowledge of chess. I'm sorry for Gata. But whether he loses or wins, it will not be because of my departure."

Rustam Kamsky was just getting warmed up. Later he took on the match organizer and sponsor:-

As match interest begins to dwindle faster than expected [NB: because the winners were clear], Rustam escalates the tension with a stormy statement. After Gata and Salov's relatively peaceful press conference, Rustam, still nervous despite the victory, goes to Ravi Sanghi's office to demand Gata's "money". According to Ravi, travel costs and the prize itself, according to Rustam, only plane tickets. Rustam complains that he is tired of always being told "tomorrow" when he comes to ask for his team's $7,000 for tickets. Sanghi explains to Rustam that it is very difficult to obtain foreign currency in India and reminds him that he has offered to pay him several times in rupees or traveller's checks, instead of cash. Kamsky's father becomes even more agitated and returns to the press center to launch an attack on Sanghi, accusing him of not providing him with proper food, of conspiring with Kasparov and Campomanes, of deliberately making life difficult for Gata in these semi-finals as in the previous quarter-finals, etc.

Sanghi then gets very angry and prepares to "take very severe measures". Dzindzi [GM Dzindzihashvili; see below], who has also been made aware of Rustam's outburst, then calls Sanghi to restore the situation. He demands a written apology from Rustam "before 8:30 p.m.", the time at which most Indian journalists must return to Hyderabad. In return, Dzindzi asks for a written guarantee that the amount due will be paid in full.

Rustam [Kamsky] then signs a document in which he retracts his attacks against Sanghi and the organizers. But Sanghi does not calm down and declares to the Indian press that he "will never organize an event in which Gata Kamsky participates". And Sanghi insists that Rustam can no longer give interviews without his formal permission.

The next day, Campomanes sends a fax to Rustam, announcing that his apologies "attenuate but do not absolve this misconduct... And [he] imposes a symbolic fine of 150 Swiss francs. Any recidivism or any similar attitude in the future will be severely punished". Rustam reacts very badly to the answers of Sanghi and Campomanes, and declares: "I am afraid for the life of my son".

Given that every controversy has at least two sides, the other side of the story was described in Kamsky's House Arrest (rec.games.chess; March 1995; 'Copyright by Chesstours'): 'Interview with GM Roman Dzindzihashvili (Gata Kamsky's second) by GM Larry Evans'.

How to Lose a Sponsor in Ten Days

A few weeks ago, in Hooked on 1994-95 Sanghi Nagar (February 2023), I discussed Bill Hook's report on the 1994-95 FIDE Candidates Matches. I also mentioned,

Another source is a three page report in Europe Echecs, April 1995 p.8, signed 'Leontxo Garcia (WCS)'.

With the help of Google Translate, I translated Leontxo Garcia's report from the French language. He covered three topics -- the matches as a high-level chess competition, friction between FIDE & the PCA, and the behavior of the Kamskys. The report started,

February 5, 8 pm: I am still on the dangerous road which leads from Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, to the small village of Sanghi Nagar, in the south-east of India. In the middle of August, when I had made the trip in the opposite direction at 4:30 am after the closing ceremony of the FIDE quarter-finals, I doubted that I would ever return to these exotic places. Like my colleagues, I thought it would be surprising that once Anand was eliminated, the Sanghi Industries firm continued to invest money, effort and illusions in chess.

But Ravi Sanghi, the president of the company, kept his word: "Chess deserves to be promoted, particularly in India, because it is very useful educationally, it is inexpensive and you can play without discrimination of age, sex, caste, culture, religion or social class”. This fine declaration led to a tangible result in the very great improvements made to the infrastructures and, in particular, to one of the best press centers (approximately 300 square meters) that I have seen in twelve years in the business.

Some time later, Garcia's narrative changed dramatically:-

Rustam [Kamsky] then signed a document in which he retracted his attacks against Sanghi and the organizers. But Sanghi did not calm down and declared to the Indian press that he "will never organize an event in which Gata Kamsky participates".

