tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78317876531862435402024-03-13T00:50:39.219-07:00Chess NewsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-41904513380727765712008-10-09T20:14:00.000-07:002008-10-09T20:18:22.445-07:00Anastasia's Mate<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hqFCBO6oBQ4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hqFCBO6oBQ4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-71822902475526932672008-10-08T20:09:00.000-07:002008-10-08T20:12:52.792-07:00China, Bulgaria share rapid chess gold medals<span id="Zoom">BEIJING, Oct. 8- 2008 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Bu Xiangzhi was crowned in men's rapid chess event at the World Mind Games here on Wednesday, while the gold in women's competition was clinched by Bulgarian pinup blonde player Stefanova Antoaneta.</span><span id="Zoom"> </span> <p><span id="Zoom"> In the short two-round final, Bu, whose world ranking was above his rival, beat Korobov Anton from Ukraine in the opening round and forced the latter to ask for a draw in the second. Bu's victory also gifted the Chinese chess team the first gold of the 15-day Games. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> "It was really difficult in the second game as I couldn't find any offence chance. But later, things changed and I found a critical opportunity to grasp the momentum tightly," said Bu. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> "Anyway, it feels great to win the gold, especially the first one for our team. I hope we can play better in the following team events," added the 23-year-old winner.<br /></span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> In the third-place playoff, Zhang Zhong from Singapore outscored his Brazilian opponent Fier Alexandr 2-1 to wrap up the bronze. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> Women's final was between old rivals Chinese Zhao Xue and former world champion Stefanova. Apparently in better form, the 29-year-old Bulgarian started with a tight defense and then gained initiative by abandoning the soldiers to seize Zhao's queen.<br /></span></p> <p><span id="Zoom">Taking the white chessman, Zhao has to win the second round to stage a turnover. But the less experienced Zhao failed to start well in faced with Stefanova intricate routines and lost to the veteran again after her same defeat in the preliminaries. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> Zhao's teammate Huang Qian survived a three round seesaw battle to beat Houska Jovanka of Britain for the bronze. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> When asked about her title of "chess beauty", the Bulgaria winner smiled shyly. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> "Appearance doesn't necessarily contradict with wisdom," said Stefanova. </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> "Of course I don't mean to say myself," the girl soon added, "in international events there are many pretty girls, and I hope Icould meet more such rivals in the future." </span></p> <p><span id="Zoom"> Russian "chess queen" Kosteniuk Alexandra who impressed audiences with her Hapburn-style hat and Chinese 14-year-old hopeful Hou Yifan finished seventh and eighth due to their not-so-good performances in the preliminaries. </span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-73654002696158998312008-09-20T09:41:00.000-07:002008-09-20T09:48:00.080-07:00Chess Funny Video: Chess training<embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/yt-IF7FOF-9UvA/funny_chess_video.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed><br><font size = 1><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-IF7FOF-9UvA/funny_chess_video/">Funny Chess Video</a> - <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/">More amazing video clips are a click away</a></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-10573115471103553642008-09-20T09:36:00.000-07:002008-09-20T09:40:59.730-07:00Chess funny video :Small boy playing Chess<embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/802324/funny_chess.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed><br><font size = 1><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/802324/funny_chess/">Funny Chess</a> - <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/">The best home videos are here</a></font>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-16349876915012946542008-09-20T09:33:00.000-07:002008-09-20T09:35:59.367-07:00Check mate! Chess thrives in Idaho grade schoolsThe elementary school at the edge of this rural town has a playground that boasts little more than a swing set. That's no problem — the hot new game is inside.<p>Chess, once used as a way to teach war strategy, is now being taught to second- and third-graders across Idaho once a week as part of a plan to make students better at subjects like math and reading.</p><p>"At first I thought, 'You've got to be kidding,'" said Penny Lattimer, a Council Elementary School teacher. "We already have so much stuff to teach."</p><p>Lattimer didn't know how to play chess until last year, when she and a dozen other Idaho teachers were trained as part of a pilot program to bring chess into public schools.</p><p>The state Department of Education has now invested $120,000 into the project, which was tested in 100 schools last year and expanded this fall to 100 more.</p><p>Jerry Nash, scholastic director for the United States Chess Federation, said he has worked with public schools nationwide to develop chess programs, but Idaho is the first state to encourage public schools statewide to use the game as part of their curricula in second- and third-grades.</p><p>While the federation estimates 500,000 students nationwide in grades K-12 are being taught some aspect of the game through chess clubs, programs, or in the classroom, chess proponents such as Nash consider Idaho a trailblazer for introducing the game on such a large scale.</p><p>"What we're hoping is that it will be a great introduction," Nash said. "The more teachers that we have involved, obviously the greater impact we'll make."</p><p>Earlier this week at Council Elementary, third-grader Kristen Kruger, 8, played chess across the room from her brother, Tyler, a 9-year-old in the fourth grade. Kruger said the two often challenge one another.</p><p>"He's beat me like a hundred times," she said. "I won him once."</p><p>Lattimer points out one of her students who she said struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. "In the classroom, he cannot sit still," Lattimer said, "but he sits still for this."</p><p>Council Elementary embraced the chance to become one of the first to try the program last year, when the state paid for it. This year, those same schools had to pay $340 per classroom to keep it.</p><p>The cash-strapped elementary school has scaled back on teaching aides just to make ends meet, but Principal Bonnie Thompson said it was able to find enough money to keep the program going.</p><p>Council doesn't stray far from tradition, she said, but the game has brought a new dimension to life in this former timber town where its 800 people struggle to survive the economic downturns of the logging industry.</p><p>"They just don't have that much exposure to culture here," Thompson said. "They do what they've always done in Council. They play football and they go to the park. I've never heard them talk about chess."</p><p>The program being taught in Idaho public schools — called First Move — was developed by the America's Foundation for Chess, and was first tested in Seattle-area schools, said foundation Vice President Wendi Fischer.</p><p>First Move is now taught in 26 states, with Idaho public schools Superintendent Tom Luna the first to adopt it on such a large scale.</p><p>The game can help students develop critical thinking skills that make them better at math, reading and writing, Fischer said. For example, students who become familiar with the vertical and horizontal lines of a chess board and how they are numbered also learn the fundamentals of how maps, graphs and how X and Y coordinates work.</p><p>"That's pre-algebra," Fischer said.</p><p>Idaho was second only to Utah in the lowest school district spending per student in 2006, according to a 2008 U.S. Census Bureau report based on the most recent data available. The report says Idaho spent about $6,440 per pupil in 2006, compared to the national average of $9,138 per student.</p><p>Luna acknowledges there's little hard evidence students actually benefit from playing chess, and it could take a few years before Idaho can gauge whether students who learn chess are more successful in academics.</p><p>"But if we're going to encourage innovation and new ideas," Luna said, "we have to give those new ideas time to produce results."</p><p>Lattimer said she has noticed students seem more polite after learning a game that requires opponents to shake hands before and after they play.</p><p>"You'll see it on the playground," Lattimer said. "The kids are just more kind." </p> <div id="hn-links-header">On the Net:</div> <ul class="hn-links"><li>America's Foundation for Chess: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.af4c.org&usg=AFQjCNG7M166htQcjRnQY3i7rIKb-Yyl9Q" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/related_links');">http://www.af4c.org</a></li><li>United States Chess Federation: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http://main.uschess.org&usg=AFQjCNEQjdfBRnLVARBD4puihlx1uaq08A" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/related_links');">http://main.uschess.org</a></li></ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-42586406447598065632008-09-20T09:29:00.000-07:002008-09-20T09:33:23.165-07:00Kearsley coach Mike Skidmore gets inducted into Chess Hall of Fame<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0eK7uyKGDDcz8AzGoBOH9-D6OTA9sd3eDwS9He7-J5FDpqMipIQC8Irf_TkhpT703zI0kdU3zge_pbIX8SUlxw-0sdkGFUD6f9rtCjDIL6W14EyPGvCgpaj_uqtlAEKfsHZmfkq1SEbk/s1600-h/large_chess_master_2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE0eK7uyKGDDcz8AzGoBOH9-D6OTA9sd3eDwS9He7-J5FDpqMipIQC8Irf_TkhpT703zI0kdU3zge_pbIX8SUlxw-0sdkGFUD6f9rtCjDIL6W14EyPGvCgpaj_uqtlAEKfsHZmfkq1SEbk/s320/large_chess_master_2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248142051295914690" border="0" /></a><br />But, it wasn't great valor or even a wicked jump shot that landed Mike Skidmore in the Hall of Fame. Instead, it was instead his cunning strategies and all those checkmates.<br /><br />Skidmore joined earlier this month an elite group of only 14 others named to the Michigan Chess Hall of Fame since its formation 20 years ago by the Michigan Chess Association. <a name="more"></a><div class="factbox"><span class="factbox-header"><strong><br /></strong></span></div> <p>There will be no multimillion dollar contracts, wax figures or Vince Lombardi trophy. Not even a crown for one of chess' kings.<br /><br />Skidmore will get just a plaque, lifetime membership to the association, and be featured in an article for the association's magazine.<br /><br />For Skidmore, the honor itself is worth more than any glamorous prize.<br /><br />For the past 30 years, he's coached the Kearsley High School Chess Team, leading teams to win several state and national championships over the years.<br /><br />Just as he's shared his knowledge of the game with his students, he also is sharing his honor.<br /><br />"It's nice because it means some of the people in Michigan chess are recognizing what we do here," Skidmore said. "It's not about the individual honor. It's about the kids, the team and what they do."<br /><br />The association exists in name only. There are no headquarters or offices. Instead board members meet four or five times a year at different locations.<br /><br />The organization produces a bi-monthly magazine and bulletin of events and is responsible for organizing state championship events.<br /><br />Hall of Fame inductees must have made a significant contribution to the growth, development, and prestige of chess in Michigan and the MCA, the selection requirements state.<br /><br />Skidmore paid his dues by serving two terms on the MCA board, serving as chair of several sub-groups, editor of the magazine and coordinator of the U.S. Open Denker Invitational Tournament of Champions.<br /><br />Skid, as he's affectionately called by his players, taught himself to play chess in fourth grade and went on to earn himself both local and state titles.<br /><br />He started his first job coaching chess at Daly Jr. High School in 1973, the year after chess legend Bobby Fischer became the first American to win the World Chess Match igniting enormous interest in the game.<br /><br />And, now, his students enjoy it when Skidmore occasionally makes rookie mistakes -- allowing them that rare chance to beat him at his own game.<br /><br />"It's exciting because I know how experienced he is and how many people he's played and beat," said student Zach McComb, a 17-year-old senior.<br /><br />Skidmore said he wants his students to learn more than just how to be good chess players.<br /><br />"The kids are learning life skill through this game," Skidmore said. "I tell them to take those chess decision making skills and apply them to your life."</p><p><br /></p><div class="factbox"><span class="factbox-header"><strong>Flint Journal extras</strong></span> <p><strong>More about 'Skid'</strong></p> <p>• Name: Mike Skidmore </p><p>• Age: 60 </p><p>• Job: Chess coach and media specialist for Kearsley High School </p><p>• Family: Married with adult children </p><p>• Nickname: Skid </p><p>• How long have you been playing chess? "Since fourth grade. I taught my sister to play so I could beat her." </p><p>• How many games have you won? "Too many to count." </p><p>• Have you ever lost to any of your students? "Yes, but only when I'm tired or off my game." </p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-38526881707977169122008-09-11T20:41:00.000-07:002008-09-11T20:45:04.605-07:00Humpy wins against Yifan, match goes to tie-breakerNALCHIK: Indian Grandmaster Koneru Humpy rose to the occasion defeating Yifan Hao of China in the return game and forced the mini-match in to a tie-breaker in the ongoing World Women's Chess Championship here.<br /><br />Humpy, who lost the first game as black, won the second game of the two-game mini-match and will now have to play the tie-break games on Friday.<br /><br />The highest rated woman player after Judit Polgar of Hungary played imaginatively to beat Yifan, a 14-year-old sensation, who has been training hard and playing well against high opposition for past couple of years.<br /><br />Meanwhile, in the other semifinal of the day Russian Alexandra Kosteniuk made sure she did not make mistakes in her quest for a berth in the finals and held Pia Cramling of Sweden to a draw to win the match by a 1.5-0.5 margin. In the first game of this semifinal, Kosteniuk had won with white pieces.<br /><br />Humpy rose back in style to draw level in the second game. Starting with a knight manoeuvre on the first move, the Andhra girl transposed to a position akin to the Accelerated Sicilian Dragon and Yifan was in troubles early looking out for best ways to counter the opening.<br /><br />While Yifan spent a lot of time in the opening, Humpy saved it for the crucial middle game stage where she had to find some tricky manoeuvre to avoid an equal position. As a result, both players fell in acute time pressure and the nerves played a crucial role.<br /><br />Yifan could have defended better but the clock was ticking away and it was on the 32nd move that the Chinese blundered decisively and allowed Humpy to get a crushing attack on her king. The game ended just four moves later giving Humpy a chance to remain in the match and now in the tie-break the Indian will be a big favourite to win the match.<br /><br />In the tie-breaker the players will first play a 2-game rapid match and if the scores are tied there will be two more games under blitz chess rules. If still tied the match will go in the sudden-death stage where white will get a minute extra on the clock with no increment and will have to win in order to qualify to the next stage.<br /><br />Kosteniuk did many things right in order to gain a draw against Cramling. Her opening choice of Queen's gambit accepted proved correct, the concentration along the central squares was excellent and when the opportunity arose, the calculation was perfect.<br /><br />Cramling on her part tried hard but Kosteniuk, despite being lower on rating, was simply the better player in this match. The game was eventual drawn vide perpetual checks. If Cramling had tried to avoid that the scoreline would have read 2-0 instead of 1.5-0.5.<br /><br />For the records this will be Kosteniuk's second appearance in the final of the World Women's Championship. The last time she went to the finals was in 2000 at Moscow, where Zhu Chen of China had beaten her comprehensively to win the crown.<br /><br />Results of game 2 semifinal with final score in the end: Koneru Humpy (Ind) beat Yifan Hao (Chn) 1-1 goes to tie-breaker; Pia Cramling (Swe) drew with Alexandra Kosteniuk (Rus) 0.5-1.5, Kosteniuk goes to the finals.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-6504112186193867302008-09-11T20:39:00.000-07:002008-09-11T20:41:29.566-07:00Humpy fights her way back, takes match into tie-breakerKoneru Humpy came back into contention as her young Chinese opponent Hou Yifan blundered in the crucial stage of the Women’s World chess semi-finals Thursday. Humpy won the second game to get back into the match. Humpy, who had lost the first game with white thus equalised with black to send the match into a tie-breaker. He won in 36 moves after an opening in the English Symmetrical. <p>In the other semi-final Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) needing only a draw to get onto the final stage of the Women’s World Chess Championship played a solid game with no surprises or novelties to beat Pia Cramling of Sweden. The game was in Queen’s Gambit declined and lasted 40 moves.</p> <p>Kosteniuk made the final after seven years and she will now play the winner of Humpy-Yifan match in the final.</p> <p>The 21-year-old Humpy favourite and top seed here came out with a slight advantage from the opening phase but could not find a strong continuation despite the desperation to win. Yifan pushed the pawn to d5 and gave a chance for exchanging the light pieces which could have been a nice way for a possible draw. </p> <p>Humpy took her chance and avoided the full exchange and took a risky line but after that her position started to gradually loose momentum and deteriorated.</p> <p>But her luck into came play as Yifan blundered and provided a chance for White to mate. Hou resigned after a few more moves as Humpy saw the line and went for it.</p> <p>Humpy and Yifan will now clash in a tie break on Friday.</p> <p>In the first game, Yifan played maturely to score an upset over the top-seed. Humpy played the first part of the game in her usual manner but out of the blue things changed greatly. Having captured a “poisoned pawn” Humpy lost her way and the game.</p> <p>So upset was she that she kept sitting at the table for five minutes after the match trying to find a reason for her poor play.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-55797438796592388332008-09-11T10:57:00.000-07:002008-09-11T11:04:34.443-07:00Women World Chess CUP Semifinals:Kosteniuk in the final, Koneru-Hou tie break<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoSkURr6hdzUswMX0FIjmu3AQedaEusy5WT2iZk9tCN3a9kdqh5sjSn1c7EXGOdSZsdHSSlnH8OOtcYdxp500gJqeXfxlrdD8pTXUZ5D6cOBK4xXD0TxPHMgQNM75oE5tRYzqCLykBZ0/s1600-h/064.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisoSkURr6hdzUswMX0FIjmu3AQedaEusy5WT2iZk9tCN3a9kdqh5sjSn1c7EXGOdSZsdHSSlnH8OOtcYdxp500gJqeXfxlrdD8pTXUZ5D6cOBK4xXD0TxPHMgQNM75oE5tRYzqCLykBZ0/s320/064.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244825660996988658" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What a turn around !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KONERY HUMPY WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</span><br /><p>After winning yesterday against Cramling`s French defense, Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia) needed only a draw to get onto the final stage of the Women`s World Chess Championship. In a solid game with no surprises or novelties but with a strong fight, she made it and after seven years, she will play for the title again.</p> <p>Koneru (India) came out with a slight advantage from the opening phase but could not find a strong continuation although she had to win after the loss of yesterday. Her Chinese opponent pushed the pawn to d5 and gave a chance for exchanging the light pieces which could have been a nice way for a possible draw. Koneru avoided the full exchange and took the risky Bb5 move after which her position started to gradually loose momentum and deteriorated.<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-ZfKHH4TYmtrBBxxIzLtlMA0M2_QHVTCqGzX7CCpisZK6rCrt0UYvDpU058TVw7mlGa0xBjZLz-nsqTIM4R8hNv6fkiBTqtDJPE_wlbcOSy_a_AqznF5hWjKzUjoHzIGWsnb6GsSI7I/s1600-h/068.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 248px; height: 245px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-ZfKHH4TYmtrBBxxIzLtlMA0M2_QHVTCqGzX7CCpisZK6rCrt0UYvDpU058TVw7mlGa0xBjZLz-nsqTIM4R8hNv6fkiBTqtDJPE_wlbcOSy_a_AqznF5hWjKzUjoHzIGWsnb6GsSI7I/s320/068.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5244825110241199042" border="0" /></a></p><p>In a worse position, Caissa run in to support her: Hou Yifan made a blunder with Na5, thus the position provided the chance for White to mate in 8 moves and Hou resigned after a few more moves. We are looking for a tie break tomorrow between Koneru, Humpy and Hou, Yifan. Please, follow the line on the official site.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-79815172738500874632008-08-31T02:23:00.000-07:002008-08-31T02:31:18.949-07:00World Women`s Chess Championship Nalchik 2008 : Round 1World Women`s Chess Championship Nalchik 2008, Harika, Koneru Humpy<b>The Presidents of the World and Russian Chess Federations were there, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and the Kabardino-Balkaria President. But not the Georgian players, and some international participants, who did not attend due to the Russian-Georgian conflict. They lost their games by default. Otherwise most of the top seeds won their first games comfortably.<br /><br /></b>The Women's World Championship 2008 is taking place from August 28th to September 18th in Nalchik, in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of Russia. 64 players were eligible to play in the knock-out event, which has a prize fund of US $450,000. Due to the tensions in the region the Georgian players and a few others decided not to participate. <p>After the pre-tournament turmoil, in which the <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4834">Georgian and other players protested</a> and the FIDE President <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4849">appealed to them</a> and then <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4855">to the Georgian president</a> ("Do not mix politics and sport") we had to wait until the start of the first round to see who would turn up and who wouldn't. All the Georgians – Chiburdanidze, Gvetadze, Javakhishvili, Khukhashvili, Khurtsidze, Lomineishvili – were absent, as were a few others: Tea Bosboom Lanchava, Karen Zapata, Marie Sebag, Irina Krush and Ekaterina Korbut. They all lost their first game by default.</p> <p>In the following table we can see that the top seeds generally won their games. The first upset is to be found on board 13, where 13th seed Natalia Zhukova of Ukraine lost to 52nd seed Katherine Rohonyan of the US. The next: 16th seed Elisabeth Paehtz, former Girl's Junior World Champion from Germany, lost to 49th seed Ilaha Kadimova of Azerbaijan. The defaulted players are shown in red.</p> <table class="table-full" width="550"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Bd</strong></td> <td width="40"><strong>SNo</strong></td> <td><strong>Player</strong></td> <td><strong>Nat.</strong></td> <td width="50"> <div align="center"><strong>Result</strong></div></td> <td><strong>Player</strong></td> <td><strong>Nat.