What happened between 'Chess deserves to be promoted' and 'I will never organize an event in which Gata Kamsky participates'? It will take another post to explain.

Karpov on 1994-95 Sanghi Nagar

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?

1994 Sanghi Nagar

Last week, on my main blog, I developed a table overviewing Chess Life columns written by Kasparov and Karpov that covered the period when the two were World Champions for rival organizations, FIDE and PCA; see World Championship Columnists (December 2022). Many of the columns discussed World Championship events, so I summarized them in the following extract from the table.

The Kasparov columns are dated through 1994-06; the rest are Karpov columns. Of immediate interest are the four Karpov columns discussing the FIDE Sanghi-Nagar events. These are summarized on my page 1994-96 FIDE Candidates Matches (m-w.com). I'll look at these four columns in more depth in a future post.

Smartchess Interviews Karpov

Yesterday's post on my main blog, November 1972 & 1997 'On the Cover' (November 2022), was partially based on the November 1997 issue of Chess Life. I ended the post saying,

An article by Rachel Landry featured an interview with then FIDE World Champion Anatoly Karpov, plus his relationship with GM Ron Henley and Smartchess Online. Is this worth a follow-up?

Indeed it is worth a follow-up. Karpov gave his side of two hot topics from the second half of 1997. The first topic involved a reunification match that was never held. For background, see FIDE/PCA Chronology (m-w.com; Feb 1993 - Oct 1996).

RL: There have been many rumors circulating about a World Championship rematch in Compiegne, France. Carol Stroe, the proposed organizer for this event, said in a press release that you and Garry Kasparov were close to signing a formal accord. Mr. Kasparov's publicity agent fervently denies these rumors. Were you approached about such a match?

AK: Yes, but no agreement was signed.

RL: What is the true likelihood of a World Championship rematch between you and Kasparov?

AK: It is possible but not in October, and as I said before, nothing is definite until an agreement is signed and a prize fund is agreed upon.

The second topic involved the introduction of the much-criticized knockout matches to determine the title of FIDE World Champion.

RL: Will you be playing in the FIDE World Championship Knockout matches?

AK: Yes. I'm playing in the final as defending champion.

RL.: A letter signed by sixteen grandmasters was delivered by Vladimir Kramnik to the 68th FIDE Congress in Moldava. This letter conveyed these players' concerns about seeding arrangements in the upcoming FIDE World Championship Knockout. Can you shed any light on what took place in Moldava with regards to this letter?

AK: I heard Kramnik would be there with the letter. Kramnik read the letter to the assembly, and gave his point of view. Later, I addressed the assembly. Subsequently there was a vote by the FIDE Congress to uphold the original arrangements under which the Championships were organized: that is if Kasparov and myself were playing, then we would both be seeded into the semifinals; whereas if one us was not participating then the other would be seeded automatically into the final. Indeed, the original papers I signed regarding my participation were based on this exact arrangement, and Kramnik amicably agreed that he would abide by FIDE's decision. Incidentally, I met the former President of the New Jersey State Chess Federation, E. Steven Doyle, in Moldava, and we discussed a number of interesting things.

All of this was happening at the same time I was building my WCC site, as I documented earlier this year in The First Quarter Century (September 2022). I researched the 'FIDE/PCA Chronology' partly because I wasn't sure who the *real* World Champion was.

The Karpov interview included many more details related to Smartchess Online, one of the earliest chess web sites. Its first capture in the 'Wayback Machine', dated January 1999, shows the following home page.

Source: http://smartchess.com/ (web.archive.org).

A footnote to the interview mentioned that it first appeared on Smartchess Online in September 1997. I tried to find the original interview via the Wayback Machine, but failed. Smartchess.com appears to have been built using techniques that are incompatible with Wayback assumptions. The period in which Smartchess was active was a controversial time for the World Championship and its association with Karpov might provide valuable background material. I'll try to look at its Wayback records another time.