</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td> <p>1-64</p></td> <td>Xu, Yuhua</td> <td>CHN</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Solomons, Anzel</td> <td>RSA</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td> <p>63-2</p></td> <td>Alaa El Din, Yorsa</td> <td>EGY</td> <td><div align="center">0-1</div></td> <td>Koneru, Humpy</td> <td>IND</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3</td> <td> <p>3-62</p></td> <td>Hou, Yifan</td> <td>CHN</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Khaled, Mona</td> <td>EGY</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td> <p>61-4</p></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Zapata, Karen</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">PER</span></td> <td><div align="center">-+</div></td> <td>Stefanova, Antoaneta</td> <td>BUL</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td> <td> <p>5-60</p></td> <td>Cramling, Pia</td> <td>SWE</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Sanchez Castillo, Sarai</td> <td>VEN</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6</td> <td> <p>59-6</p></td> <td>Gasik, Anna</td> <td>POL</td> <td><div align="center">+-</div></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Sebag, Marie</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">FRA</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>7</td> <td> <p>7-58</p></td> <td>Zhao, Xue</td> <td>CHN</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Zuriel, Marisa</td> <td>ARG</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td> <p>57-8</p></td> <td>Muminova, Nafisa</td> <td>UZB</td> <td><div align="center">0-1</div></td> <td>Kosintseva, Tatjana</td> <td>RUS</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td> <p>9-56</p></td> <td>Kosteniuk, Alexandra</td> <td>RUS</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Pourkashiyan, Atousa</td> <td>IRI</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td> <p>55-10</p></td> <td>Golubenko, Valentina</td> <td>CRO</td> <td><div align="center">0-1</div></td> <td>Cmilyte, Viktorija</td> <td>LTU</td> </tr> <tr> <td>11</td> <td> <p>11-54</p></td> <td>Muzychuk, Anna</td> <td>SLO</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Velcheva, Maria</td> <td>BUL</td> </tr> <tr> <td>12</td> <td> <p>53-12</p></td> <td>Zakurdjaeva, Irina</td> <td>RUS</td> <td><div align="center">0-1</div></td> <td>Ruan, Lufei</td> <td>CHN</td> </tr> <tr> <td>13</td> <td> <p>13-52</p></td> <td>Zhukova, Natalia</td> <td>UKR</td> <td><div align="center">0-1</div></td> <td>Rohonyan, Katherine</td> <td>USA</td> </tr> <tr> <td>14</td> <td> <p>51-14</p></td> <td>Nguyen, Thi Thanh An</td> <td>VIE</td> <td><div align="center">+-</div></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Chiburdanidze, Maya</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GEO</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>15</td> <td> <p>15-50</p></td> <td>Hoang Thanh Trang</td> <td>HUN</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Arribas Robaina, Maritza</td> <td>CUB</td> </tr> <tr> <td>16</td> <td> <p>49-16</p></td> <td>Kadimova, Ilaha</td> <td>AZE</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Paehtz, Elisabeth</td> <td>GER</td> </tr> <tr> <td>17</td> <td> <p>17-48</p></td> <td>Ushenina, Anna</td> <td>UKR</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Le Thanh Tu</td> <td>VIE</td> </tr> <tr> <td>18</td> <td> <p>47-18</p></td> <td>Foisor, Sabina-Francesca</td> <td>ROM</td> <td><div align="center"> 1/2</div></td> <td>Socko, Monika</td> <td>POL</td> </tr> <tr> <td>19</td> <td> <p>19-46</p></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Krush, Irina</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">USA</span></td> <td><div align="center">-+</div></td> <td>Sedina, Elena</td> <td>ITA</td> </tr> <tr> <td>20</td> <td> <p>45-20</p></td> <td>Zhang Jilin</td> <td>CHN</td> <td><div align="center">1/2</div></td> <td>Gaponenko, Inna</td> <td>UKR</td> </tr> <tr> <td>21</td> <td> <p>21-44</p></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Javakhishvili, Lela</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GEO</span></td> <td><div align="center">-+</div></td> <td>Amura, Claudia</td> <td>ARG</td> </tr> <tr> <td>22</td> <td> <p>43-22</p></td> <td>Nebolsina, Vera</td> <td>RUS</td> <td><div align="center">0-1</div></td> <td>Harika, Dronavalli</td> <td>IND</td> </tr> <tr> <td>23</td> <td> <p>23-42</p></td> <td>Kosintseva, Nadezhda</td> <td>RUS</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Mohota, Nisha</td> <td>IND</td> </tr> <tr> <td>24</td> <td> <p>41-24</p></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Gvetadze, Sopio</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GEO</span></td> <td><div align="center">- -</div></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Korbut, Ekaterina</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">RUS</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>25</td> <td> <p>25-40</p></td> <td>Zatonskih, Anna</td> <td>USA</td> <td><div align="center">+ -</div></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Bosboom Lanchava, Tea</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NED</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>26</td> <td> <p>39-26</p></td> <td>Kachiani-Gersinska, K</td> <td>GER</td> <td><div align="center">1/2</div></td> <td>Shen, Yang</td> <td>CHN</td> </tr> <tr> <td>27</td> <td> <p>27-38</p></td> <td>Mkrtchian, Lilit</td> <td>ARM</td> <td><div align="center">1/2</div></td> <td>Moser, Eva</td> <td>AUT</td> </tr> <tr> <td>28</td> <td> <p>37-28</p></td> <td>Tan Zongyi</td> <td>CHN</td> <td><div align="center">1/2</div></td> <td>Tania, Sachdev</td> <td>IND</td> </tr> <tr> <td>29</td> <td> <p>29-36</p></td> <td>Bojkovic, Natasa</td> <td>SRB</td> <td><div align="center">1/2</div></td> <td>Ju, Wenjun</td> <td>CHN</td> </tr> <tr> <td>30</td> <td> <p>35-30</p></td> <td>Mongontuul, Bathuyang</td> <td>MGL</td> <td><div align="center">1-0</div></td> <td>Rajlich, Iweta</td> <td>POL</td> </tr> <tr> <td>31</td> <td> <p>31-34</p></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Lomineishvili, Maia</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GEO</span></td> <td><div align="center">- -</div></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Khukhashvili, Sopiko</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GEO</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td>32</td> <td> <p>33-32</p></td> <td>Matveeva, Svetlana</td> <td>RUS</td> <td><div align="center">+ -</div></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Khurtsidze, Nino</span></td> <td><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">GEO</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><br />Schedule : </b><br /><br /> <table class="table-horiz"><tbody><tr> <td>Thursday</td> <td>28 </td> <td>August</td> <td>Opening Ceremony/Player's Meeting</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Friday</td> <td>29</td> <td> August</td> <td>Round 1, game 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday</td> <td>30</td> <td> August</td> <td>Round 1, game 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunday</td> <td>31</td> <td> August</td> <td>Tiebreaks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Monday</td> <td>01</td> <td>September </td> <td>Round 2, game 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tuesday</td> <td>02</td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 2, game 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wednesday </td> <td>03</td> <td>September</td> <td>Tiebreaks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thursday</td> <td>04</td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 3, game 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Friday</td> <td>05</td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 3, game 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday</td> <td>06</td> <td>September</td> <td>Tiebreaks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunday</td> <td>07</td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 4, game 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Monday</td> <td>08</td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 4, game 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tuesday</td> <td>09</td> <td>September</td> <td>Tiebreaks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wednesday</td> <td>10 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 5, game 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thursday</td> <td>11 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 5, game 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Friday</td> <td>12 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Tiebreaks</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Saturday</td> <td>13 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Free Day</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sunday</td> <td>14 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 6, game 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Monday</td> <td>15 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 6, game 2</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tuesday</td> <td>16 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 6, game 3</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wednesday</td> <td>17 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Round 6, game 4</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Thursday</td> <td>18 </td> <td>September</td> <td>Tiebreaks/Closing Ceremony</td></tr></tbody></table><b><br /><br />Courtesy : www.chessbase.com<br /><br />Official WebSite : <a href="http://nalchik2008.fide.com/">http://nalchik2008.fide.com/</a><br /></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-70270304721961005352008-08-31T02:20:00.000-07:002008-08-31T02:23:28.642-07:00Wish you Happy birthday to Sabina<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-a_htBKpaHVW9iDUeoA-SIeTyxA0q-PFnc8-OloYJDNIwW-wT1O73BE-OLziDJKV_Z4Ki8YoK3MPSGOTiN2I2of-nyhT2w3Z7GVCGcwT6ezOXEo7t-FmiK6duyLqNs2cZ4IzbO4_V3s/s1600-h/001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic-a_htBKpaHVW9iDUeoA-SIeTyxA0q-PFnc8-OloYJDNIwW-wT1O73BE-OLziDJKV_Z4Ki8YoK3MPSGOTiN2I2of-nyhT2w3Z7GVCGcwT6ezOXEo7t-FmiK6duyLqNs2cZ4IzbO4_V3s/s320/001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5240609571927059986" border="0" /></a><br />The chess player from Romania Sabina-Francesca Foisor celebrated her birthday on the second day of the Championship. The Organizing Committee of the Championship congratulated her on her 19 birthday with champagne and a cake with candles. Aslan Afaunov, the Chairman of the KBR State Committee on Physical Culture and Sport wished her success and happiness and presented her with a bouquet of red roses. In the presence of all those present singing “Happy Birthday” the young Romanian blew out all the candles from the first attempt. While doing it she probably thought of winning the World Championship. The time will show.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-58884389346527990192008-08-23T09:00:00.000-07:002008-08-23T09:03:40.540-07:00Chess Videos: Bobby Ficher Life<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F-vTSbWmlPs&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F-vTSbWmlPs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-31462371158606907722008-08-23T08:54:00.000-07:002008-08-23T09:00:11.272-07:00Chess Videos : Bobby Fischer truth<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QryuMf8qZ0g&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QryuMf8qZ0g&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-8015744035011620002008-08-23T08:44:00.000-07:002008-08-23T08:54:40.972-07:00Chess Video: Bobby Fischer Interview<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KnAQN_iwNoA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KnAQN_iwNoA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-52106571698570449942008-08-23T08:38:00.000-07:002008-08-23T08:44:22.324-07:00Chess Profiles : Bobby Fischer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmyutipd7YA-q4qVw3pkMyrtUb4aLcomsOpovBWzxowmdI5rmnjJpwUfR56PiJfZ3WjloK-EIl5K9Tz-OIMTA_pTztciyAn0RXs7vBGTb4-34etrWKDjx9SlF-EImjN6t4MUKl1sc8RQw/s1600-h/bobby-fischer.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmyutipd7YA-q4qVw3pkMyrtUb4aLcomsOpovBWzxowmdI5rmnjJpwUfR56PiJfZ3WjloK-EIl5K9Tz-OIMTA_pTztciyAn0RXs7vBGTb4-34etrWKDjx9SlF-EImjN6t4MUKl1sc8RQw/s320/bobby-fischer.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5237738831638067890" /></a><br />Robert James "Bobby" Fischer (March 9, 1943 – January 17, 2008) was an American-born chess Grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion.<br /><br />Fischer became famous as a teenager as a chess prodigy. In 1972, he became the first, and so far the only, American to win the official World Chess Championship,[1] defeating defending champion Boris Spassky, of the Soviet Union, in a match held in Reykjavík, Iceland. The match was widely publicized as a Cold War battle. He is often referred to as one of the greatest chess players of all time. In 2005, Iceland awarded citizenship to Fischer in recognition of his 30-year-old match that put the country "on the map".[2]<br /><br />In 1975, Fischer failed to defend his title when he could not come to agreement with the international chess federation FIDE over the conditions for the match. He became more reclusive and played no more competitive chess until 1992, when he had a rematch with Spassky. The competition was held in Yugoslavia, which was then under a strict United Nations embargo.[3][4][5] This led to a conflict with the US government, and he never returned to his native country.<br /><br />In his later years, Fischer lived in Hungary, Germany, the Philippines and Japan. During this time he made increasingly anti-American and anti-Semitic statements. During the 2004–2005 time period, after his US passport was revoked, he was detained by Japanese authorities for nine months under threat of extradition. After Iceland granted him citizenship, the Japanese authorities released him to that country, where he lived until his death in 2008.[6]<br />Contents<br /><br /><br /> * 1 Early years<br /> * 2 Young champion<br /> * 3 US Championships<br /> * 4 Olympiads<br /> * 5 Grandmaster, Candidate<br /> * 6 1962 Candidates setback<br /> * 7 Involvement with the Worldwide Church of God<br /> * 8 Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s<br /> * 9 World Champion<br /> o 9.1 The road to the world championship<br /> o 9.2 World Championship Match<br /> o 9.3 Forfeiture of title to Karpov<br /> * 10 Sudden obscurity<br /> * 11 Spassky rematch<br /> * 12 Life as an émigré<br /> o 12.1 In the Philippines<br /> o 12.2 Anti-Jewish statements<br /> o 12.3 Anti-American statements<br /> o 12.4 Japan<br /> o 12.5 Asylum in Iceland<br /> o 12.6 Death<br /> + 12.6.1 Estate<br /> * 13 Contributions to chess<br /> o 13.1 Chess theory<br /> o 13.2 Endgame<br /> o 13.3 Fischer clock<br /> o 13.4 Fischer Random Chess<br /> o 13.5 Other talents<br /> o 13.6 Legacy<br /> * 14 In popular culture<br /> * 15 Writings<br /> o 15.1 Under Fischer's name<br /> * 16 Notable games<br /> * 17 See also<br /> * 18 References<br /> * 19 Further reading<br /> * 20 External links<br /><br />[edit] Early years<br /><br />Robert James Fischer was born at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois on March 9, 1943. His mother, Regina Wender, was a naturalized American citizen of Polish Jewish descent,[7] born in Switzerland but raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She later became a teacher, a registered nurse, and a physician.[8] Fischer's birth certificate listed Wender's husband, Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, a German biophysicist, as Fischer's father. The couple married in 1933 in Moscow, USSR, where Wender was studying medicine at the First Moscow Medical Institute. They divorced in 1945 when Bobby was two years old, and he grew up with his mother and older sister, Joan. In 1948, the family moved to Mobile, Arizona, where Regina taught in an elementary school. The following year they moved to Brooklyn, New York, where Regina worked as an elementary school teacher and nurse.<br /><br />A 2002 article by Peter Nicholas and Clea Benson of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests that Paul Nemenyi, a Hungarian Jewish physicist, may have been Fischer's biological father. The article quotes an FBI report that states that Regina Fischer returned to the United States in 1939, while Hans-Gerhardt Fischer never entered the United States, having been refused admission by US immigration officials because of alleged Communist sympathies.[9][10][11] Regina and Nemenyi had an affair in 1942, and he made monthly child support payments to Regina.[12] Nemenyi died in March, 1952.<br /><br />In May 1949, the six-year-old Fischer learned how to play chess along with his sister in instructions found in a chess set that was bought[13] at a candy store below their Brooklyn apartment. He saw his first chess book a month later. For over a year he played chess on his own. At age seven, he began to play chess seriously,[14] joining the Brooklyn Chess Club and receiving instruction from its president, Carmine Nigro. He later joined the Manhattan Chess Club, one of the strongest in the world, in June, 1955. Other important early influences were provided by Master and chess journalist Hermann Helms and Grandmaster Arnold Denker. Denker served as a mentor to young Bobby, often taking him to watch professional hockey games at Madison Square Garden, to cheer the New York Rangers. Denker wrote that Bobby enjoyed those treats and never forgot them; the two became lifelong friends.[15] When Fischer was thirteen, his mother asked the Master John W. Collins to be his chess tutor. Collins had coached several top players, including future grandmasters Robert Byrne and William Lombardy. Fischer spent much time at Collins' house, and some have described Collins as a father figure for Fischer. The Hawthorne Chess Club was the name for the group which Collins coached. Fischer also was involved with the Log Cabin Chess Club. Another mentor and friend during those years was the broadcaster and author Dick Schaap, who often took Fischer to basketball games of the New York Knicks.<br /><br />Bobby Fischer attended Erasmus Hall High School at the same time as Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond. The student council of Erasmus Hall awarded him a gold medal for his chess achievements.[16] Fischer dropped out of Erasmus in 1959 at age 16, the minimum age for doing so, saying that school had little more to offer him.[17]<br /><br />When Fischer was 16, his mother moved out of their apartment to pursue medical training. Her friend Joan Rodker, who had met Regina when the two were "idealistic communists" living in Moscow in the 1930s, believes that Fischer resented his mother for being mostly absent as a mother, a communist activist and an admirer of the Soviet Union, and that this led to his hatred for the Soviet Union. In letters to Rodker, Fischer's mother states her desire to pursue her own "obsession" of training in medicine and writes that her son would have to live in their Brooklyn apartment without her: "It sounds terrible to leave a 16-year-old to his own devices, but he is probably happier that way."[18]<br /><br />[edit] Young champion<br />Bobby Fischer (left) and John Collins<br />Bobby Fischer (left) and John Collins<br /><br />Fischer's first real triumph was winning the United States Junior Chess Championship in July 1956. He scored 8.5/10 at Philadelphia to become the youngest-ever junior champion at age 13,[19] a record that stands to this day. In the 1956 U.S. Open Chess Championship at Oklahoma City, Fischer scored 8.5/12 to tie for 4-8th places, with Arthur Bisguier winning.[20] He then played in the first Canadian Open Chess Championship at Montreal 1956, scoring 7/10 to tie for 8-12th places, with Larry Evans winning.[21] Fischer's famous game from the 3rd Rosenwald Trophy tournament at New York 1956, against Donald Byrne, who later became an International Master, was called "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch. At the age of 12, he was awarded the US title of National Master, then the youngest ever.[22]<br /><br />In 1957, Fischer played a two-game match against former World Champion Max Euwe at New York, losing 0.5-1.5.[23] He then successfully defended his US Junior title, scoring 8.5/9 at San Francisco.[24] Next, he won the U.S. Open Chess Championship at Cleveland on tie-breaking points over Arthur Bisguier, scoring 10/12.[25] Fischer defeated the young Filipino Master Rodolfo Tan Cardoso by 6-2 in a match in New York.[26] He next won the New Jersey Open Championship.[27] From these triumphs, Fischer was given entry into the invitational U.S. Chess Championship at New York. He won, with 10.5/13, becoming in January 1958, at age 14, the youngest US champion ever (this record still stands). He earned the title of International Master with this victory, becoming the youngest player ever to achieve this level (a record since broken).[28][29][30]<br /><br />[edit] US Championships<br /><br />Fischer eventually played in eight United States Chess Championships, each held in New York City, winning every one.<br /><br />His scores were:<br /><br /> * 1957-58: 10.5/13<br /> * 1958-59: 8.5/11<br /> * 1959-60: 9/11<br /> * 1960-61: 9/11<br /> * 1962-63: 8/11<br /> * 1963-64: 11/11<br /> * 1965-66: 8.5/11<br /> * 1966-67: 9.5/11.<br /><br />There was no 1964-65 US Championship. Fischer missed the 1961-62 event and ones after 1966-67. The total is 74/90 (82.2%), with only three losses (to Mednis, Reshevsky, and Robert Byrne).<br /><br />His 11-0 win in the 1963-64 championship is the only perfect score in the history of the tournament, and one of only a handful of perfect scores in high-level chess tournaments ever, one that has been called "the most remarkable achievement of this kind."[31]<br /><br />[edit] Olympiads<br /><br />Fischer had been forced to attend school, and therefore missed the 1958 Olympiad. But he represented the United States on top board with great distinction at four Olympiads:<br />Olympiad Individual result US team result<br />Leipzig 1960 13/18 (Silver medal) Silver.<br />Varna 1962 11/17 Fourth<br />Havana 1966 15/17 (Silver) Silver<br />Siegen 1970 10/13 (Silver) Fourth<br /><br />His overall total was +40, =18, −7, for 49/65 or 75.4%.[32] He had planned to play for the United States at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad, but backed out when he saw the playing hall with its bad lighting.[17]<br /><br />[edit] Grandmaster, Candidate<br /><br />Fischer's victory in the US Championship qualified him to participate in the 1958 Portorož Interzonal, the next step toward challenging the World Champion. The top six finishers in the Interzonal would qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Prior to the Interzonal, he played two short training matches in Yugoslavia. He drew both games against Dragoljub Janosevic. Then he defeated Milan Matulovic in Belgrade by 2.5-1.5.[33] At the Interzonal, Fischer again surprised the pundits, tying for 5th and 6th places, with 12/20, after a strong finish.[34] This made Fischer the youngest person ever to qualify for the Candidates, a record which stood until 2005 (it was broken under a different setup by Magnus Carlsen). It also earned him the title of Grandmaster, making him the youngest grandmaster in history at 15 years and 6 months. This was a record that stood until 1991 when it was broken by Judit Polgar. In addition, Fischer remained the youngest grandmaster in the world until Florin Gheorghiu earned the title in 1965.<br /><br />Before the Candidates' tournament, Fischer competed in the 1958-9 US Championship (winning 8.5/11) and then in international tournaments at Mar del Plata, Santiago, and Zurich. He played unevenly in the two South American tournaments. At Mar del Plata he finished tied for third with Borislav Ivkov, half a point behind tournament winners Ludek Pachman and Miguel Najdorf. At Santiago, he tied for fourth through sixth places, behind Ivkov, Pachman, and Herman Pilnik. He did better at the strong Zurich event, finishing a point behind world-champion-to-be Mikhail Tal and half a point behind Svetozar Gligoric.[35][36]<br /><br />Fischer had, up to this point, dressed like a normal teenager, in jeans and casual shirts, at chess tournaments, but was influenced by veteran Grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, whom he met at Mar del Plata, to improve his appearance. Najdorf dressed well in fine suits. Fischer's strong performances increased his income, and he soon became known for his elegant dress at major events, built up an extensive wardrobe of custom-made suits, and took considerable pride in his image as a young professional.[37]<br /><br />At the age of 16, Fischer finished a creditable equal fifth out of eight, the top non-Soviet player, at the Candidates Tournament held in Bled/Zagreb/Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1959. He scored 12.5/28 but was outclassed by tournament winner Tal, who won all four of their individual games.[38]<br /><br />[edit] 1962 Candidates setback<br /><br />In 1960, Fischer tied for first place with the young Soviet star Boris Spassky at the strong Mar del Plata tournament in Argentina, with the two well ahead of the rest of the field, scoring 13.5/15.[39] Fischer lost only to Spassky, and this was the start of their relationship, which began on a friendly basis and stayed that way, in spite of Fischer's troubles on the board against him.<br /><br />Fischer struggled in the subsequent Buenos Aires tournament, finishing with 8.5/19 (won by Viktor Korchnoi and Samuel Reshevsky on 13/19).[40] This was the only real failure of Fischer's competitive career. According to Larry Evans, Fischer's first sexual experience was with a girl to whom Evans introduced him during the tournament.[41] Pal Benko says that Fischer did horribly in the tournament "because he got caught up in women and sex. ... Afterwards, Fischer said he'd never mix women and chess together, and he keep that promise."[42] Fischer concluded 1960 by winning a small tournament at Reykjavik with 4.5/5,[43], and defeating Klaus Darga in an exhibition game in West Berlin.[44]<br /><br />In 1961, Fischer started a 16-game match with Reshevsky, split between New York and Los Angeles. Despite Fischer's meteoric rise, the veteran Reshevsky (born in 1911, 32 years older than Fischer) was considered the favorite, since he had far more match experience and had never lost a set match. After 11 games and a tie score (two wins apiece with seven draws), the match ended prematurely due to a scheduling dispute between Fischer and match organizer and sponsor Jacqueline Piatigorsky. The hard-fought struggle, with many games being adjourned, had delayed the original match schedule, causing some logistical challenges for site bookings. Reshevsky received the winner's share of the prizes.[16] Fischer later made up with Mrs. Piatigorsky by accepting an invitation to the second Piatigorsky Cup, Santa Monica 1966, which she helped to sponsor.<br /><br />Fischer was second behind former World Champion Tal at Bled 1961. He defeated Tal head-to-head for the first time, scored 3.5/4 against the Soviet contingent, and finished as the only unbeaten player, with 13.5/19.[45]<br /><br />In the next World Championship cycle, Fischer won the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal by 2.5 points, scoring 17.5/22, making him one of the favorites for the Candidates Tournament in Curaçao, which began soon afterwards.[46][47] He finished fourth out of eight with 14/27, the best result by a non-Soviet player but well behind Tigran Petrosian (17.5/27), Efim Geller, and Paul Keres (both 17/27).[48] Tal fell very ill during the tournament, and had to withdraw before completion. Fischer, a friend of Tal's, was the only player who visited him in the hospital.[16].[49]<br /><br />Following his failure in the 1962 Candidates (at which five of the eight players were from the Soviet Union), Fischer asserted, in an article entitled The Russians Have Fixed World Chess, which was published in Sports Illustrated magazine, August 1962, that three of the Soviet players (Tigran Petrosian, Paul Keres, and Efim Geller) had a pre-arranged agreement to draw their games against each other, in order to save energy and to concentrate on playing against Fischer, and also that a fourth, Victor Korchnoi, had been forced to deliberately lose games to ensure that a Soviet player won the tournament. It is generally thought that the former accusation is correct, but not the latter.[50] (This is discussed further at the World Chess Championship 1963 article). Fischer also stated that he would never again participate in a Candidates' tournament, since the format, combined with the alleged collusion, made it impossible for a non-Soviet player to win. Following Fischer's article, FIDE in late 1962 voted a radical reform of the playoff system, replacing the Candidates' tournament with a format of knockout matches.[51]<br /><br />Fischer defeated Bent Larsen in a summer 1962 exhibition game in Copenhagen for Danish TV. He also defeated Bogdan Sliwa in a team match against Poland at Warsaw later that year.[52]<br /><br />[edit] Involvement with the Worldwide Church of God<br /><br />In an interview in the January, 1962 issue of Harper's Magazine, Fischer was quoted as saying, "I read a book lately by Nietzsche and he says religion is just to dull the senses of the people. I agree."[53][54] Nonetheless, Fischer said in 1962 that he had "personal problems" and began to listen to various radio ministers in a search for answers. This is how he first came to listen to The World Tomorrow radio program with Herbert W. Armstrong and his son Garner Ted Armstrong. The Armstrongs' denomination, The Worldwide Church of God (then under its original name, the Radio Church of God), predicted an imminent apocalypse. In late 1963, Fischer began tithing to the church. According to Fischer, he lived a bifurcated life, with a rational chess component and an enthusiastic religious component.<br /><br />At the 1967 Sousse Interzonal his religious observances led to problems with the organizers (see below).<br /><br />Fischer gave the Worldwide Church of God $61,200 of his 1972 world championship prize money. However, 1972 was a disastrous year for the church, as prophecies by Herbert W. Armstrong were unfulfilled, and the church was rocked by revelations of a series of sex scandals involving Garner Ted Armstrong.[55] Fischer, who felt betrayed and swindled by the Worldwide Church of God, left the church and publicly denounced it.[56]<br /><br />[edit] Semi-retirement in the mid-1960s<br /><br />Fischer turned down an invitation to play in the 1963 Piatigorsky Cup tournament in Los Angeles, which had a world-class field. Instead, he preferred to play at the same time in the Western Open in Bay City, Michigan, which he won, with 7.5/8. Fischer also won the 1963 New York State Championship at Poughkeepsie, another minor event, in late summer, with a perfect 7/7.[57] He won the 1963-64 US Championship with a perfect 11/11 (see above).<br /><br />Fischer decided not to participate in the Amsterdam Interzonal in 1964, thus taking himself out of the 1966 World Championship cycle. He held to this decision even when FIDE changed the format of the eight-player Candidates Tournament from a round-robin to a series of knockout matches, which eliminated the possibility of collusion. Fischer instead embarked on a continent-wide tour through the United States and Canada lasting several months, where he played simultaneous exhibitions and gave lectures. He also turned down an invitation to play for the United States in the 1964 Olympiad.[58]<br /><br />Fischer wanted to play in the Capablanca Memorial Tournament, Havana 1965, but Americans were not allowed to travel to Cuba at that time. Fischer had traveled to Cuba to play as a youth, before Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959. Fischer was able to play by telegraph, staying in New York and playing from the Marshall Chess Club. His games lasted longer because of the transmission delays and receipt of moves logistics. But Fischer tied for second through fourth places, with 15/21, behind former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, and defeated Smyslov in their game. Chess became a news item in the United States with this unusual achievement.[59]<br /><br />Fischer started 1966 by winning the US Championship for the seventh time. He then finished second at the 1966 Santa Monica supertournament, just behind world finalist Boris Spassky, scoring 11/18. In 1967, he won the US Championship for the eighth and final time before victories over strong fields at Monte Carlo (7/9) and Skopje (13.5/17).[26] Fischer traveled to the Philippines and played a series of nine exhibition games against Master opposition there, winning eight and drawing one.[60]<br /><br />In the next World Championship cycle, at the 1967 Sousse Interzonal, Fischer scored a phenomenal 8.5 points in the first 10 games. His observance of the Worldwide Church of God's sabbath was honored by the organizers, but deprived Fischer of several rest days, which led to a scheduling dispute. Fischer forfeited two games in protest and later withdrew, eliminating himself from the 1969 World Championship cycle.[51]<br /><br />Fischer won the tournaments at Netanya 1968 (11.5/13) and Vinkovci 1968 (11/13) by large margins.[26] He stopped playing for the next 18 months, except for a win in a New York Metropolitan League team match over Anthony Saidy.<br /><br />[edit] World Champion<br /><br />In 1970, Fischer started a new effort to become World Champion. As he became a viable contender, much positive publicity for chess arose. In 1972, he succeeded in his quest, but forfeited his title a few years later.<br /><br />[edit] The road to the world championship<br />Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Siegen, Germany. Throughout his career, Fischer used the older descriptive chess notation system when recording his games, never switching to the modern algebraic system.<br />Bobby Fischer's score card from his round 3 game against Miguel Najdorf in the 1970 Chess Olympiad in Siegen, Germany. Throughout his career, Fischer used the older descriptive chess notation system when recording his games, never switching to the modern algebraic system.<br /><br />The 1969 US Championship was also a zonal qualifier, with the top three finishers advancing to the Interzonal. Fischer, however, had sat out the US Championship because of disagreements about the tournament's format and prize fund. To enable Fischer to compete for the title, Grandmaster Pal Benko gave up his Interzonal place. This unusual arrangement was the work of Ed Edmondson, then the USCF's Executive Director.[17]<br /><br />Before the Interzonal, in March and April 1970, the world's best players competed in the USSR vs. Rest of the World match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, often referred to as "the Match of the Century." Fischer agreed to allow Bent Larsen of Denmark to play first board for the Rest of the World team in light of Larsen's recent outstanding tournament results, even though Fischer had the higher Elo rating.[61] The USSR team won the match (20.5-19.5), but on second board, Fischer beat Tigran Petrosian, whom Boris Spassky had dethroned as world champion the previous year, 3-1, winning the first two games and drawing the last two.[62]<br /><br />Following the Match of the Century, the unofficial World Championship of Lightning Chess (5-minute games) was held at Herceg Novi. Fischer annihilated the super-class field with 19/22(+17=4-1), 4.5 points ahead of Tal. Later in 1970, Fischer won tournaments at Rovinj/Zagreb with 13/17 (+10=6-1), and Buenos Aires, where he crushed the field of mostly Grandmasters with no losses: 15/17 (+13=4). Fischer had taken his game to a new level. He defeated Ulf Andersson in an exhibition game for the Swedish newspaper 'Expressen' at Siegen 1970.[63]<br /><br />The Interzonal was held in Palma de Mallorca in November and December 1970. Fischer won it with a remarkable 18.5-4.5 score (+15=7-1), 3.5 points ahead of Larsen, Efim Geller, and Robert Hübner, who tied for second at 15-8.[64] Fischer finished the tournament with seven consecutive wins.[65]<br /><br />Fischer continued his domination in the 1971 Candidates matches. First, he beat Mark Taimanov of the USSR at Vancouver by 6-0. A couple of months later, he repeated the shutout against Larsen at Denver, again by 6-0.[66] Just a year before, Larsen had played first board for the Rest of the World team ahead of Fischer, and had handed Fischer his only loss at the Interzonal. "The record books showed that the only comparable achievement to the 6-0 score against Taimanov was Wilhelm Steinitz's 7-0 win against Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1876 in an era of more primitive defensive technique."[67]<br /><br />Fischer won a strong lightning event in New York in August 1971 with an overwhelming score of 21.5/22.[68]<br /><br />Only former World Champion Petrosian, Fischer's final opponent in the Candidates matches, was able to offer resistance in their match played at Buenos Aires. Petrosian played a strong theoretical novelty in the first game and had Fischer on the ropes, but Fischer defended and won the game. This gave Fischer a streak of 20 consecutive wins against the world's top players (in the Interzonal and Candidates matches), the second longest winning streak in chess history after Steinitz's 25-game streak from 1873 to 1882.[69] Petrosian won decisively in the second game, finally snapping Fischer's winning streak. After three consecutive draws, Fischer swept the next four games to win the match 6.5-2.5 (+5=3−1). The final match victory allowed Fischer to challenge World Champion Boris Spassky, whom he had never beaten before (+0=2−3).<br /><br />[edit] World Championship Match<br /><br /> Main article: World Chess Championship 1972<br /><br />Fischer's career-long stubbornness about match and tournament conditions was again seen in the run-up to his match with Spassky. Of the possible sites, Fischer preferred Yugoslavia, while Spassky wanted Iceland. For a time it appeared that the dispute would be resolved by splitting the match between the two locations, but that arrangement fell through. After that issue was resolved, Fischer refused to play unless the prize fund, which he considered inadequate, was doubled. London financier Jim Slater responded by donating an additional US$125,000, which brought the prize fund to an unprecedented $250,000. Fischer finally agreed to play.<br /><br />The match took place in Reykjavík, Iceland, from July through September 1972. Fischer lost the first two games in strange fashion: the first when he played a risky pawn-grab in a drawn endgame, the second by forfeit when he refused to play the game in a dispute over playing conditions. Fischer would likely have forfeited the entire match, but Spassky, not wanting to win by default, yielded to Fischer's demands to move the next game to a back room, away from the cameras whose presence had upset Fischer. The rest of the match proceeded without serious incident. Fischer won seven of the next 19 games, losing only one and drawing eleven, to win the match 12.5-8.5 and become the 11th World Chess Champion.<br /><br />The Cold War trappings helped serve to make the result somewhat of a media sensation. This was an American victory in a field that Soviet players had dominated for the past quarter-century, players closely identified with, and subsidized by, the Soviet state. The match was called "The Match of the Century", and received front-page media coverage in the United States and around the world. With his victory, Fischer became an instant celebrity. Upon his return to New York, a Bobby Fischer Day was held, and he was cheered by thousands of fans, a unique display in American chess.[70] He received numerous product endorsement offers (all of which he declined) and appeared on the covers of Life and Sports Illustrated. With American Olympic swimming champion Mark Spitz, he also appeared on a Bob Hope TV special.[71] Membership in the United States Chess Federation doubled in 1972[72] and peaked in 1974; in American chess, these years are commonly referred to as the "Fischer Boom." Spassky, referring to professional chess, later summarized: "He made chess popular, briefly, and he made us all rich men."[73]<br /><br />Fischer won the 'Chess Oscar' award for 1970, 1971, and 1972. This award, started in 1967, is determined through votes from chess media and leading players.<br /><br />[edit] Forfeiture of title to Karpov<br /><br />Fischer was scheduled to defend his title in 1975. Anatoly Karpov eventually emerged as his challenger, having defeated Spassky in an earlier Candidates match. Fischer, who had played no competitive games since his World Championship match with Spassky, laid out a proposal for the match in September 1973, in consultation with a FIDE official, Fred Cramer. He made the following three principal demands:<br /><br /> 1. The match should continue until one player wins 10 games, without counting the draws.<br /> 2. There is no limit to the total number of games played.<br /> 3. In case of a 9-9 score, champion (Fischer) retains his title and the prize fund is split equally.<br /><br />A FIDE Congress was held in Nice in June 1974, headed by FIDE president Max Euwe and consisting of both US and USSR representatives. It ruled that the match should continue until six wins, not 10. However, Fischer replied that he would resign his crown and not participate in the match. Instead of accepting Fischer's forfeit, FIDE agreed to allow the match to continue until 10 wins, but ruled it should not last longer than 36 games and rejected the 9-9 clause. Many considered that clause unfair because it would require the challenger to win by at least two games (10-8).[74] In response to FIDE's ruling, Fischer sent a cable to Euwe on June 27, 1974:<br /><br /> As I made clear in my telegram to the FIDE delegates, the match conditions I proposed were non-negotiable. Mr. Cramer informs me that the rules of the winner being the first player to win ten games, draws not counting, unlimited number of games and if nine wins to nine match is drawn with champion regaining title and prize fund split equally were rejected by the FIDE delegates. By so doing FIDE has decided against my participating in the 1975 world chess championship. I therefore resign my FIDE world chess champion title. Sincerely, Bobby Fischer.<br /><br />In a letter to Larry Evans, published in Chess Life in November 1974, Fischer claimed the usual system (24 games with the first player to get 12.5 points winning, or the champion retaining his title in the event of a 12-12 tie) encouraged the player in the lead to draw games, which he regarded as bad for chess. Not counting draws would be "an accurate test of who is the world's best player."[75] Former US Champion Arnold Denker, who was in contact with Fischer during the negotiations with FIDE, claimed that Fischer wanted a long match to be able to play himself into shape after a three-year layoff.[76]<br /><br />Due to the continued efforts of US Chess Association officials,[77] a special FIDE Congress was held in March 1975 in Bergen, North Holland in which it was accepted that the match should be of unlimited duration, but the 9:9 clause was once again rejected by a narrow margin of 35 votes to 32.[78] After no reply was received from Fischer, Karpov officially became World Champion by default in April 1975. In his 1991 autobiography, Karpov expressed profound regret that the match did not take place, and claimed that the lost opportunity to challenge Fischer held back his own chess development. Karpov met with Fischer several times after 1975, in friendly but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match.[79] Garry Kasparov has argued that Karpov would have had a good chance to defeat Fischer in 1975.[80][81]<br /><br />[edit] Sudden obscurity<br /><br />After the World Championship, Fischer did not play another serious game in public for nearly 20 years. He did not defend his title and public perception was reflected in the decline of interest in chess in the West in the following years.<br /><br />In 1977, Bobby Fischer played three games in Cambridge against the MIT Greenblatt computer program. Fischer won all the games.[82][83]<br /><br />On May 26, 1981, a police patrolman arrested Fischer on the sidewalk of Lake Street in Pasadena, claiming that he matched the description of a man who had just committed a bank robbery in that area. During the arrest, he was slightly injured. He was held for two days and subjected to further assault and interrogation. He was released on $1000 bail and the matter was later dropped. Two weeks later, he published a 14-page pamphlet detailing these experiences and expressing outrage that the arrest had been pre-arranged.[84][85][86]<br /><br />In the early 1980s, Fischer stayed for extended periods in the San Francisco-area home of his friend, the Canadian Grandmaster Peter Biyiasas. In 1981, the two played 17 five-minute games. Despite his layoff from competitive play, Fischer won all of them, according to Biyiasas, who lamented that he was never even able to reach an endgame.[85][86]<br /><br />[edit] Spassky rematch<br /><br />After twenty years, Fischer emerged from isolation to challenge Spassky (then placed 96-102 on the rating list) to a "Revenge Match of the 20th century" in 1992. This match took place in Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, in spite of a United Nations embargo that included sanctions on sporting events. Fischer demanded that the organizers bill the match as "The World Chess Championship," although Garry Kasparov was the recognized FIDE World Champion. Fischer had only ever mentioned resigning his "FIDE" title. He insisted he was still the true world chess champion, and that for all the games in the FIDE-sanctioned World Championship matches, involving Karpov, Korchnoi and Kasparov, the outcomes had been pre-arranged. In a 2005 interview he explained his attitude toward Kasparov: "Anyone who prepares matches in advance and, especially, who plays contractual games, is a liar and a dealer. I just call Kasparov a criminal."[87]<br /><br />The purse for Fischer's re-match with Spassky was reported to be US$5,000,000 with two-thirds to go to the winner.[88] Fischer won the match, 10 wins to 5 losses, with 15 draws. Many grandmasters observing the match said that Fischer was past his prime. In the book Mortal Games, Kasparov is quoted: "Bobby is playing OK, nothing more. Maybe his strength is around 2600 or 2650. It wouldn't be close between us."[89] Fischer never played any competitive games afterwards.[90][91]<br /><br />During the match, the two contestants gave, in all, nine press conferences between games. The content of these press conferences can be found, in full, in the book No Regrets by Yasser Seirawan and George Stefanovic. On page 291, Seirawan writes, "After 23 September [1992], I threw most of what I’d ever read about Bobby out of my head. Sheer garbage. Bobby is the most misunderstood, misquoted celebrity walking the face of the earth"[92]. We also learn that Fischer is not camera shy (page 85), that "He smiles and laughs easily" (page 96), and that "... Bobby is a wholly enjoyable conversationalist. A fine wit, he is a very funny man" (page 303).<br /><br />The US Department of the Treasury had warned Fischer beforehand that his participation was illegal as it violated President George H. W. Bush's Executive Order 12810[93] that implemented United Nations sanctions against engaging in economic activities in Yugoslavia.[94] In front of the international press, Fischer was filmed spitting on the US order forbidding him to play. Following the match, the Department obtained an arrest warrant for him. Fischer remained wanted by the United States government for the rest of his life and never returned to the United States.<br /><br />[edit] Life as an émigré<br /><br />Fischer again slid into relative obscurity. Now a fugitive from American justice, he intensified his vitriolic rhetoric against the US. For some of these years Fischer lived in Budapest, Hungary allegedly having a relationship with young Hungarian chess master Zita Rajcsanyi.[95][96] He claimed to find standard chess stale and he played varieties such as Chess960 blitz games. He visited with the Polgár family in Budapest and analyzed many games with Judit, Zsuzsa, and Zsófia Polgár.[97][98]<br /><br />[edit] In the Philippines<br /><br />From 2000 to 2002, Fischer lived in Baguio City in the Philippines.[99] He resided in the same compound as the Filipino grandmaster Eugenio Torre, a close friend who acted as his second during his matches with Spassky.[99] Fischer played tennis at the Baguio Country Club, where he met a 30-year-old girl friend from Davao in Baguio City.<br /><br />Torre introduced Fischer to a 22-year-old woman named Justine Ong (or Marilyn Young). Together, they had a daughter named Jinky Ong, born in 2002 (or 2001) at the Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Sacred Heart Hospital.[100][99][101]([102][103])<br /><br />In 2001, Nigel Short said that he had played almost 50 blitz games online with a person whom he believed to be Fischer, but the person's identity has not been verified, and Fischer denied that he was the person.[104][105][106]<br /><br />[edit] Anti-Jewish statements<br /><br />In 1961 Fischer "made his first public statements despising Jews."