In the meantime, some other subjects for 'normal' web searches related to Smartchess are GM Ron Henley, Rachel Landry, Paul Hodges, Irina Krush, R&D Publishing, and Hikaru Nakamura. The home page pictured above leads to the 'November - December 1998' issue of Smartchess Online, with the following headlines:-

• '1998 US Championships: SmartChess Online coverage with GM Ron Henley & NM Irina Krush. • Congratulations! SmartChess Online Columnist Irina Krush, 1998 US Women's Chess Champion!'
• 'Press Release: "Krush Challenge" Series. Irina Krush to play a match against GM Walter Browne'
• 'Press Release: SmartChess Online welcomes its new Columnist - NM Hikaru Nakamura'

Krush was 14 years old at the time. Nakamura was 10.

In his interview with Smartchess, Karpov mentioned a couple of video series he was developing for Smartchess's 'WWW Chess Superstore'. I've featured two of these in posts on my main blog:-

• 2012-06-15: Karpov on Fischer • 'Game 6: 1972 World Chess Championship Match - Fischer vs Spassky'
• 2012-08-24: Karpov - Henley on Karpov - Kamsky • 'Karpov's Best Games Vol 4'

How many more of these videos are still available on Youtube? That makes a second topic for follow-up.

Missing Labels

A few weeks ago I noticed that a few of the posts on this blog had no labels, aka tags. Of the 746 posts currently on the blog, I identified 16 without labels and added at least one tag to each post. The most recent post to received its first label was Gunsberg - Chigorin - Tarrasch (May 2012), so I've been consistent for over 10 years.

Most of the new labels were in category 'Resources'. The only post where I had to think about a label was The 1st and 2nd GMA World Cups (April 2008). Although the GMA was not officially tied to the World Championship, it was a precursor to later complications surrounding the title. I finally decided to add the post to category 'PCA/WCC/etc.'

The most interesting post to receive its first label was Where's Smyslov? (December 2007). Since the question is still unanswered, I gave it two labels.

World Champs from Morphy to Carlsen

This video, from Chess.com, could play a significant role in introducing chess history to the general public, although the title is misleading. More accurate would be 'The History of the World Chess Championship'. After a brief introduction covering centuries of chess history, the narrative decelerates starting with the career of Paul Morphy.

The History Of Chess: The World Chess Championship (1:14:37) • '[Published on] Aug 21, 2022'

The description said,

Learn about the champions who have defined the game such as Paul Morphy, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and Magnus Carlsen from some of the game's greatest players and commentators, including Viswanathan Anand, Bruce Pandolfini, Ben Finegold, and Danny Rensch.

I could quibble about some of the 'facts' -- was Genghis Khan's contribution really worth a mention? -- and many of the photos do not correspond to the story at that moment. I'll look the other way because one of my pages makes a brief appearance at the appropriate moment: Lasker - Schlechter Title Match; Vienna/Berlin, I-II, 1910 (m-w.com). Fame at last...

At around 48:00 into the clip, Nigel Short says,

Spassky. It's actually a tragedy in a way. The guy is best known for losing a match. He did so much more than this in his chess career, but sometimes your fate in life is to be known for a defeat rather than all the many, many victories that you've had over those years.

Was GM Short also talking about himself? For more about the video, see Chess.com Releases Documentary 'The History Of Chess: The World Chess Championship' (chess.com). Bravo, Chess.com!

An Accidental Challenger

According to my previous post, Madrid Candidates - My Resources (July 2022), 'There are still a few more actions concerning the event to be accomplished.' That can wait another week, because big news broke today: It’s official! Magnus Carlsen will NOT defend his title (chess24.com; Colin McGourty):-

Magnus Carlsen, the 5-time World Chess Champion, today ended months of speculation by announcing via his sponsor Unibet that he will not defend his title.