[107] In 1984 Fischer sent an open letter to Encyclopedia Judaica, in which he vehemently denied being a Jew and denounced Judaism.[108] In recent years, Fischer's primary means of communicating with the public was via sometimes-outrageous radio interviews. Fischer participated in at least 34 such broadcasts between 1999 and 2006, mostly with radio stations in the Philippines, but also with stations in Hungary, Iceland, Colombia, and Russia.<br /><br />In 1999, he gave a call-in interview to a radio station in Budapest, Hungary, during which he described himself as the "victim of an international Jewish conspiracy." Fischer's sudden re-emergence was apparently triggered when some of his belongings, which had been stored in a Pasadena, California storage unit, were sold by the landlord, who claimed it was in response to nonpayment of rent.[109] Fischer interpreted this as further evidence of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy perpetrated by "the Jew-controlled US Government" to defame and destroy him.[citation needed] In 2005, some of Fischer's belongings were auctioned on eBay. In 2006, Fischer claimed that his belongings in the storage unit were worth millions.[110][111] Fischer, whose mother was Jewish,[54][112] made occasional hostile comments toward Jews from at least the early 1960s.[54][113] From the 1980s and thereafter, however, his hatred for Jews was a major theme of his public and private remarks.[114] He denied the "Holocaust of the Jews," announced his desire to make "expos[ing] the Jews for the criminals they are [...] the murderers they are" his lifework, and argued that the United States is "a farce controlled by dirty, hook-nosed, circumcised Jew bastards."[115] In one of his radio interviews, Fischer said that it became clear to him in 1977, after reading The Secret World Government by Count Cherep-Spiridovich, that the Jews were targeting him.[116]<br /><br />[edit] Anti-American statements<br /><br />Fischer also made anti-Zionistic statements in connection with anti-American statements. Hours after the September 11, 2001, attacks Fischer was interviewed live by Pablo Mercado on the Baguio City station of the Bombo Radyo network, shortly after midnight September 12, 2001 Philippines local time (or shortly after noon on September 11, 2001, New York time). Fischer commented on U.S and Israeli foreign policy that "nobody cares ... [that] the US and Israel have been slaughtering the Palestinians for years".[117][118][119] Informed that "the White House [sic] and Pentagon have been attacked", Bobby Fischer proclaimed "This is all wonderful news."[117][118] Fischer stated "What goes around comes around even for the United States."[117][118] and said that if the US fails to change its foreign policy, it "has to be destroyed." After calling for President Bush's death, Fischer also stated he hoped for a coup d'état in the US, and that the military government would then execute "hundreds of thousands of American Jewish ring-leaders", "arrest all the Jews", and "close all synagogues".[117][118]Subsequent to that interview, Fischer's "right to membership in the United States Chess Federation [was] canceled" by a unanimous 7-0 of the USCF,[120] taken on October 28, 2001.<br /><br />Chess columnist Shelby Lyman, who in 1972 had hosted the PBS broadcast of that year's Championship, said after Fischer's death that "the anti-American stuff is explained by the fact that ... he spent the rest of his life [after the game in Yugoslavia] fleeing from the US, because he was afraid of being extradited".[121]<br /><br />[edit] Japan<br /><br />Fischer lived for a time in Japan.[122]<br /><br />Fischer was arrested at Narita International Airport in Narita, Japan, near Tokyo for allegedly using a revoked US passport while trying to board a Japan Airlines flight to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, Philippines. The passport, issued in 1997, had been said by U.S. officials to be revoked in 2003. Fischer assumed that it was still valid.[123]<br /><br />Tokyo-based Canadian journalist and consultant John Bosnitch set up the "Committee to Free Bobby Fischer" after meeting Fischer at Narita airport and offering to assist him. Bosnitch was subsequently allowed to participate as a friend of the court by an Immigration Bureau panel handling Fischer's case. He then worked to block the Japanese Immigration Bureau's efforts to deport Fischer to the United States and coordinated the legal and public relations campaign to free Fischer until his eventual release. Fischer renounced his United States citizenship. A month later, it was reported that Fischer was marrying Miyoko Watai, the President of the Japanese Chess Association, with whom he had been living since 2000. Fischer also appealed to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell to help him renounce his citizenship. Japan's Justice Minister rejected Fischer's appeal that he be allowed to remain in the country and ordered him deported.<br /><br />[edit] Asylum in Iceland<br /><br />Seeking ways to evade deportation to the United States, Fischer wrote a letter to the government of Iceland in early January 2005 and asked for Icelandic citizenship. Sympathetic to Fischer's plight, but reluctant to grant him the full benefits of citizenship, Icelandic authorities granted him an alien's passport. When this proved insufficient for the Japanese authorities, the Althing agreed unanimously to grant Fischer full citizenship in late March for humanitarian reasons, as they felt he was being unjustly treated by the US and Japanese governments.[124] Fischer unsuccessfully requested German citizenship on the grounds that his late father, Hans Gerhardt Fischer, had been a lifelong German citizen. The US government filed charges of tax evasion against Fischer in an effort to prevent him from traveling to Iceland.<br /><br />Shortly before his departure to Iceland, on March 23, 2005, Fischer and Bosnitch appeared briefly on the BBC World Service, via a telephone link to the Tokyo airport. Bosnitch stated that Fischer would never play traditional chess again. Fischer denounced President Bush as a criminal and Japan as a puppet of the United States. He also stated that he would appeal his case to the US Supreme Court and said that he would not return to the US while Bush was in power.<br /><br />Upon his arrival in Reykjavík, Fischer was welcomed by a crowd.[125] He gave a news conference in which he was reminded of a past friend, Dick Schaap, by Schaap's son, and Fischer showed that he was still pointedly resentful over his falling out with Schaap Sr.[126] Fischer had an apartment in Reykjavík as his new home.<br /><br />Fischer lived a reclusive life in Iceland, avoiding entrepreneurs and other people who approached him with various proposals.[127]<br /><br />On December 10, 2006, Fischer phoned in to an Icelandic television station and pointed out a winning combination which was missed, by players and commentators alike, in a chess game that was televised live in Iceland.[128]<br /><br />[edit] Death<br />Church of Laugardælir, Fischer's resting place.<br />Church of Laugardælir, Fischer's resting place.<br /><br />Fischer was suffering from degenerative renal failure.[129] This had been a problem for some years, but became acute in October 2007, when Fischer was admitted to a Reykjavík Landspítali hospital for stationary treatment. He stayed there for about seven weeks, being released in a somewhat improved condition in the middle of November. He returned home gravely ill in December apparently rejecting any further Western medicine.<br /><br />Fischer stayed in an apartment in the same building as his closest friend and spokesman, Garðar Sverrisson, whose wife Krisín happens to be a nurse and looked after the terminally ill patient. Garðar's two children, especially his son, were very close to Fischer. They were his only close friends and contacts during the last two years of his life.<br /><br />Fischer did not believe in prolonging life at any cost – such as by the use of large amounts of pain killers or permanent dependence on a dialysis machine. When he was released from hospital his doctors gave him a few months to live. His wife Miyoko Watai flew in from Japan to spend the Christmas season with him. She returned on January 10, 2008, just before Fischer's death, and so had to make another trip almost immediately after.[130]<br /><br />In the middle of January his condition deteriorated and he was returned to hospital, where elevated levels of serum creatinine were found in his blood. He died on January 17, 2008, at home in his apartment in Reykjavík.[131][132][133][134][135][136][137] Like his great predecessors Howard Staunton and Wilhelm Steinitz,[138] he died at the age of 64. Magnús Skúlason, who stayed with Fischer until he died, said that his last words were, "Nothing soothes pain like the touch of a person."[139]<br /><br />Fischer had instructed Garðar that he wished to be buried in the small Catholic cemetery of Laugardælir church, outside the town of Selfoss, 60 km south-east of Reykjavik. It was a place Bobby had visited a number of times with Garðar and Krisín, whose parents live there. He said that the Laugardælur countryside would be perfect as his final resting place, should he die in Iceland. He did not wish anyone to be present at the funeral, except Miyoko Watai and Garðar's family, who would arrange it. On January 21st at noon, after a Catholic funeral presided over by Fr. Jakob Rolland of the diocese of Reykjavik, he was buried according to his wishes.[130][140][141][142][143][144]<br /><br />[edit] Estate<br /><br />Fischer's estate was estimated at 140 million ISK (about 1 million GBP or US$2,000,000) and quickly became the object of a legal battle between Fischer's Japanese wife Miyoko Watai and a presumed Filipina heir, Marilyn Young.[145] The dispute seems to have been settled amicably in the Icelandic courts.[146]<br /><br />[edit] Contributions to chess<br /><br />[edit] Chess theory<br /><br />Fischer was renowned for his opening preparation, and made numerous contributions to chess opening theory. He was considered the greatest practitioner of the White side of the Ruy Lopez; a line of the Exchange Variation (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0) is sometimes called the "Fischer variation" after he successfully resurrected it at the 1966 Havana Olympiad.<br /><br />He was a recognized expert in the Black side of the Najdorf Sicilian and the King's Indian Defense. He demonstrated several important improvements in the Grünfeld Defense. In the Nimzo-Indian Defense, the line beginning with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Ne2 Ba6 is named for him.[147][148][149]<br /><br />Fischer established the viability of the so-called "Poisoned Pawn" variation of the Najdorf Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6). Although this bold queen sortie, snatching a pawn at the expense of development, had been considered dubious,[150][151][152] Fischer succeeded in proving its soundness. He won many games with it, losing only to Spassky in the 11th game of their 1972 match. Today, the Poisoned Pawn is a respected line played by many of the world's leading players.[153]<br /><br />On the White side of the Sicilian, Fischer made advances to the theory of the line beginning 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 (or e6) 6. Bc4, which is now called the Fischer-Sozin Attack. In 1960, prompted by a loss to Spassky,[154] Fischer wrote an article entitled "A Bust to the King's Gambit" for the first issue of Larry Evans' American Chess Quarterly, in which he recommended 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6.[155] This variation has since become known as the Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit.[156][157] After Fischer's article was published, the King's Gambit was seen even less frequently in master-level games, although Fischer took up the White side of it in three games (preferring 3.Bc4 to 3.Nf3), winning them all.[158]<br /><br />[edit] Endgame<br /><br />International Master Jeremy Silman listed Fischer as one of the five best endgame players. The others he listed were Emanuel Lasker, Akiba Rubinstein, José Capablanca, and Vasily Smyslov. Silman called him a "master of bishop endings".[159]<br /><br />The endgame of a rook and bishop versus a rook and knight (both sides with pawns) has sometimes been called the "Fischer Endgame" because of three instructive wins by Fischer (with the bishop) in 1970 and 1971 over Mark Taimanov.[160][161] One of the games was in the 1970 Interzonal and the other two were in their 1971 quarter-final candidates match.<br /><br />[edit] Fischer clock<br /><br />In 1988, Fischer filed for U.S. Patent 4,884,255 for a new type of digital chess clock. Fischer's clock gave each player a fixed period of time at the start of the game and then added a small increment after each completed move. The Fischer clock soon became standard in most major chess tournaments. The patent expired in November 2001 because of overdue maintenance fees. See also the Fischer delay game clock.<br /><br />[edit] Fischer Random Chess<br /><br />On June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fischer announced and advocated a variant of chess called Fischer Random Chess, also known as Chess960, that is intended to allow players to contest games based on their understanding of chess rather than their ability to memorize opening variations.<br /><br />Fischer Random was designed to remove the importance of opening book memorization. Fischer complained in a 2006 phoned-in call with a television interviewer that talented celebrity players from long ago, if brought back from the dead to play today, would no longer be competitive, because of the progress in memorization of opening books. "Some kid of fourteen today, or even younger, could get an opening advantage against Capablanca," he said, merely because of opening-book memorization, which Fischer disdained. "Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorization and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative."[162] Fischer described the unsavory side of chess in its current form at the highest levels.[163]<br /><br />[edit] Other talents<br /><br />Fischer was an expert at solving the fifteen puzzle, which he completed in under 25 seconds multiple times. Fischer demonstrated this on November 8, 1972 on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.<br /><br />[edit] Legacy<br /><br />Fischer is considered one of the greatest players of all time. Some leading players and some of Fischer's biographers rank him as the greatest player who ever lived.[164][165][166][167] Many other writers say that he is arguably the greatest player ever, without reaching a definitive conclusion.[168][169][170][171][172][173][174] Leonard Barden wrote, "Most experts place him the second or third best ever, behind Kasparov but probably ahead of Karpov."[175]<br /><br />Fischer was a charter inductee into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. in 1985. He was inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame in Miami in 2001.[176]<br /><br />After routing Taimanov, Larsen, and Petrosian in 1971, Fischer achieved a then-record Elo rating of 2785. He was rated so far ahead of Spassky and everyone else that he lost five rating points by beating Spassky 12.5-7.5 in played games, taking him to a 2780 rating.<br /><br />Although international ratings were only introduced in 1970, Chessmetrics.com uses modern algorithms to rank performances retrospectively and uniformly throughout chess history. According to the Chessmetrics calculation, Fischer's peak rating was 2895 in October 1971. His one-year peak average was 2881, in 1971, and this is the highest of all time. His three-year peak average was 2867, from January 1971 to December 1973 - the second highest ever, just behind Garry Kasparov. Chessmetrics ranks Fischer as the #1 player in the world for a total of 109 different months, running (not consecutively) from February 1964 until July 1974.[177]<br /><br />Fischer's great rival Mikhail Tal praised him as "the greatest genius to have descended from the chess heavens."[178]<br /><br />American rival Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier, who won his first tournament game against Fischer, drew his second, and then lost the remaining 13, wrote "Robert James Fischer is one of the few people in any sphere of endeavour who has been accorded the accolade of being called a legend in his own time."[179]<br /><br />Speaking after Fischer's death, Serbian Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic said, "A man without frontiers. He didn't divide the East and the West, he brought them together in their admiration of him."[180]<br /><br />In a sympathetic obituary for Fischer, Kasparov wrote "he became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-61300053991045939632008-08-23T08:20:00.000-07:002008-08-23T08:29:27.526-07:00Chess Funny Video : Old Guy playing chess<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UtiAfmFkosY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UtiAfmFkosY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-74114035772215510292008-08-20T20:36:00.000-07:002008-08-20T20:42:43.661-07:00Chess Profile : Vladimir KramnikVladimir Borisovich Kramnik (Russian: Влади́мир Бори́сович Кра́мник) (born June 25, 1975) is a Russian chess grandmaster and was the World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2007.<br /><br />In October 2000, he beat Garry Kasparov in a match played in London, and became the Classical World Chess Champion. In late 2004, Kramnik successfully defended his title against challenger Péter Lékó in a drawn match played in Brissago, Switzerland.<br /><br />In October 2006, Kramnik, the Classical World Champion, defeated reigning FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov in a unification match, the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006. As a result Kramnik became the first undisputed World Champion, holding both the FIDE and Classical titles, since Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993.<br /><br />In September 2007, Kramnik lost his title to Viswanathan Anand at the FIDE World Chess Championship 2007.<br />Contents<br />[hide]<br /><br /> * 1 Biography<br /> * 2 Playing style<br /> * 3 World champion<br /> * 4 After London<br /> * 5 2004 title defense<br /> * 6 Reunification match<br /> * 7 2007 world championship tournament in Mexico<br /> * 8 Deep Fritz match<br /> * 9 Private life and health<br /> * 10 Notable tournament and match records<br /> * 11 World championship matches and qualifiers<br /> * 12 See also<br /> * 13 References<br /> * 14 External links<br />Biography<br /><br />Vladimir Kramnik was born in the town of Tuapse, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is occasionally asserted that his real name was Sokolov but this is not the case (though it is a family name). His father's birth name was Boris Sokolov, but he took his stepfather's surname when his mother (Vladimir's grandmother) remarried. As a child, Vladimir Kramnik studied in the chess school established by Mikhail Botvinnik. His first notable result in a major tournament was his gold medal win as first reserve for the Russian team in the 1992 Chess Olympiad in Manila. His selection for the team caused some controversy in Russia at the time, as he was only sixteen years old and had not yet been awarded the grandmaster title, but his selection was supported by Garry Kasparov.[2] He went on to win eight games and one draw with no losses.<br /><br />The following year, Kramnik played in the very strong tournament in Linares. He finished fifth, beating the then world number three, Vassily Ivanchuk, along the way. He followed this up with a string of good results, but had to wait until 1995 for his first major tournament win at normal time controls, when he won the strong Dortmund tournament, finishing it unbeaten. Kramnik continued to produce good results, including winning at Dortmund (outright or tied) for eight times from 1995 to 2007. He is the second of only four chess players to have reached a rating of 2800 (the first being Kasparov).<br /><br />[edit] Playing style<br /><br />Garry Kasparov described Kramnik's style as pragmatic and tenacious, in the latter similar to Anatoly Karpov.[3] He is one of the toughest opponents to defeat, losing only one game over more than one hundred games leading up to his match with Kasparov, including eighty consecutive games without loss.[4][5] Kasparov was unable to defeat Kramnik during their 2000 World Championship match.<br /><br />World champion<br /><br /> Main article: Classical World Chess Championship 2000<br /><br />In 1998, Kramnik faced Alexei Shirov in a Candidates match for the right to play Garry Kasparov for the Classical World Chess Championship. Kramnik lost the match -2+0=7. However suitable sponsorship was not found for a Kasparov-Shirov match. In 2000, sponsorship was secured for a Kasparov-Kramnik match instead.<br /><br />In 2000, Kramnik played a sixteen game match against Garry Kasparov in London, for the Classical Chess World Championship. Kramnik began the match as underdog, but his adoption of the Berlin Defence to Kasparov's Ruy Lopez opening was very effective. With the white pieces, Kramnik pressed Kasparov hard, winning Games Two and Ten and overlooking winning continuations in Games Four and Six. Kasparov put up little fight thereafter, agreeing to short draws with the white pieces in Games 9 and 13. Kramnik won the match 8.5 - 6.5 without losing a game (this was only the second time in history that a World Champion had lost a match without winning a single game). This event marked the first time Kasparov had been beaten in a World Championship match.<br /><br />After London<br /><br />In October 2002, Kramnik competed in Brains in Bahrain, an eight game match against the chess computer Deep Fritz in Bahrain. Kramnik started well, taking a 3 - 1 lead after four games. However, in game five, Kramnik made what has been described as the worst blunder of his career (a blunder that pales in comparison to his loss against Deep Fritz 10 in 2006), losing a knight in a position which was probably drawn. He quickly resigned. He also resigned game six after making a speculative sacrifice, although subsequent analysis showed that with perfect play, he might have been able to draw from the final position. The last two games were drawn, and the match ended tied at 4 - 4.<br /><br />In February 2004 Kramnik won the Tournament of Linares outright for the first time (he had tied for first with Kasparov in 2000), finishing undefeated with a +2 score, ahead of Garry Kasparov, the world's highest-rated player at the time.<br /><br />2004 title defense<br /><br /> Main article: Classical World Chess Championship 2004<br /><br />From September 25, 2004, until October 18, 2004, he successfully defended his title as Classical World Chess Champion against challenger Péter Lékó at Brissago, Switzerland. The 14-game match was poised in favor of Lékó right up until Kramnik won the final game, thus forcing a 7 - 7 draw and ensuring that Kramnik remained world champion.[6] The prize fund was 1 million Swiss francs, which was about USD $770,000 at the time. Because of the drawn result, the prize was split between the two players.<br /><br />Reunification match<br /><br /> Main article: FIDE World Chess Championship 2006<br /><br />When Garry Kasparov broke with FIDE, the federation governing professional chess, to play the 1993 World Championship with Nigel Short, he created a rift in the chess world. In response, FIDE sanctioned a match between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman for the FIDE World Championship, which Karpov won. Subsequently, the chess world has seen two "champions": the "classical" championship, claiming lineage dating back to Steinitz; and the FIDE endorsed champion.<br /><br />When Kramnik defeated Kasparov and inherited the classical championship, he also inherited its surrounding controversy.<br /><br />At the next FIDE world championship (FIDE World Chess Championship 2005), Kramnik refused to participate, but indicated his willingness to play a match against the winner to unify the world championship. After the tournament, negotiations began for a reunification match between Kramnik and the new FIDE World Champion — Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria.<br /><br />In April 2006, FIDE announced a reunification match between Kramnik and Topalov — the FIDE World Chess Championship 2006. The match took place in Elista, Kalmykia. After the first four games, Kramnik led 3-1 (out of a maximum of 12). After the fourth game, however, Topalov protested that Kramnik was using the toilet suspiciously frequently, implying that he was somehow receiving outside assistance whilst doing so. Topalov said that he would refuse to shake hands with Kramnik in the remaining games. The Appeals committee decided that the players' toilets be locked and that they be forced to use a shared toilet, accompanied by an assistant arbiter.<br /><br />Kramnik refused to play the fifth game unless the original conditions agreed for the match were adhered to. As a result, the point was awarded to Topalov, reducing Kramnik's lead to 3-2. Kramnik stated that the appeals committee was biased and demanded that it be replaced. As a condition to continue the match, Kramnik insisted on playing the remaining games under the original conditions of the match contract, which allows use of the bathroom at the players' discretion.<br /><br />The controversy resulted in a heavy volume of correspondence to Chessbase and other publications. The balance of views from fans was in support of Kramnik.[7] Prominent figures in the chess world, such as John Nunn, Yasser Seirawan, and Bessel Kok also sided with Kramnik.[8] [9] [10] The Russian and Bulgarian Chess Federations supported their respective players. [11] Kramnik's behavior during the match earned him widespread support in the chess community.<br /><br />After twelve regular games the match was tied 6-6, although Kramnik continued to dispute the result of the unplayed fifth game until the end of the tournament. On October 13, 2006, the result of the disputed fifth game became moot as Kramnik won the rapid tie-break by a score of 2.5-1.5.<br /><br />2007 world championship tournament in Mexico<br /><br />When Kramnik won the 2006 unification match, he also won Topalov's berth in the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament as the incumbent FIDE champion. Although the rationale behind his (and Garry Kasparov's) "classical" title is that the title should change hands by challenge match rather than by tournament, Kramnik stated that he would recognize the winner of this tournament as being the world champion.[12]<br /><br />In the tournament, held in September 2007, Kramnik finished in a second-place tie. The tournament, and the world championship, was won by Viswanathan Anand.<br /><br />A championship match between Anand and Kramnik - the World Chess Championship 2008 - is planned for 2008.<br /><br />Deep Fritz match<br /><br />Kramnik played a six-game match against the computer program Deep Fritz in Bonn, Germany from November 25 to December 5, 2006, losing 2-4 to the machine, with 2 losses and 4 draws. He received 500,000 Euros for playing and would have received another 500,000 Euros had he won the match. Deep Fritz version 10 ran on a computer containing two Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs. Kramnik received a copy of the program in mid-October for testing, but the final version included an updated opening book.[13] Except for limited updates to the opening book, the program was not allowed to be changed during the course of the match. The endgame tablebases used by the program were restricted to 5 pieces[14] even though a complete 6 piece tablebase is widely available.<br /><br />On November 25, the first game ended in a draw at the 47th move.[15] A number of commentators believe Kramnik missed a win.[16] Two days later, the second game resulted in a victory for Deep Fritz, when Kramnik made what might be called the "blunder of the century" according to Susan Polgar, when he failed to defend against a threatened mate-in-one.[17] (see also Deep Fritz vs. Vladimir Kramnik blunder). The third, fourth and fifth games in the match ended in draws. In the last game Fritz with the white pieces impressively defeated the World Champion[18], winning the match.<br /><br />There is now speculation that interest in human vs. computer chess competition will plummet as a result of the Bonn match and other recent matches involving Kasparov, Kramnik, Adams, and various chess programs. According to McGill University computer science professor Monty Newborn, for example, "the science is done". [19]<br /><br />Private life and health<br /><br />Kramnik has been diagnosed with a rare form of arthritis, called ankylosing spondylitis. It causes him great physical discomfort while playing. In January 2006, Kramnik announced that he would skip the Corus Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee to seek out treatment for his arthritis. [20]. He returned from treatment in June 2006, playing in the 37th Chess Olympiad. He scored a +4 result, earning the highest performance rating (2847) of the 1307 participating players.<br /><br />On December 31, 2006 he married French journalist Marie-Laure Germon. [21]<br /><br />Notable tournament and match records<br /><br /> * 1990 Russian Championship, Kuibyshev (classical) I<br /> * 1991 World Championship (U18), Guarapuav (classical) I<br /> * 1992 Chalkidiki (classical) 7.5/11 I<br /> * 1993 Belgrade (classical) 6/9 II<br /> * 1993 Interzonal Tournament, Biel (classical) 8.5/13 II<br /> * 1994 Overall result PCA Intel Grand Prix'94 I<br /> * 1995 Dortmund (classical) 7/9 I<br /> * 1995 Horgen (classical) 7/10 I-II<br /> * 1995 Belgrade (classical) 8/11 I-II<br /> * 1996 Monaco 16/22 I<br /> * 1996 Dos Hermanas (classical) 6/9 I-II<br /> * 1996 Dortmund (classical) 7/9 I-II<br /> * 1997 Dos Hermanas (classical) 6/9 I-II<br /> * 1997 Dortmund (classical) 6.5/9 I<br /> * 1997 Tilburg (classical) 8/11 I-III<br /> * 1998 Wijk aan Zee (classical) 8.5/13 I-II<br /> * 1998 Dortmund (classical) 6/9 I-III<br /> * 1998 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15/22 I<br /> * 1999 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 14.5/22 I<br /> * 2000 Linares (classical) 6/10 I-II<br /> * 2000 Dortmund (classical) 6/9 I-II<br /> * 2000 Match Classical World Chess Championship: Kramnik vs. Kasparov 8.5:6.5<br /> * 2001 Match Kramnik vs. Leko (rapidplay) 7.0:5.0<br /> * 2001 Match Botvinnik memorial Kramnik vs. Kasparov (classical) 2.0:2.0<br /> * 2001 Match Botvinnik memorial Kramnik vs Kasparov (rapidplay) 3.0:3.0<br /> * 2001 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15/22 I-II<br /> * 2001 Match Kramnik vs. Anand (rapidplay) 5.0:5.0<br /> * 2001 Dortmund (classical 6th win!) 6.5/10 I-II<br /> * 2002 Match Advanced Chess (computer usage allowed) Kramnik vs. Anand (Leon) 3.5:2.5<br /> * 2003 Linares (classical) 7.0/12 I-II<br /> * 2003 Dortmund (classical) 5.5/10 II-III<br /> * 2003 Cap d'Agde (France)<br /> * 2003 Rapid World Chess Championships 8.5/13 II<br /> * 2004 Handicap Simul (classical)<br /> * 2004 Kramnik vs. National Team of Germany 2.5:1.5<br /> * 2004 Linares (classical) 7.0/12 I<br /> * 2004 Monaco (Overall result) 14.5/22 I-II<br /> * 2006 Gold medal at Turin Olympiad with overall best performance (2847) 7/10<br /> * 2006 Dortmund (classical) 4.5/7 I<br /> * 2006 Match FIDE World Chess Championship: Kramnik vs. Topalov 6.0:6.0 (2.5:1.5 tiebreaks)<br /> * 2007 Wijk aan Zee (classical) 8/13 4th<br /> * 2007 Monaco (blindfold and rapidplay) 15.5/22 I<br /> * 2007 Dortmund (classical) 5/7 I<br /> * 2007 Tal Memorial 6.5/9 I<br /><br />World championship matches and qualifiers<br /><br /> * FIDE Quarterfinals, January 1994 Wijk aan Zee, Kramnik-Leonid Yudasin (4.5-2.5).<br /> * PCA Quarterfinals, June 1994, New York, Kramnik-Gata Kamsky (1.5-4.5).<br /> * FIDE Semifinals, August 1994 Sanghi Nagar, Kramnik-Boris Gelfand (3.5-4.5).<br /> * WCC Candidates, 1998, Cazorla, Kramnik-Alexei Shirov (3.5-5.5).<br />* FIDE Knockout, July 1999, Las Vegas, Kramnik-Tiviakov (1.5-0.5); Kramnik-Victor Korchnoi (1.5-0.5); Kramnik-Veselin Topalov (3-1, including rapid playoff); Kramnik-Michael Adams (Quarterfinal) (2-4, including rapid playoff).<br /> * Classical World Chess Championship 2000, London, Kramnik-Garry Kasparov (8.5-6.5)<br /> * Classical World Chess Championship 2004, Brissago, Kramnik-Péter Lékó (7-7), Kramnik retains.<br /> * FIDE World Chess Championship 2006, Elista, Kramnik-Topalov (6-6, 2.5-1.5 rapid playoff), Kramnik unifies the title<br /><br />See also in WIKIPEDIA :<br /><br /> * <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_games_between_Anand_and_Kramnik">List of chess games between Anand and Kramnik</a><br /> * <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chess_games_between_Kasparov_and_Kramnik">List of chess games between Kasparov and Kramnik</a><br /><br />Courtesy : <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik</a><br /><br /><h2><span style="font-size:100%;"><span class="mw-headline">References</span></span></h2><br /><ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-5"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-5" title="">^</a></b> "<a href="http://www.worldchesschampionship.com/com/index.php" class="external text" title="http://www.worldchesschampionship.com/com/index.php" rel="nofollow">Classical World Chess Championship 2004</a>". Retrieved on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006" title="2006">2006</a>-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_14" title="October 14">10-14</a>.</li><li id="cite_note-6"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-6" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3386" class="external text" title="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3386" rel="nofollow">ChessBase.com - Chess News - World Championship Crisis – what our readers think</a></li><li id="cite_note-7"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-7" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3387" class="external text" title="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3387" rel="nofollow">ChessBase.com - Chess News - Bessel Kok on the World Championship crisis</a></li><li id="cite_note-8"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-8" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3382" class="external text" title="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3382" rel="nofollow">ChessBase.com - Chess News - John Nunn: 'It's about imposing your will on the opponent'</a></li><li id="cite_note-9"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-9" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3379" class="external text" title="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3379" rel="nofollow">ChessBase.com - Chess News - Seirawan: highly-charged situation calls for a compromise</a></li><li id="cite_note-10"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-10" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3385" class="external text" title="http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3385" rel="nofollow">ChessBase.com - Chess News - Elista 2006: Match to continue with game six</a></li><li id="cite_note-11"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-11" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3899" class="external text" title="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3899" rel="nofollow">Vladimir Kramnik on the world of chess (Part 2)</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chessbase" title="Chessbase" class="mw-redirect">Chessbase</a>, 1-Jun-2007</li><li id="cite_note-12"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik#cite_ref-12" title="">^</a></b> <a href="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3504" class="external text" title="http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3504" rel="nofollow">The last man vs machine match?</a>, translated from Spiegel Online, 23 November 2006</li></ol>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-82160327884853376152008-08-20T11:35:00.000-07:002008-08-20T11:46:28.129-07:00Chess Profiles : Anatoly Karpov<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTvtu75VtUQ5UHgxNMHbmpUn5C-ymRn_D1Dd-BUtKGAJ1aGal88ZlCJaSLjhgrFrO4oYySWEw7YrL-BuYp7GIOCIHwkIETl8y3dICXpZWG7_DmqiDF5FZmSv-KnMRuQsjI21oU8O5k6w/s1600-h/anatoly_karpov.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHTvtu75VtUQ5UHgxNMHbmpUn5C-ymRn_D1Dd-BUtKGAJ1aGal88ZlCJaSLjhgrFrO4oYySWEw7YrL-BuYp7GIOCIHwkIETl8y3dICXpZWG7_DmqiDF5FZmSv-KnMRuQsjI21oU8O5k6w/s320/anatoly_karpov.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236672813726654338" border="0" /></a><br />Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov (Russian: Анатолий Евгеньевич Карпов; born May 23, 1951) is a Russian chess grandmaster and former World Champion. He was undisputed World Champion from 1975 to 1985, repeatedly challenged to regain the title from 1986 to 1990, then was FIDE World Champion from 1993 to 1999.<br /><br />His tournament successes include 161[citation needed] first-place finishes. He had a peak Elo rating of 2780.<br /><br />Since 2005 he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia. He has lately been involved in several humanitarian causes, such as advocating the use of iodised salt.<br /><br /><br />Early life<br /><br />Karpov was born on May 23, 1951 at Zlatoust in the Urals region of the former Soviet Union, and learned to play chess at the age of four. He has been an excellent student throughout his life. His early rise in chess was swift, as he was a Candidate Master by age 11. At age 12, he was accepted into Mikhail Botvinnik's prestigious chess school. Ironically, Botvinnik had this to say about the young Karpov: "The boy does not have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession."[1] Karpov acknowledged that his understanding of chess theory was very confused at that time, and wrote later that the homework which Botvinnik assigned really helped him, since it required that he consult chess books and work diligently.[2] Karpov improved so quickly that he became the youngest Soviet National Master in history at 15 in 1966; this tied the record established by Boris Spassky in 1952 at the same age. Karpov won the title in his first international chess tournament (Trinec 1966-67) several months later. In 1967 he won a European Junior Invitational tournament at Groningen. Karpov won a Gold Medal for academic excellence in high school, and entered Moscow State University in 1968 to study Mathematics. He later transferred to Leningrad State University, eventually graduating from there in Economics. One reason for the transfer was to be closer to his coach, Grandmaster Semyon Furman, who lived in Leningrad. In his writings, Karpov credits Furman as a major influence on his development as a world-class player. In 1969 Karpov became the first Soviet player since Boris Spassky (1955) to win the World Junior Chess Championship, with a score in the finals of 10 out of 11 at Stockholm. Soon afterwards he tied for 4th place at an international tournament in Caracas, Venezuela, and became a Grandmaster.<br /><br /><br /><br />The early 1970s showed a big improvement in his game. He won the 1971 Alekhine Memorial tournament ahead of a star-filled field, for his first significant adult victory. His Elo rating shot up from 2540 in 1971 to 2660 in 1973, when he came in 2nd in the USSR Chess Championship, and placed first in the Leningrad Interzonal Tournament. The latter qualified him for the 1974 Candidates' Tournament, which determined who was allowed to challenge the reigning World Champion, Bobby Fischer.<br /><br />Karpov beat Lev Polugaevsky by +3=5 in the first Candidates' match, to face former World Champion Boris Spassky in the next round. Karpov was on record saying that he believed Spassky would easily beat him and win the Candidates' cycle to face Fischer, and that he (Karpov) would win the following Candidates' cycle in 1977.<br /><br />Most expected the Spassky-Karpov match to be a one-sided rout by the ex-champ Spassky. Although Spassky won the first game as Black in good style, tenacious and aggressive play from Karpov secured him a match win by +4-1=6. Karpov was certainly not hurt by the fact that Spassky's chief opening analyst, 1955 Soviet Champion Efim Geller, defected to Karpov's side several months before the match.<br /><br />The Candidates' final was set in Moscow against fellow Soviet Viktor Korchnoi, a notable fighting player. Korchnoi was a Leningrad resident who had frequently sparred with Karpov after the latter moved there, and the two had played a drawn six-game training match in 1971. Intense games were fought, including one "opening laboratory" win against the Sicilian Dragon. Karpov went up 3-0, but tired towards the end and allowed Korchnoi two wins, making for a nervy finish. However, Karpov prevailed +3-2=19. Thus he won the right to challenge Fischer for the World Championship.<br /><br />The Big Match that never was<br /><br />Though the world championship match between Karpov and Fischer was highly anticipated, the match never came about. Fischer insisted that the match be the first to ten wins (draws not counting), but that the champion would retain the crown if the score was tied 9—9. The sticking point was the 9—9 clause, which was widely seen as unfair on Karpov. FIDE, the International Chess Federation, refused to allow this condition, and so Fischer resigned his crown, to the huge disappointment of the chess world. Karpov later attempted to set up another match with Fischer, but all the negotiations fell through. This thrust the young Karpov into the role of World Champion without having defeated the reigning champion.<br /><br />Garry Kasparov argued that Karpov would have had the better chances, because he had beaten Spassky convincingly and was a new breed of tough professional, and indeed had higher quality games, while Fischer had been inactive for three years.[3] Spassky thought that Fischer would have won in 1975 but Karpov would have qualified again and beaten Fischer in 1978.[4]<br /><br />World champion<br /><br />Karpov participated in nearly every major tournament for the next ten years. He convincingly won the very strong Milan tournament in 1975, and captured his first of three Soviet titles in 1976. He created the most phenomenal streak of tournament wins against the strongest players in the world. This tournament success even eclipsed the pre-war tournament record of Alekhine. Karpov held the record for most consecutive tournament victories (9) until it was shattered by Garry Kasparov (14).<br /><br />In 1978, Karpov's first title defence was against Viktor Korchnoi, the opponent he had defeated in the previous Candidates' tournament. The situation was vastly different from the previous match, because in the intervening years Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union. The match was played at Baguio in the Philippines, and a vast array of psychological tricks were used during the match, from Karpov's Dr. Zukhar who allegedly attempted to hypnotize Korchnoi during the game, to Korchnoi's mirror glasses to ward off the hypnotic stare, Korchnoi's offering to play under the Jolly Roger when he was denied the right to play under Switzerland's flag, to Karpov's yogurt supposedly being used to send him secret messages, to Korchnoi inviting two local cult members (on trial for attempted murder) into the hall as members of his team.[citation needed]<br /><br />The off-board antics are better remembered than the actual chess match. Karpov took an early lead, but Korchnoi staged an amazing comeback very late in the match, and came very close to winning. Karpov narrowly won the last game to take the match 6–5, with 21 draws.<br /><br />Three years later Korchnoi re-emerged as the Candidates' winner against German finalist Dr. Robert Hübner to challenge Karpov in Merano, Italy. This time the psychological trick was the arrest of Korchnoi's son for evading conscription. Again the politics off the board overshadowed the games, but this time Karpov easily won (11–7, +6 -2 =10) in what is remembered as the "Massacre at Merano".<br /><br />Karpov's tournament career reached a peak at the exceptional Montreal "Tournament of Stars" tournament in 1979, where he ended joint first with Mikhail Tal ahead of a field of superb grandmasters like Jan Timman, Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Boris Spassky, and Lubomir Kavalek. He dominated Las Palmas 1977 with an incredible 13.5 / 15. He also won the prestigious Bugojno tournament in 1978 and 1980, the Linares tournament in 1981 and 1994, the Tilburg tournament in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, and 1983, and the Soviet Championship in 1976, 1983, and 1988.<br /><br />Karpov represented the Soviet Union at six Chess Olympiads, in all of which the USSR won the team gold medal. He played first reserve at Skopje 1972, winning the board prize with 13/15. At Nice 1974, he advanced to board one and again won the board prize with 12/14. At La Valletta 1980, he was again board one and scored 9/12. At Lucerne 1982, he scored 6.5/8 on board one. At Dubai 1986, he scored 6/9 on board two. His last was Thessaloniki 1988, where on board two he scored 8/10. In Olympiad play, Karpov lost only two games out of 68 played.<br /><br />To illustrate Karpov's dominance over his peers as champion, his score was +11 -2 =20 versus Spassky, +5 =12 versus Robert Hübner, +6 -1 =16 versus Ulf Andersson, +3 -1 =10 versus Vasily Smyslov, +1 =16 versus Mikhail Tal, +10 -2 =13 versus Ljubojevic.<br /><br />Karpov had cemented his position as the world's best player and world champion when Garry Kasparov arrived on the scene. In their first match, the World Chess Championship 1984, held in Moscow, Karpov quickly built a 4-0 lead, and needed only two more wins to keep his title. Instead, the next 17 games were drawn, and it took Karpov until Game 27 to finally win another game. In Game 31, Karpov had a winning position but failed to take advantage and settled for a draw. He lost the next game, but drew the next 14. In particular, Karpov held a solidly winning position in Game 41, but again blundered terribly and had to settle for a draw. After Kasparov won Games 47 and 48, FIDE President Florencio Campomanes controversially terminated the match, citing the health of the players. Karpov appeared to be in worse health, having lost 10 kg (22 lb) over the course of the match,[5] and lost the last two games. The match had lasted an unprecedented five months, with five wins for Karpov, three for Kasparov, and a staggering forty draws.<br /><br />A rematch was set for later in 1985, also in Moscow. In a hard fight, Karpov had to win game 24 of the 1985 match to retain his title, but lost it and the title 11 to 13 (+3 -5 =16), ending his ten-year reign as champion.<br /><br />Rivalry with Kasparov<br /><br />Karpov remained a formidable opponent (and the world #2) until the early 1990s. He fought Kasparov in three more World Championship matches in 1986 (held in London and Leningrad), 1987 (held in Seville), and 1990 (held in New York City and Lyon). All three matches were extremely close: the scores were 11.5 to 12.5 (+4 -5 = 15), 12 to 12 (+4 -4 =16), and 11.5 to 12.5 (+3 -4 =17). In all three matches Karpov had winning chances up to the very last games. In particular, the 1987 Seville match featured an astonishing blunder by Kasparov in the 23rd game, and should have led to Karpov's reclaiming the title. Instead, in the final game, needing only a draw to win the title, Karpov cracked under pressure from the clock at the end of the first session of play, allowing Kasparov to adjourn the game a pawn up. After a further mistake in the second session, Karpov was slowly ground down and resigned on move 64, ending the match and allowing Kasparov to keep the title.<br /><br />In their five world championship matches, Karpov has 19 wins, 21 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.<br /><br />Karpov is on record saying that had he had the opportunity to fight Fischer for the crown like Kasparov had the opportunity to fight him, he (Karpov) could have been a much better player as a result.<br /><br />FIDE champion again<br />Karpov in 1996<br />Karpov in 1996<br /><br />It came as a surprise, then, that Karpov lost a Candidates Match against Nigel Short in 1992. But in 1993, Karpov reacquired the FIDE World Champion title when Kasparov and Short split from FIDE. Karpov defeated Jan Timman – the loser of the Candidates' final against Short. Once again he had become World Champion, and once again he did so controversially, only winning the title because of the absence of Kasparov and Short.