Unibet? Yes, Unibet: Breaking news: Magnus Carlsen will not play in the 2023 World Chess Championship (unibet.co.uk). So who *will* play the title match? Magnus Carlsen Will Not Defend World Championship Title (chess.com; Peter Doggers):-

GM Magnus Carlsen will not defend his world championship title against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi next year. Carlsen announced his decision on a podcast on Tuesday. According to current regulations, FIDE Candidates tournament winner Nepomniachtchi will now play the world championship against Candidates runner-up GM Ding Liren.

Ding Liren's participation is about as accidental as things get in the real world. First, GM Karjakin lost his place in the Madrid Candidates; for details see The Karjakin Affair (March 2022). Then Ding Liren scrambled to grab that place by rating; for those details see The Ding Liren Affair (May 2022). At the half-way point in Madrid, the Chinese star had a negative score, but finished strongly to overtake his rivals for second place.

World Champion Carlsen had already announced the possibility of relinquishing his title during last year's 2021 Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi title match (m-w.com). The players in Madrid knew that second place was worth a fight.

The table I developed for Madrid Candidates - Kickoff (June 2022) once again comes in handy. According to Chessgames.com,

Classical games: Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Ding Liren 3 to 2, with 9 draws. • Including rapid/exhibition games: Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Ding Liren 13 to 9, with 17 draws. • Only rapid/exhibition games: Ian Nepomniachtchi beat Ding Liren 10 to 7, with 8 draws.

Those results include a +1-0=1 score by Nepo against Ding Liren in Madrid, where the Russian won with the Black pieces. Advantage Nepomniachtchi?

The downside of Carlsen's move is that many fans will continue to think of him as the *real* World Champion. The winner of the forthcoming title match -- venue still unknown -- will forever have an asterisk after his name. We know from the PCA fiasco that 'two world champions are [not!] better than one'; for those details see FIDE/PCA Chronology (m-w.com; 1993-1996 and after).

The Kamskys vs. Bob Rice

During the last 20+ years I've accumulated thousands of documents and document snippets related to the World Chess Championship. While sorting through them for another post, I rediscovered a series of early TWIC extracts related to the 1994-95 PCA Candidates Matches. As far as I can tell, these historically relevant documents exist only on TWIC.

1994-11-20: The Week in Chess 10 • '2) The Kamsky Letter and Bob Rice's response'

• 'Eric Schiller posted an open letter to the chess world from Gata Kamsky. It purely represents Kamsky's point of view and was unedited by Eric; Dated: 07.11.94' • 'One and half months already passed since we started trying to get any answer from Bob Rice. So far, our lawyers received only telephone answers. We officially requested him in written form to allow PCA Candidates' finals match between Kamsky and Anand to be held in Linares, starting December 15-20th.'
  
  
• 'PCA Response to Kamsky. November 19, 1994; Bob Rice's Reaction; We spoke to Bob Rice today over the phone about Gata Kamsky's Open Letter and he made these comments. The fragments are presented more or less in the order that I jotted them down. -- Larry Evans' • "The charges made by Gata Kamsky are patently absurd and have about the same degree of validity as his earlier charge that people were poisoning his food. [...]"

1994-11-27: The Week in Chess 11 • '2) FIDE, PCA and the Kamskys'

• 'Interview with Gata Kamsky; By Larry Evans' • (On Sunday we received a phone call from Gata Kamsky and his father Rustam. These are their comments on my interview with Bob Rice.) "We had two lawyers but dismissed them because we feel they took the side of PCA commissioner Bob Rice against us. [...]"
  
  
• 'Protest; From Roustam Kamsky; To Bob Rice; Dated 18-Nov-94' • 'On behalf of Gata Kamsky and myself I protest against the fact that the prize for the Candidates Final Match was cut in half. [...]'

1994-12-04: The Week in Chess 12 • '5) Further Bob Rice - Kamsky letters.'

• 'Text of letter from Bob Rice to Rustam and Gata Kamsky, date November 23, 1994, on PCA letterhead, with the contact information listed as 345 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010' • 'This letter replies to your "Protest" of November 18 and confirms conversations I had with your lawyers, Mr. Joel Lutwin and Mr. Edwin Rubin, previously on the subjects you raise in your "Protest".'
  