<br /><br />The next major meeting of Kasparov and Karpov was the 1994 Linares chess tournament. The field, in eventual finishing order, was Karpov, Kasparov, Shirov, Bareev, Kramnik, Lautier, Anand, Kamsky, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Gelfand, Illescas, Judit Polgar, and Beliavsky; with an average ELO rating of 2685, the highest ever to that point, meaning it was the first Category XVIII tournament ever held. Impressed by the strength of the tournament, Kasparov had said several days before the tournament that the winner could rightfully be called the world champion of tournaments. Perhaps spurred on by this comment, Karpov played the best tournament of his life. He was undefeated and earned 11 points out of 13 possible (the best world-class tournament winning percentage since Alekhine won San Remo in 1930), dominating second-place Kasparov and Shirov by a huge 2.5 points. Many of his wins were spectacular (in particular, his win over Topalov is considered possibly the finest of his career). This performance against the best players in the world put his ELO rating tournament performance at 2985, the highest performance rating of any chess player in any tournament in all of chess history.<br /><br />Karpov defended his FIDE title against Gata Kamsky (+6 -3 =9) in 1996. However, in 1998, FIDE largely scrapped the old system of Candidates' Matches, instead having a large knock-out event in which a large number of players contested short matches against each other over just a few weeks. In the first of these events, champion Karpov was seeded straight into the final, defeating Viswanathan Anand (+2 -2 =2, rapid tiebreak 2:0). But subsequently the champion had to qualify like other players. Karpov resigned his title in anger at the new rules in 1999.<br /><br />Towards retirement?<br /><br />Karpov's outstanding classical tournament play has been seriously limited since 1995, since he prefers to be more involved in politics of his home country of Russia. He had been a member of the Supreme Soviet Commission for Foreign Affairs and the President of the Soviet Peace Fund before the Soviet Union broke up. In addition, he had been involved in several disputes with FIDE and became increasingly disillusioned with chess. In the July 2008 FIDE rating list, he is 72nd in the world with an ELO rating of 2651.<br /><br />Karpov usually limits his play to exhibition events, and has revamped his style to specialize in rapid chess. In 2002 he won a match against Kasparov, defeating him in a rapid time control match 2.5-1.5. In 2006, he tied for first with Kasparov in a blitz tournament, ahead of Korchnoi and Judit Polgar.[6]<br /><br />Style<br /><br />Karpov's "boa constrictor" playing style is solidly positional,[7] taking no risks but reacting mercilessly to any tiny errors made by his opponents. As a result, he is often compared to his idol, the famous José Raúl Capablanca, the third World Champion. Karpov himself describes his style as follows: "Let us say the game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculation; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory.... I would choose the latter without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic."<br /><br />Notable games<br /><br /> * Viktor Korchnoi vs Anatoli Karpov, Moscow 1973 Karpov sacrifices a Pawn for a strong center and Queen-side attack. In the final position Karpov can win White's Queen by 41 ... Ne3, and then would soon win at least one of White's minor pieces.<br /> * Anatoly Karpov vs Viktor Korchnoi, Candidates' Tournament Final, Moscow 1974, game 2 Karpov sacrifices 2 Pawns for a King-side attack.<br /> * Anatoly Karpov vs Gyula Sax, Linares 1983 Karpov sacrifices for an attack that wins the game 20 moves later, after another spectacular sacrifice from Karpov and counter-sacrifice from Sax. Of course it won the tournament's 1st brilliancy prize! This was not the first time Karpov used the wild-looking Keres Attack (6 g4) - see his win in Anatoli Karpov vs Vlastimil Hort, Alekhine Memorial Tournament, Moscow 1971<br /><br />Notes<br /><br />1. ^ "Anatoly Karpov's Best Games".<br />2. ^ Karpov, A. (1992). Karpov on Karpov: A Memoirs of a Chess World Champion. Atheneum. ISBN 0689120605.<br />3. ^ Kasparov: My Great Predecessors<br />4. ^ In an article (PDF) published in 2004 on the Chesscafe website Susan Polgar wrote: "I spoke to Boris Spassky about this same issue and he believes that Bobby would have won in 1975, but that Anatoly would have won the rematch."<br />5. ^ 1984 Karpov - Kasparov Title Match Highlights Mark Weeks' Chess Pages<br />6. ^ ChessBase.com - Chess News - The Credit Suisse Blitz – in pictures<br />7. ^ Kavalek, Lubomir (2007-06-25). "Chess". Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-20817994344086651432008-08-20T11:18:00.000-07:002008-08-20T11:35:15.901-07:00Chess Profiles : Garry Kasparov<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUM4HiW10lrPA0f7q_kXpj4Wv0HbwNwZOPifa73uReq2Co2Zz29B1chImyW871T4KG-bKi5I2fcLkeE6KnqCL-7Fb4n7RE0Mjstb5MhUn08RWJiYVRxt5smYlvkpXKAOwakqwWogRJ48/s1600-h/garry_kasparov.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUM4HiW10lrPA0f7q_kXpj4Wv0HbwNwZOPifa73uReq2Co2Zz29B1chImyW871T4KG-bKi5I2fcLkeE6KnqCL-7Fb4n7RE0Mjstb5MhUn08RWJiYVRxt5smYlvkpXKAOwakqwWogRJ48/s320/garry_kasparov.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236669761840579538" border="0" /></a><br /><p><b>Garry Kasparov</b> (born as <b>Garry Kimovich Weinstein</b><sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></sup> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_13" title="April 13">April 13</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963" title="1963">1963</a>, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku" title="Baku">Baku</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_Soviet_Socialist_Republic" title="Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic">Azerbaijan SSR</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a>; now <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan" title="Azerbaijan">Azerbaijan</a>) is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russian</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess" title="Chess">chess</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Grandmaster" title="International Grandmaster" class="mw-redirect">grandmaster</a> widely regarded to have been <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_for_comparing_top_chess_players_throughout_history" title="Methods for comparing top chess players throughout history">the greatest player of all time</a>, former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship" title="World Chess Championship">World Chess Champion</a>, writer and political activist.</p> <p>Kasparov became the youngest ever World Chess Champion in 1985. He held the official <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> world title until 1993, when a dispute with FIDE led him to set up a rival organization, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Chess_Association" title="Professional Chess Association">Professional Chess Association</a>. He continued to hold the "Classical" World Chess Championship until his defeat by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik" title="Vladimir Kramnik">Vladimir Kramnik</a> in 2000. He is also widely known for being the first world chess champion to lose a match to a computer, when he lost to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_%28chess_computer%29" title="Deep Blue (chess computer)">Deep Blue</a> in 1997.</p> <p>Kasparov's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#Chess_ratings_achievements" title="">ratings achievements</a> include being rated world #1 according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" title="Elo rating system">Elo rating</a> almost continuously from 1986 until his retirement in 2005 and holding the all-time highest rating of 2851. He also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#Other_records" title="">holds records</a> for consecutive tournament victories and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Oscar" title="Chess Oscar">Chess Oscars</a>.</p> <p>Kasparov announced his retirement from professional chess on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_10" title="March 10">March 10</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005" title="2005">2005</a>, to devote his time to politics and writing. He formed the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Civil_Front" title="United Civil Front">United Civil Front</a> movement, and joined as a member of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Russia" title="The Other Russia">The Other Russia</a>, a coalition opposing the administration of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" title="Vladimir Putin">Vladimir Putin</a>. He was a candidate for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_presidential_election,_2008" title="Russian presidential election, 2008">2008 Russian presidential race</a>, but later withdrew. Widely regarded in the West as a symbol of opposition to Putin, Kasparov's support in Russia is low.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a></sup></p> <table id="toc" class="toc" summary="Contents"> <tbody><tr> <td><br /></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //]]> </script> <p><a name="Early_career" id="Early_career"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Early career</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tleft"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 202px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-2.jpg" class="image" title="Weinstein at age 11, Vilnius, 1974."><img alt="Weinstein at age 11, Vilnius, 1974." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/Kasparov-2.jpg/200px-Kasparov-2.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="276" width="200" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-2.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> Weinstein at age 11, Vilnius, 1974.</div> </div> </div> <p>Garry Kasparov was born <b>Garry Weinstein</b> (Russian: Гарри Вайнштейн) in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baku" title="Baku">Baku</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_SSR" title="Azerbaijan SSR" class="mw-redirect">Azerbaijan SSR</a> to an Armenian mother and Jewish father. He first began the serious study of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess" title="Chess">chess</a> after he came across a chess problem set up by his parents and proposed a solution.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a></sup> His father died of leukemia when he was seven years old.<sup id="cite_ref-Azerbaijan_4-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-Azerbaijan-4" title="">[5]</a></sup> At the age of twelve, he adopted his mother's Armenian surname, Kasparyan, modifying it to a more Russified version, Kasparov. <sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a></sup></p> <p>From age 7, Kasparov attended the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneers_Palace" title="Pioneers Palace">Young Pioneer Palace</a> and, at 10 began training at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik" title="Mikhail Botvinnik">Mikhail Botvinnik</a>'s chess school under noted coach <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Makogonov" title="Vladimir Makogonov">Vladimir Makogonov</a>. Makogonov helped develop Kasparov's positional skills and taught him to play the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caro-Kann_Defence" title="Caro-Kann Defence">Caro-Kann Defence</a> and the Tartakower System of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Gambit_Declined" title="Queen's Gambit Declined">Queen's Gambit Declined</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-6" title="">[7]</a></sup> Kasparov won the Soviet Junior Championship in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tbilisi" title="Tbilisi">Tbilisi</a> in 1976, scoring 7 points of 9, at age 13. He repeated the feat the following year, winning with a score of 8½ of 9. He was being trained by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Sakharov&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Alexander Sakharov (page does not exist)">Alexander Sakharov</a> during this time.</p> <p>In 1978, Kasparov participated in the Sokolsky Memorial tournament in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk" title="Minsk">Minsk</a>. He had been invited as an exception but took first place and became a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_master" title="Chess master">chess master</a>. Kasparov has repeatedly said that this event was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career. "I will remember the Sokolsky Memorial as long as I live", he wrote. He has also said that after the victory, he thought he had a very good shot at the World Championship.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-7" title="">[8]</a></sup></p> <p>He first qualified for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR_Chess_Championship" title="USSR Chess Championship">Soviet Chess Championship</a> at age 15 in 1978, the youngest ever player at that level. He won the 64-player Swiss system tournament at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daugavpils" title="Daugavpils">Daugavpils</a> over tiebreak from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_V._Ivanov" title="Igor V. Ivanov" class="mw-redirect">Igor V. Ivanov</a>, to capture the sole qualifying place.</p> <p>Kasparov rose quickly through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> (World Chess Federation) rankings. Starting with an oversight by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Chess_Federation" title="Russian Chess Federation">Russian Chess Federation</a>, he participated in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_%28chess%29" title="Grandmaster (chess)">Grandmaster</a> tournament in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banja_Luka" title="Banja Luka">Banja Luka</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia" title="Yugoslavia">Yugoslavia</a>, in 1979 while still unrated (the federation thought it was a junior tournament). He won this high-class tournament, emerging with a provisional rating of 2595, enough to catapult him to the top group of chess players (at the time, number 3 in the World, ex-champion <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Spassky" title="Boris Spassky">Boris Spassky</a> had 2630, while World Champion <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov" title="Anatoly Karpov">Anatoly Karpov</a> 2690–2700). The next year, 1980, he won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Junior_Chess_Championship" title="World Junior Chess Championship">World Junior Chess Championship</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dortmund" title="Dortmund">Dortmund</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany" title="West Germany">West Germany</a>. Later that year, he made his debut as second reserve for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Olympiad" title="Chess Olympiad">Chess Olympiad</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Valletta" title="La Valletta" class="mw-redirect">La Valletta</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta" title="Malta">Malta</a>, and became a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_%28chess%29" title="Grandmaster (chess)">Grandmaster</a>.</p> <p><a name="Towards_the_top" id="Towards_the_top"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Towards the top</span></span></h2> <p>As a teenager, Kasparov twice tied for first place in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR_Chess_Championship" title="USSR Chess Championship">USSR Chess Championship</a>, in 1980–81 and 1981–82. His first win in a superclass-level international tournament was scored at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugojno" title="Bugojno">Bugojno</a> 1982. He earned a place in the 1982 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interzonal" title="Interzonal">Interzonal</a> tournament, which he won, to qualify for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidates_Tournament" title="Candidates Tournament">Candidates Tournament</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-8" title="">[9]</a></sup> At age 19, he was the youngest Candidate since <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer" title="Bobby Fischer">Bobby Fischer</a>, who was 15 when he qualified in 1958. At this stage, he was already the #2-rated player in the world, trailing only World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov on the January 1983 list.</p> <p>Kasparov's first (quarter-final) Candidates match was against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Beliavsky" title="Alexander Beliavsky">Alexander Beliavsky</a>, whom Kasparov defeated 6–3 (four wins, one loss).<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-9" title="">[10]</a></sup> Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Korchnoi" title="Viktor Korchnoi">Viktor Korchnoi</a>, which was scheduled to be played in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasadena,_California" title="Pasadena, California">Pasadena</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California">California</a>. Korchnoi had defected from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> in 1976, and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political maneuvers prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved by Korchnoi allowing the match to be replayed in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London" title="London">London</a>, along with the previously scheduled match between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Smyslov" title="Vasily Smyslov">Vasily Smyslov</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoltan_Ribli" title="Zoltan Ribli" class="mw-redirect">Zoltan Ribli</a>. The Kasparov-Korchnoi match was put together on short notice by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Keene" title="Raymond Keene">Raymond Keene</a>. Kasparov lost the first game but won the match 7–4 (four wins, one loss).</p> <p>In 1984, he won the Candidates' final 8½–4½ (four wins, no losses) against the resurgent former world champion Vasily Smyslov, at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius" title="Vilnius">Vilnius</a>, thus qualifying to play Anatoly Karpov for the World Championship. That year he joined the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Communist Party of the Soviet Union</a> (CPSU), as a member of which he was elected to the Central Committee of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komsomol" title="Komsomol">Komsomol</a> in 1987.</p> <p><a name="1984_World_Championship"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">1984 World Championship</span></span></h2> <p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_1984" title="World Chess Championship 1984">World Chess Championship 1984</a> match between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov had many ups and downs, and a very controversial finish. Karpov started in very good form, and after nine games Kasparov was down 4–0 in a "first to six wins" match. Fellow players predicted he would be whitewashed 6–0 within 18 games.<sup class="noprint Template-Fact"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since March 2008" style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</span></sup></p> <p>But Kasparov dug in and battled Karpov to 17 successive draws. He lost game 27, then fought back with another series of draws until game 32, his first-ever win against the World Champion. Another 15 successive draws followed, through game 46; the previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games, the match of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Capablanca" title="Jose Capablanca" class="mw-redirect">Jose Capablanca</a> vs. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Alekhine" title="Alexander Alekhine">Alexander Alekhine</a> in 1927.</p> <p>At this point Karpov, 12 years older than Kasparov, was close to exhaustion, and did not look like the player who started the match. Kasparov won games 47 and 48 to bring the scores to 5–3 in Karpov's favour. Then the match was ended without result by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florencio_Campomanes" title="Florencio Campomanes">Florencio Campomanes</a>, the President of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_Internationale_des_%C3%89checs" title="Fédération Internationale des Échecs" class="mw-redirect">Fédération Internationale des Échecs</a> (FIDE), and a new match was announced to start a few months later.</p> <p>The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision at a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_conference" title="Press conference" class="mw-redirect">press conference</a>, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match, with Karpov having lost 10 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram" title="Kilogram">kg</a> (22 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_%28mass%29" title="Pound (mass)">lb</a>) during the match.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-10" title="">[11]</a></sup> But Kasparov was in excellent health and extremely resentful of Campomanes' decision, asking him why he was abandoning the match if both players wanted to continue. Kasparov had won the last two games before the suspension, and some observers believed that he would go on to win despite his 5–3 deficit. He appeared to be physically stronger than his opponent, and in the later games seemed to have been playing the better chess.</p> <p>The match became the first, and so far only, world championship match to be abandoned without result. Kasparov's relations with Campomanes and FIDE were greatly strained, and the feud between them eventually came to a head in 1993 with Kasparov's complete break-away from FIDE.</p> <p><a name="World_Champion" id="World_Champion"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">World Champion</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 202px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-1.jpg" class="image" title="Kasparov after winning the FIDE World Championship title in 1985."><img alt="Kasparov after winning the FIDE World Championship title in 1985." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Kasparov-1.jpg/200px-Kasparov-1.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="317" width="200" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-1.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> Kasparov after winning the FIDE World Championship title in 1985.</div> </div> </div> <p>The second Karpov-Kasparov match in 1985 was organized in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> as the best of 24 games where the first player to win 12.5 points would claim the title. The scores from the terminated match would not carry over. But in the event of a 12–12 draw, the title would remain with Karpov. Kasparov secured the title at age 22 by a score of 13–11, winning the 24th game with Black, a Sicilian defence, on 9 November 1985. This broke the existing record of youngest World Champion, held for over 20 years by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Tal" title="Mikhail Tal">Mikhail Tal</a>, who was 23 when he defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960. Kasparov's win as Black in the 16th game has been recognized as one of the all-time masterpieces in chess history.</p> <p>At the time, the FIDE rules granted a defeated champion the right to rematch. Another match took place in 1986, hosted jointly in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London" title="London">London</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Leningrad</a>, with each city hosting 12 games. At one point in the match, Kasparov opened a three-point lead and looked well on his way to a decisive match victory. But Karpov fought back by winning three consecutive games to level the score late in the match. At this point, Kasparov dismissed one of his seconds, Grandmaster <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Vladimirov" title="Evgeny Vladimirov">Evgeny Vladimirov</a>, accusing him of selling his opening preparation to the Karpov team (as described in Kasparov's autobiography <i>Unlimited Challenge</i>, chapter Stab in the Back). Kasparov scored one more win and kept his title by a final score of 12.5–11.5.</p> <p>A fourth match for the world title took place in 1987 in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville" title="Seville">Seville</a>, as Karpov had qualified through the Candidates' Matches to again become the official challenger. This match was very close, with neither player holding more than a one-point lead at any point. Kasparov was down one point in the final game, needing a win to hold his title. A long tense game ensued in which Karpov blundered away a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn" title="Pawn">pawn</a> just before the first time-control, and Kasparov eventually won a long ending. Kasparov retained his title as the match was drawn by a score of 12–12. (All this meant that Kasparov had played Karpov four times in the period 1984–1987, a statistic unprecedented in chess. Matches organised by FIDE had taken place every three years since 1948, and only Botvinnik had a right to a rematch before Karpov.)</p> <p>A fifth match between Kasparov and Karpov was held in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York" title="New York">New York</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon" title="Lyon">Lyon</a> in 1990, with each city hosting 12 games. Again, the result was a close one with Kasparov winning by a margin of 12.5–11.5. In their five world championship matches, Kasparov had 21 wins, 19 losses, and 104 draws in 144 games.</p> <p><a name="Break_with_and_ejection_from_FIDE" id="Break_with_and_ejection_from_FIDE"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Break with and ejection from FIDE</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 202px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-10.jpg" class="image" title="The famous picture of a game between Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand on top of the World Trade Center in New York. The game took place on September 11, 1995, exactly six years before the September 11th attacks."><img alt="The famous picture of a game between Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand on top of the World Trade Center in New York. The game took place on September 11, 1995, exactly six years before the September 11th attacks." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Kasparov-10.jpg/200px-Kasparov-10.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="131" width="200" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-10.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> The famous picture of a game between Kasparov and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand" title="Viswanathan Anand">Viswanathan Anand</a> on top of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center" title="World Trade Center">World Trade Center</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York" title="New York">New York</a>. The game took place on September 11, 1995, exactly six years before the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11th_attacks" title="September 11th attacks" class="mw-redirect">September 11th attacks</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-11" title="">[12]</a></sup></div> </div> </div> <p>With the World Champion title in hand, Kasparov began fighting against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> — as Bobby Fischer had done 20 years earlier but this time from within FIDE. Beginning in 1986, he created the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grandmasters_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Grandmasters Association (page does not exist)">Grandmasters Association</a> (GMA), an organization to represent professional chess players and give them more say in FIDE's activities. Kasparov assumed a leadership role. GMA's major achievement was in organizing a series of six World Cup tournaments for the world's top players. A somewhat uneasy relationship developed with FIDE, and a sort of truce was brokered by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessel_Kok" title="Bessel Kok">Bessel Kok</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_people" title="Dutch people" class="mw-redirect">Dutch</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Businessman" title="Businessman" class="mw-redirect">businessman</a>.</p> <p>This stand-off lasted until 1993, by which time a new challenger had qualified through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidates_Tournament" title="Candidates Tournament">Candidates</a> cycle for Kasparov's next World Championship defense: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Short" title="Nigel Short">Nigel Short</a>, a British Grandmaster who had defeated Karpov in a qualifying match, and then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Timman" title="Jan Timman">Jan Timman</a> in the finals held in early 1993. After a confusing and compressed bidding process produced lower financial estimates than expected <sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-12" title="">[13]</a></sup>, the world champion and his challenger decided to play outside FIDE's jurisdiction, under another organization created by Kasparov called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Chess_Association" title="Professional Chess Association">Professional Chess Association</a> (PCA). This is where a great fracture in the lineage of World Champions began.</p> <p>In an interview in 2007, Kasparov would call the break with FIDE the worst mistake of his career, as it hurt the game in the long run.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-13" title="">[14]</a></sup></p> <p>Kasparov and Short were ejected from FIDE, and played their well-sponsored match in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London" title="London">London</a>. Kasparov won convincingly by a score of 12.5–7.5. The match considerably raised the profile of chess in the UK, with an unprecedented level of coverage on Channel 4. Meanwhile, FIDE organized a World Championship match between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Timman" title="Jan Timman">Jan Timman</a> (the defeated Candidates finalist) and former World Champion Karpov (a defeated Candidates semifinalist), which Karpov won.</p> <p>There were now two World Champions: PCA champion Kasparov, and FIDE champion Karpov. The title would remain split for 13 years.</p> <p>Kasparov defended his title in 1995 in a match against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand" title="Viswanathan Anand">Viswanathan Anand</a> at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center" title="World Trade Center">World Trade Center</a> in New York City. Kasparov won the match by four wins to one, with thirteen draws. It was the last World Championship to be held under the auspices of the PCA, which collapsed when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel" title="Intel" class="mw-redirect">Intel</a>, one of its major backers, withdrew its sponsorship.</p> <p>Kasparov tried to organize another World Championship match, under another organization, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_Chess_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="World Chess Association (page does not exist)">World Chess Association</a> (WCA) with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares_chess_tournament" title="Linares chess tournament">Linares</a> organizer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Rentero" title="Luis Rentero" class="mw-redirect">Luis Rentero</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Shirov" title="Alexei Shirov">Alexei Shirov</a> and Vladimir Kramnik played a candidates match to decide the challenger, which Shirov won in a surprising upset. But when Rentero admitted that the funds required and promised had never materialized, the WCA collapsed.</p> <p>This left Kasparov stranded, and yet another organization stepped in — BrainGames.com, headed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Keene" title="Raymond Keene">Raymond Keene</a>. No match against Shirov was arranged, and talks with Anand collapsed, so a match was instead arranged against Kramnik.</p> <p><a name="Losing_the_title.2C_and_aftermath" id="Losing_the_title.2C_and_aftermath"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Losing the title, and aftermath</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 202px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-11.jpg" class="image" title="Kasparov playing against Vladimir Kramnik in the Botvinnik Memorial match in Moscow, 2001."><img alt="Kasparov playing against Vladimir Kramnik in the Botvinnik Memorial match in Moscow, 2001." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Kasparov-11.jpg/200px-Kasparov-11.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="161" width="200" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-11.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> Kasparov playing against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik" title="Vladimir Kramnik">Vladimir Kramnik</a> in the Botvinnik Memorial match in Moscow, 2001.</div> </div> </div> <p>The Kasparov-Kramnik match took place in London during the latter half of 2000. Kramnik had been a student of Kasparov's at the legendary Botvinnik/Kasparov chess school in Russia, and had served on Kasparov's team for the 1995 match against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand" title="Viswanathan Anand">Viswanathan Anand</a>.</p> <p>The better-prepared Kramnik won Game 2 against Kasparov's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%BCnfeld_Defence" title="Grünfeld Defence">Grünfeld Defence</a> and achieved winning positions in Games 4 and 6. Kasparov made a critical error in Game 10 with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimzo-Indian_Defence" title="Nimzo-Indian Defence">Nimzo-Indian Defence</a>, which Kramnik exploited to win in 25 moves. As white, Kasparov could not crack the passive but solid Berlin Defence in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruy_Lopez" title="Ruy Lopez">Ruy Lopez</a>, and Kramnik successfully drew all his games as black. Kramnik won the match 8.5–6.5, and for the first time in 15 years Kasparov had no world championship title. He became the first player to lose a world championship match without winning a game since <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker" title="Emanuel Lasker">Emanuel Lasker</a> lost to Capablanca in 1921.</p> <p>After losing the title, Kasparov strung together a number of major tournament victories, and remained the top rated player in the world, ahead of both Kramnik and the FIDE World Champions. In 2001 he refused an invitation to the 2002 Dortmund <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidates_Tournament" title="Candidates Tournament">Candidates Tournament</a> for the Classical title, claiming his results had earned him a rematch with Kramnik.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-14" title="">[15]</a></sup></p> <p>Kasparov and Karpov played a four game match with rapid time controls over two days in December 2002 in New York City. Karpov surprised the experts and emerged victoriously, winning two games and drawing one.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-15" title="">[16]</a></sup></p> <p>Due to Kasparov's continuing strong results, and status as world #1 in much of the public eye, he was included in the so-called "Prague Agreement", masterminded by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Seirawan" title="Yasser Seirawan">Yasser Seirawan</a> and intended to reunite the two World Championships. Kasparov was to play a match against the FIDE World Champion <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Ponomariov" title="Ruslan Ponomariov">Ruslan Ponomariov</a> in September 2003. But this match was called off after Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for it without reservation. In its place, there were plans for a match against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rustam_Kasimdzhanov" title="Rustam Kasimdzhanov">Rustam Kasimdzhanov</a>, winner of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2004" title="FIDE World Chess Championship 2004">FIDE World Chess Championship 2004</a>, to be held in January 2005 in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates" title="United Arab Emirates">United Arab Emirates</a>. These also fell through due to lack of funding. Plans to hold the match in Turkey instead came too late. Kasparov announced in January 2005 that he was tired of waiting for FIDE to organize a match and so had decided to stop all efforts to regain the World Championship title.</p> <p><a name="Retirement_from_chess" id="Retirement_from_chess"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Retirement from chess</span></span></h2> <p>After winning the prestigious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares_chess_tournament" title="Linares chess tournament">Linares tournament</a> for the ninth time, Kasparov announced on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_10" title="March 10">March 10</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005" title="2005">2005</a> that he would retire from serious competitive chess. He cited as the reason a lack of personal goals in the chess world (he commented when winning the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Chess_Championship" title="Russian Chess Championship">Russian championship</a> in 2004 that it had been the last major title he had never won outright) and expressed frustration at the failure to reunify the world championship.</p> <p>Kasparov said he may play in some rapid chess events for fun, but intends to spend more time on his books, including both the <i>My Great Predecessors</i> series (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#Books_and_other_writings" title="">below</a>) and a work on the links between decision-making in chess and in other areas of life, and will continue to involve himself in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Russia" title="Politics of Russia">Russian politics</a>, which he views as "headed down the wrong path."</p> <p>Kasparov has been married three times: to Masha, with whom he had a daughter before divorcing; to Yulia, with whom he had a son before their 2005 divorce; and to Daria, with whom he also has a child.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-16" title="">[17]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-17" title="">[18]</a></sup></p> <p><a name="Post-retirement_chess" id="Post-retirement_chess"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Post-retirement chess</span></span></h3> <p>On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_22" title="August 22">August 22</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006" title="2006">2006</a>, in his first public chess games since his retirement, Kasparov played in the Lichthof Chess Champions Tournament, a blitz event played at the time control of 5 minutes per side and 3 second increments per move. Kasparov tied for first with Anatoly Karpov, scoring 4.5/6.<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-18" title="">[19]</a></sup></p> <p><a name="Politics" id="Politics"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Politics</span></span></h2> <p>Kasparov joined the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union" title="Communist Party of the Soviet Union">Communist Party of the Soviet Union</a> (CPSU) in 1984, and in 1987 was elected to the Central Committee of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komsomol" title="Komsomol">Komsomol</a>. But in 1990 he left the party, and in May took part in the creation of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_of_Russia" title="Democratic Party of Russia">Democratic Party of Russia</a>. In June 1993, he was involved in the creation of the "Choice of Russia" bloc of parties, and in 1996 he took part in the election campaign of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin" title="Boris Yeltsin">Boris Yeltsin</a>. In 2001 he voiced his support for the Russian television channel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTV_Russia" title="NTV Russia" class="mw-redirect">NTV</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-19" title="">[20]</a></sup></p> <p>After his retirement from chess in 2005, Kasparov turned to politics and created the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Civil_Front" title="United Civil Front">United Civil Front</a>, a social movement whose main goal is to "work to preserve <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election" title="Election">electoral</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy" title="Democracy">democracy</a> in Russia."<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-20" title="">[21]</a></sup> He has vowed to "restore democracy" to Russia by toppling the elected <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Russia" title="President of Russia">Russian president</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin" title="Vladimir Putin">Vladimir Putin</a>, of whom he is an outspoken critic.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-21" title="">[22]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-22" title="">[23]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-23" title="">[24]</a></sup></p> <p>Kasparov was instrumental in setting up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Russia" title="The Other Russia">The Other Russia</a>, a coalition which oppose Putin's government. The Other Russia has been boycotted by the leaders of Russia's democratic opposition parties, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yabloko" title="Yabloko">Yabloko</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Right_Forces" title="Union of Right Forces">Union of Right Forces</a> as they are concerned about its inclusion of radical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism" title="Nationalism">nationalist</a> and left-wing groups such as the National Bolshevik Party and former members of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodina" title="Rodina">Rodina</a> party including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Gerashchenko" title="Viktor Gerashchenko">Viktor Gerashchenko</a>, a potential presidential candidate. But regional branches of Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces have opted to take part in the coalition. Kasparov says that leaders of these parties are controlled by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kremlin" title="Kremlin">Kremlin</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-24" title="">[25]</a></sup> despite the fact they are both strongly opposed to the president's policies.</p> <p>On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_10" title="April 10">April 10</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005" title="2005">2005</a>, Kasparov was in Moscow at a promotional event when he was struck over the head with a chessboard he had just signed. The assailant was reported to have said "I admired you as a chess player, but you gave that up for politics" immediately before the attack.<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-25" title="">[26]</a></sup> Kasparov has been the subject of a number of other episodes since.<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-26" title="">[27]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-27" title="">[28]</a></sup></p> <div class="thumb tleft"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 302px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MarchNesoglas09juneSpB1.jpg" class="image" title="Kasparov at the third Dissenters March in Saint Petersburg on 9 June 2007."><img alt="Kasparov at the third Dissenters March in Saint Petersburg on 9 June 2007." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/MarchNesoglas09juneSpB1.jpg/300px-MarchNesoglas09juneSpB1.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="149" width="300" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MarchNesoglas09juneSpB1.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> Kasparov at the third <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissenters_March" title="Dissenters March">Dissenters March</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Saint Petersburg</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_9" title="June 9">9 June</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007">2007</a>.</div> </div> </div> <p>Kasparov helped organize the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg_Dissenters%27_March" title="Saint Petersburg Dissenters' March" class="mw-redirect">Saint Petersburg Dissenters' March</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_3" title="March 3">March 3</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007">2007</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissenters_March" title="Dissenters March">The March of the Dissenters</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_24" title="March 24">March 24</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007">2007</a>, both involving several thousand people rallying against Putin and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg" title="Saint Petersburg">Saint Petersburg</a> Governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Matviyenko" title="Valentina Matviyenko">Valentina Matviyenko</a>'s policies.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-28" title="">[29]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-29" title="">[30]</a></sup> On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_14" title="April 14">April 14</a>, he was briefly arrested by the Moscow police while heading for a demonstration, following warnings by the prosecution office on the eve of the march, stating that anyone participating risked being detained. He was held for some 10 hours, and then fined and released.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-30" title="">[31]</a></sup></p> <p>Due to his connection to ultranationalists and hard-left groups, he was summoned by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSB_%28Russia%29" title="FSB (Russia)" class="mw-redirect">FSB</a> for questioning as a suspect in violations of Russian anti-extremism laws.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-31" title="">[32]</a></sup> This law was previously applied for the conviction of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Stomakhin" title="Boris Stomakhin">Boris Stomakhin</a><sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-32" title="">[33]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-33" title="">[34]</a></sup></p> <p>Speaking about Kasparov, former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB" title="KGB">KGB</a> general <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Kalugin" title="Oleg Kalugin">Oleg Kalugin</a> has remarked: "I do not talk in details—people who knew them are all dead now because they were vocal, they were open. I am quiet. There is only one man who is vocal, and he may be in trouble: [former] world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov. He has been very outspoken in his attacks on Putin, and I believe that he is probably next on the list."<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-34" title="">[35]</a></sup></p> <p>In 1991, Kasparov received the Keeper of the Flame award from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Security_Policy" title="Center for Security Policy">Center for Security Policy</a> (a US <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_tank" title="Think tank">think tank</a>) for his contributions in development of democracy <sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-35" title="">[36]</a></sup> <sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-36" title="">[37]</a></sup> <sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-37" title="">[38]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-38" title="">[39]</a></sup> <sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-39" title="">[40]</a></sup></p> <p>On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_30" title="September 30">September 30</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007">2007</a>, Kasparov entered the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_presidential_election,_2008" title="Russian presidential election, 2008">Russian Presidential race</a>, receiving 379 of 498 votes at a congress held in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Russia" title="The Other Russia">The Other Russia</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-40" title="">[41]</a></sup></p> <p>In October 2007, Kasparov announced his intention of standing for the Russian presidency as the candidate of the "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Other_Russia" title="Other Russia" class="mw-redirect">Other Russia</a>" coalition, and vowed to fight for a "democratic and just Russia". Later that month he traveled to the United States, where he appeared on several popular television programs, which were hosted by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Colbert" title="Stephen Colbert">Stephen Colbert</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Blitzer" title="Wolf Blitzer">Wolf Blitzer</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Maher" title="Bill Maher">Bill Maher</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Matthews" title="Chris Matthews">Chris Matthews</a>.