  
• 'Reply to Bob Rice; For immediate release; From Roustam Kamsky; Retyped and posted by Eric Schiller' • 'This is a reply to a fax I received 25-Nov-94 from Bob Rice. After almost two months Mr. Rice finally sent me a fax in reply to my repeated requests for information.'

TWIC 12 had an additional section about the recently concluded match, Kamsky - Short, Linares • '6) The PCA Candidates Semifinals - Linares 1994'

• 'Report to the PCA by Technical Director Mauricio B. Perea' • 'My first experience as a chess Technical Director became an interesting episode, blending amusing bouts of curiosity with an almost paranoid human behaviour on the part of Mr Rustam Kamsky. [...] Technical meeting of September 20, 1994 • Mr Rustam Kamsky insisted on being present at the Technical Meeting of Sept. 20th, on the grounds that his son is still a minor (Gata is 20 years old).'
  
  
• 'Chief Arbiter's Report; Regarding the incident of September 25, 1994, in the hotel restaurant of the Anibal Hotel; Chief Arbiter Andrzei Filipowicz; Linares, September 26, 1994 • 1. During the 4th round, in the opening (after Black's 5th move) Mr Short, on his own time, said a few words directly to Mr Gata Kamsky, asking him to stop his permanent coughing which was disturbing him. [...] 9. As I understand, a few hours later that same night the police took Mr Rustam Kamsky to the police station to clarify his version of the case and his behaviour in the restaurant.'

For more about the struggle between the rival chess organizations that damaged world chess at the highest level, see my page FIDE vs. PCA : World Chess Championship.

Imagery of 1995 Kasparov - Anand

Start with the format used in Imagery of 1889 Steinitz - Chigorin, then fast forward more than a century to Chess at the World Trade Center. You end up with something like the following.

Google image search on '1995 kasparov anand'

[Call the rows 'A' to 'C' (from top to bottom) and number the images in each row '1' to 'x' (from left to right).]

First observation: There is nothing from Pinterest (Thank you, Google!), although there is plenty from Youtube (A2, A5, B5, C1, C4). Second observation: There are also plenty of similar aerial photos showing New York City (A1, B3, B4, B5, C5). Given that there is not a real position on the board and no clock. this was probably a publicity shot.

The 'Intel World Chess' logo figures in many photos (A4, A5, B1) and is partially obscured in others. In A4 -- Kasparov vs Anand, 1995 (kasparov.com) -- the word 'Intel' is cropped out on the top, though a smaller version is visible on the bottom; ditto A5.

Two more photos (A2 & B2) are from the match and show arbiter Carol Jarecki. A2 is from a Youtube video, Kasparov - Anand, Game 10, World Championship 1995, that includes footage taken during the match plus game analysis by Daniel King. In B2, NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani makes the first move.

Nearly all of the images on the third row are from other Kasparov - Anand encounters. C1 is titled 'BLITZ Intel World Chess 1995'; C2 is from a Spanish tournament (Linares?); and C3, dated August 2017, says 'Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz'. C4 is from another Youtube video, although the image returned by Google is not in the clip.

The match took place during a period of increased interest in chess by Americans. In The USCF in Numbers (June 2014), I documented a 'period of growth from 52.898 members in 1990 to a peak of 88.908 members in 2002'.

Chess at the World Trade Center

I found this image while preparing a recent post, Chess in The Graphic, on my main blog.

Under the heading 'Checkmate!', the text says,

Intel World Chess Championship 1995
Garry Kasparov versus Vishy Anand
World Trade Center Observation Deck
September 11, 1995 through October 13, 1995
on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 3:00 pm
For tickets call 1 800 388 KING

The four sponsors listed at the bottom are

World Trade Center,
Intel World Chess,
PCA, and
Alliance for Downtown New York Inc.

For the history of the PCA (Professional Chess Association), see my page World Chess Championship : FIDE/PCA Chronology. I've documented the event shown in the poster on the page 1995 Kasparov - Anand PCA Title Match.

Just above the name for that last sponsor, 'Alliance for Downtown New York Inc.', is a logo composed of buildings that appear to say 'Alliad', where the two letters 'll' represent the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The group's LinkedIn page, Overview ('Nonprofit Organization Management'), shows a similar but different logo that spells 'Alliance'.

I found the image in an August 2007 eBay auction. The auction description said,

1995 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP PROMOTION CARD • SEPTEMBER 11, 1995 • WORLD TRADE CENTER

Attractive announcement of Garry Kasparov versus Vishy Anand duel that took place on that fateful date, September 11 at the World Trade Center. ROOK GRAPHIC on opaque/glossy white chessboard. Suitable for framing. Dimensions: 6" x 9".

Accompanying WTC NEWS (World Trade Center) announcement: "The world's greatest chess players will compete a quarter mile high in the sky ... on the 107th floor Observation Deck at Two World Trade Center..."

The connection between my post about 'Chess in The Graphic' and this poster is the phrase 'ROOK GRAPHIC'. From such connections little discoveries are made.

Kramnik on Playing for the Title

On my main blog I'm doing a weekly series on the eight players who will be competing in next month's candidates tournament (see the previous post, Berlin Candidates - Kickoff, for more about the tournament). The most recent player to be covered was in Interview Videos : Kramnik. As the oldest of the eight players, there is a wide choice of material about Kramnik. The following video is even better than an interview.

Chess : V Kramnik's preparation before WC match 2000 vs G Kasparov (27:55) • 'Published on Sep 27, 2017'

Pirated material on Youtube typically omits mention of the source and this is no exception. Without too much trouble, I discovered that the clip is a segment from a DVD titled 'My Path to the Top' by Vladimir Kramnik (chessbase.com).

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov. Kramnik dissects his wins against Leko and Topalov, giving us a vivid impression of the super-dramatic final games of the 2006 match.

The specific segment in the Youtube clip is:-

Part 8 - Preparation for the World Championship match against Kasparov in London 2000, 27:55

A review of the DVD by Prof. Nagesh Havanur is at Kramnik speaks: My Path to the Top (chessbase.com; May 2012).

This ChessBase DVD was produced in 2007, when Vladimir Kramnik was still world champion. On it he describes the nirvana of attending the Botvinnik School, of being nominated for the Olympiad in 1992 by Garry Kasparov, how he went on to dethrone his mentor. Apart from narrative and analysis the DVD also includes previous interviews with ChessBase.

Particularly insightful is the explanation of how GM Kramnik chose the Berlin Defense as his main weapon with Black.

Small World Championship Stories

In Small Projects for 2014, I mentioned a story shedding light on a detail of the World Championship Zonals:-

• Zonals 1984-1987 (C13); Zone 2 playoffs

Since then I've encountered two similar stories and added them to the appropriate pages:-

• Zonals 1969-1972 (C08); Zone 3, which Wright?
• Zonals 1990-1993 (C15); Zone 1A tiebreak

Ask and ye shall find.

***

I encountered another World Championship story in Five Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs [Wired.com]:-

In 1996, Natan Sharansky won the world chess championship. How did he train? While he was imprisoned for nine years in a Siberian labor camp in solitary confinement, he played himself in thousands of imaginary games of chess. His mind saw every possible move so when it was time for the competition, he excelled.

The similarity to the Stefan Zweig novella is remarkable in itself (see yesterday's post, Chess Behanced, on my main blog for more about that), but even more remarkable is the news that 'Sharansky won the World Chess Championship'. How could this myth possibly arise? Wikipedia to the rescue:-

At the age of 15, he won the championship in his native Donetsk. When incarcerated in solitary confinement, he claims to have maintained his sanity by playing chess against himself in his mind. Sharansky beat the world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a simultaneous exhibition in Israel in 1996. • Natan Sharansky

For more about the true part of the Sharansky story, see Natan Sharansky: How chess kept one man sane [BBC.co.uk].