</p> <p>On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_24" title="November 24">November 24</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007">2007</a>, Kasparov and other protesters were detained by police at an Other Russia rally in Moscow. This followed an attempt by about 100 protesters to break through police lines and march on the electoral commission, which had barred Other Russia candidates from parliamentary elections.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-41" title="">[42]</a></sup> He was subsequently charged with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resisting_arrest" title="Resisting arrest">resisting arrest</a> and organising an unauthorized protest, and given a jail sentence of five days. He was released from jail on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_29" title="November 29">November 29</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-42" title="">[43]</a></sup></p> <p>On <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_12" title="December 12">December 12</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007">2007</a>, Kasparov announced that he had to withdraw his presidential candidacy due to inability to rent a meeting hall where at least 500 of his supporters could assemble to endorse his candidacy, as is legally required. With the deadline expiring on that date, he claimed it was impossible for him to run. Kasparov's spokeswoman accused the government of using pressure to deter anyone from renting a hall for the gathering and said that the electoral commission had rejected a proposal that separate smaller gatherings be held at the same time instead of one large gathering at a meeting hall.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-43" title="">[44]</a></sup></p> <p><a name="Chess_ratings_achievements" id="Chess_ratings_achievements"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Chess ratings achievements</span></span></h2> <ul><li>Kasparov holds the record for the longest time as the #1 rated player.</li><li>Kasparov had the highest <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" title="Elo rating system">Elo rating</a> in the world continuously from 1986 to 2005. However, Vladimir Kramnik did <i>equal</i> him in the January 1996 FIDE ratings list.<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-44" title="">[45]</a></sup> He was also briefly ejected from the list following his split from FIDE in 1993, but during that time he headed the rating list of the rival PCA. At the time of his retirement, he was still ranked #1 in the world, with a rating of 2812. His rating has fallen inactive since the January 2006 rating list.<sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-45" title="">[46]</a></sup></li><li>According to the alternative <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chessmetrics" title="Chessmetrics">Chessmetrics</a> calculations, Kasparov was the highest rated player in the world continuously from February 1985 until October 2004.<sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-46" title="">[47]</a></sup> He also holds the highest all-time average rating over a 2 (2877) to 20 (2856) year period and is second to only Bobby Fischer's (2881 vs 2879) over a one-year period.</li><li>In January 1990 Kasparov achieved the (then) highest FIDE rating ever, passing 2800 and breaking Bobby Fischer's old record of 2785. He has held the record for the highest rating ever achieved, ever since (as of 2008). On the July 1999 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> rating list Kasparov reached a 2851 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" title="Elo rating system">Elo rating</a>, the highest rating ever achieved.<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-47" title="">[48]</a></sup></li></ul> <p><a name="Olympiads_and_other_major_team_events" id="Olympiads_and_other_major_team_events"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Olympiads and other major team events</span></span></h2> <p>Kasparov played in a total of eight <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Olympiad" title="Chess Olympiad">Chess Olympiads</a>. He represented the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union">Soviet Union</a> four times, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia" title="Russia">Russia</a> four times, following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In his 1980 Olympiad debut, he became, at age 17, the youngest player to represent the Soviet Union or Russia at that level, a record which was broken by Vladimir Kramnik in 1992. In 82 games, he has scored (+50 =29 -3), for 78.7%, and won a total of 19 medals, including team gold medals all eight times he competed. For the 1994 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> Olympiad, he had a significant organizational role, in helping to put together the event on short notice, after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki" title="Thessaloniki">Thessaloniki</a> canceled its offer to host, a few weeks before the scheduled dates. Kasparov's detailed Olympiad record, from,<sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-48" title="">[49]</a></sup> follows.</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Valletta" title="La Valletta" class="mw-redirect">La Valletta</a> 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 9.5/12 (+8 =3 -1), team gold, board bronze;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucerne" title="Lucerne">Lucerne</a> 1982, USSR 2nd board, 8.5/11 (+6 =5 -0), team gold, board bronze;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai" title="Dubai">Dubai</a> 1986, USSR 1st board, 8.5/11 (+7 =3 -1), team gold, board gold, performance gold;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki" title="Thessaloniki">Thessaloniki</a> 1988, USSR 1st board, 8.5/10 (+7 =3 -0), team gold, board gold, performance gold;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila" title="Manila">Manila</a> 1992, Russia board 1, 8.5/10 (+7 =3 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> 1994, Russia board 1, 6.5/10 (+4 =5 -1), team gold;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerevan" title="Yerevan">Yerevan</a> 1996, Russia board 1, 7/9 (+5 =4 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bled" title="Bled">Bled</a> 2002, Russia board 1, 7.5/9 (+6 =3 -0), team gold, board gold.</li></ul> <p>Kasparov made his international teams debut for the USSR at age 16 in the 1980 European Team Championship, and played for Russia in the 1992 edition of that championship. He won a total of five medals. His detailed Euroteams record, from,<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-49" title="">[50]</a></sup> follows.</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skara" title="Skara">Skara</a> 1980, USSR 2nd reserve, 5.5/6 (+5 =1 -0), team gold, board gold;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debrecen" title="Debrecen">Debrecen</a> 1992, Russia board 1, 6/8 (+4 =4 -0), team gold, board gold, performance silver.</li></ul> <p>Kasparov also represented the USSR once in Youth Olympiad competition, but the detailed data is incomplete at <a href="http://www.olimpbase.org/1981k/1981in.html" class="external free" title="http://www.olimpbase.org/1981k/1981in.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.olimpbase.org/1981k/1981in.html</a>; the site <a href="http://www.chessmetrics.com/" class="external free" title="http://www.chessmetrics.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.chessmetrics.com</a>, the Garry Kasparov player file, has his individual score from that event.</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graz" title="Graz">Graz</a> 1981, USSR board 1, 9/10 (+8 =2 -0), team gold.</li></ul> <p><a name="Other_records" id="Other_records"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Other records</span></span></h2> <p>Kasparov holds the record for most consecutive professional tournament victories, placing first or equal first in 15 individual tournaments from 1981 to 1990.<sup class="noprint Template-Fact"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since August 2007" style="white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a></i>]</span></sup> The streak was broken by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Ivanchuk" title="Vasily Ivanchuk" class="mw-redirect">Vasily Ivanchuk</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares" title="Linares">Linares</a> 1991, where Kasparov placed 2nd, half a point behind him. The details of this record winning streak follow (from <a href="http://www.chessmetrics.com/" class="external free" title="http://www.chessmetrics.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.chessmetrics.com</a>, the Garry Kasparov player file).</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frunze" title="Frunze" class="mw-redirect">Frunze</a> 1981, USSR Championship, 12.5/17, 1st=;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugojno" title="Bugojno">Bugojno</a> 1982, 9.5/13, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> 1982, Interzonal, 10/13, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niksic" title="Niksic" class="mw-redirect">Niksic</a> 1983, 11/14, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels" title="Brussels">Brussels</a> OHRA 1986, 7.5/10, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels" title="Brussels">Brussels</a> 1987, 8.5/11, 1st=;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam" title="Amsterdam">Amsterdam</a> Optiebeurs 1988, 9/12, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belfort" title="Belfort">Belfort</a> (World Cup) 1988, 11.5/15, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow" title="Moscow">Moscow</a> 1988, USSR Championship, 11.5/17, 1st=;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reykjavik" title="Reykjavik" class="mw-redirect">Reykjavik</a> (World Cup) 1988, 11/17, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona" title="Barcelona">Barcelona</a> (World Cup) 1989, 11/16, 1st=;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skelleftea" title="Skelleftea" class="mw-redirect">Skelleftea</a> (World Cup) 1989, 9.5/15, 1st=;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilburg" title="Tilburg">Tilburg</a> 1989, 12/14, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrade" title="Belgrade">Belgrade</a> (Investbank) 1989, 9.5/11, 1st;</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares" title="Linares">Linares</a> 1990, 8/11, 1st.</li></ul> <p>Kasparov won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Oscar" title="Chess Oscar">Chess Oscar</a> a record eleven times.</p> <p><a name="Books_and_other_writings" id="Books_and_other_writings"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="mw-headline">Books and other writings</span></span></h2> <p>Kasparov has written a number of books on chess. He published a somewhat controversial autobiography when still in his early 20s, originally titled <i>Child of Change</i>, which was later retitled <i>Unlimited Challenge</i>. This book was subsequently updated several times after he became World Champion. Its content is mainly literary, with a small chess component of key unannotated games. He published an annotated games collection in the 1980s: <i>Fighting Chess: My Games and Career</i>, and this book has also been updated several times in further editions. He has annotated his own games extensively for the Yugoslav <i>Chess Informant</i> series and for other chess publications. In 1982, he co-authored <i>Batsford Chess Openings</i> with British Grandmaster <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Keene" title="Raymond Keene">Raymond Keene</a>, and this book was an enormous seller. It was updated into a second edition in 1989. He also co-authored two opening books with his trainer Alexander Nikitin in the 1980s for British publisher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batsford" title="Batsford">Batsford</a> — on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caro-Kann_Defence#Classical_.2F_Capablanca_Variation" title="Caro-Kann Defence">Classical Variation of the Caro-Kann Defence</a> and on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence,_Scheveningen_Variation" title="Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation">Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence</a>. Kasparov has also contributed extensively to the five-volume openings series <i>Encyclopedia of Chess Openings</i>.</p> <p>In 2007 he wrote <i>How Life Imitates Chess</i>, an examination of the parallels between decision-making in chess and in the business world. In 2008 Kasparov published a sympathetic obituary for Bobby Fischer, writing "I am often asked if I ever met or played Bobby Fischer. The answer is no, I never had that opportunity. But even though he saw me as a member of the evil chess establishment that he felt had robbed and cheated him, I am sorry I never had a chance to thank him personally for what he did for our sport."<sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-50" title="">[51]</a></sup></p> <p>He is the chief advisor for the book publisher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyman_Chess" title="Everyman Chess">Everyman Chess</a>.</p> <p><a name="My_Great_Predecessors_series" id="My_Great_Predecessors_series"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline"><i>My Great Predecessors</i> series</span></h3> <div class="thumb tright"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 182px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MyGreatPredecessors.jpg" class="image" title="My Great Predecessors, part I"><img alt="My Great Predecessors, part I" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8d/MyGreatPredecessors.jpg/180px-MyGreatPredecessors.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="256" width="180" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MyGreatPredecessors.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> <i>My Great Predecessors</i>, part I</div> </div> </div> <p>In 2003, the first volume of his five-volume work <i>Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors</i> was published. This volume, which deals with the world chess champions <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Steinitz" title="Wilhelm Steinitz">Wilhelm Steinitz</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker" title="Emanuel Lasker">Emanuel Lasker</a>, José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, and some of their strong contemporaries, has received lavish praise from some reviewers (including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Short" title="Nigel Short">Nigel Short</a>), while attracting criticism from others for historical inaccuracies and analysis of games directly copied from unattributed sources. Through suggestions on the book's website, most of these shortcomings were corrected in following editions and translations. Despite this, the first volume won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Chess_Federation" title="British Chess Federation" class="mw-redirect">British Chess Federation</a>'s Book of the Year award in 2003. Volume two, covering <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Euwe" title="Max Euwe">Max Euwe</a>, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov and Mikhail Tal appeared later in 2003. Volume three, covering <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigran_Petrosian" title="Tigran Petrosian">Tigran Petrosian</a> and Boris Spassky appeared in early 2004. In December 2004, Kasparov released volume four, which covers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Reshevsky" title="Samuel Reshevsky">Samuel Reshevsky</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Najdorf" title="Miguel Najdorf">Miguel Najdorf</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent_Larsen" title="Bent Larsen">Bent Larsen</a> (none of these three were World Champions), but focuses primarily on Bobby Fischer. The fifth volume, devoted to the chess careers of World Champion Anatoly Karpov and challenger Viktor Korchnoi, was published in March 2006.</p> <p><a name="Modern_Chess_series" id="Modern_Chess_series"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Garry_Kasparov&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Modern Chess series">edit</a>]</span> <span class="mw-headline"><i>Modern Chess</i> series</span></h3> <div class="thumb tright"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 182px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ModernChess.jpg" class="image" title="Modern Chess, part I"><img alt="Modern Chess, part I" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/ModernChess.jpg/180px-ModernChess.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="258" width="180" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ModernChess.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> <i>Modern Chess</i>, part I</div> </div> </div> <p>His book <i>Revolution in the 70s</i> (published in March 2007) covers "the openings revolution of the 1970s–1980s" and is the first book in a new series called "Modern Chess Series", which intends to cover his matches with Karpov and selected games.</p> <p><a name="Chess_against_computers" id="Chess_against_computers"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Chess against computers</span></h2> <p><a name="Deep_Thought.2C_1989" id="Deep_Thought.2C_1989"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Deep Thought, 1989</span></h3> <p>Kasparov easily defeated the chess computer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Thought_%28chess_computer%29" title="Deep Thought (chess computer)">Deep Thought</a> in both games of a two-game match in 1989 (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#CITEREFHsu2002" title="Garry Kasparov">Hsu 2002</a>:105–16).</p> <p><a name="Deep_Blue.2C_1996" id="Deep_Blue.2C_1996"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Deep Blue, 1996</span></h3> <p>In February 1996, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Business_Machines" title="International Business Machines" class="mw-redirect">IBM's</a> chess computer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Deep_Blue" title="IBM Deep Blue" class="mw-redirect">Deep Blue</a> defeated Kasparov in one game using normal time controls, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_-_Kasparov,_1996,_Game_1" title="Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1">Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1996, Game 1</a>. But Kasparov recovered well, gaining three wins and two draws and easily winning the match.</p> <p><a name="Deep_Blue.2C_1997" id="Deep_Blue.2C_1997"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Deep Blue, 1997</span></h3> <dl><dd> <div class="noprint relarticle mainarticle"><i>Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Deep_Blue" title="IBM Deep Blue" class="mw-redirect">IBM Deep Blue</a></i></div> </dd></dl> <p>In May 1997, an updated version of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Deep_Blue" title="IBM Deep Blue" class="mw-redirect">Deep Blue</a> defeated Kasparov 3½–2½ in a highly publicised six-game match. The match was even after five games but Kasparov was crushed in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_-_Kasparov,_1997,_Game_6" title="Deep Blue - Kasparov, 1997, Game 6">Game 6</a>. This was the first time a computer had ever defeated a world champion in match play. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film" title="Documentary film">documentary film</a> was made about this famous match-up entitled <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Over:_Kasparov_and_the_Machine" title="Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine">Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine</a></i>.</p> <p>Kasparov claimed that several factors weighed against him in this match. In particular, he was denied access to Deep Blue's recent games, in contrast to the computer's team that could study hundreds of Kasparov's.</p> <p>After the loss Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine's moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players, in contravention of the rules, intervened. IBM denied that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play revealed during the course of the match. Kasparov requested printouts of the machine's log files but IBM refused, although the company later published the logs on the Internet.<sup id="cite_ref-51" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-51" title="">[52]</a></sup> Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM declined and retired Deep Blue.</p> <p><a name="Deep_Junior.2C_2003" id="Deep_Junior.2C_2003"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Deep Junior, 2003</span></h3> <div class="thumb tright"> <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 202px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-18.jpg" class="image" title="Kasparov played with 3D glasses in his match against the program X3D Fritz."><img alt="Kasparov played with 3D glasses in his match against the program X3D Fritz." src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/Kasparov-18.jpg/200px-Kasparov-18.jpg" class="thumbimage" border="0" height="150" width="200" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"> <div class="magnify"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kasparov-18.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge"><img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png" alt="" height="11" width="15" /></a></div> Kasparov played with 3D glasses in his match against the program <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X3D_Fritz" title="X3D Fritz">X3D Fritz</a>.</div> </div> </div> <p>In January 2003, he engaged in a six game classical time control match with a $1 million prize fund which was billed as the FIDE "Man vs. Machine" World Championship, against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Junior" title="Deep Junior" class="mw-redirect">Deep Junior</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-52" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-52" title="">[53]</a></sup> The engine evaluated three million positions per second.<sup id="cite_ref-53" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-53" title="">[54]</a></sup> After one win each and three draws, it was all up to the final game. The final game of the match was televised on ESPN2 and was watched by an estimated 200–300 million people. After reaching a decent position Kasparov offered a draw, which was soon accepted by the Deep Junior team. Asked why he offered the draw, Kasparov said he feared making a blunder.<sup id="cite_ref-54" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov#cite_note-54" title="">[55]</a></sup> Originally planned as an annual event, the match was not repeated.</p> <p><a name="X3D_Fritz.2C_2003" id="X3D_Fritz.2C_2003"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">X3D Fritz, 2003</span></h3> In November 2003, he engaged in a four-game match against the computer program <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X3D_Fritz" title="X3D Fritz">X3D Fritz</a>, using a virtual board, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_glasses" title="3D glasses" class="mw-redirect">3D glasses</a> and a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_recognition" title="Speech recognition">speech recognition</a> system. After two draws and one win apiece, the X3D Man-Machine match ended in a draw. Kasparov received $175,000 for the result and took home the golden trophy. Kasparov continued to criticize the blunder in the second game that cost him a crucial point. He felt that he had outplayed the machine overall and played well. "I only made one mistake but unfortunately that one mistake lost the game."<span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources since August 2008" style="white-space: nowrap;">[</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-3495286694523752162008-08-20T11:08:00.000-07:002008-08-20T11:18:17.758-07:00Chess Profiles : Viswanathan Anand<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHuDLHj67MTYwJOED_DYCGorq8f25IZkSp5vZOpdVl4U6M2mymnpcYgrF8pWCFrY-Uh28jbG3S9Gx5XqFpCbC33BG2BWPVRYnIJoScaitHmVsdEqJBQ8taeC95Ehw9nVi8BOQWjgs4s-E/s1600-h/AnandFred.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHuDLHj67MTYwJOED_DYCGorq8f25IZkSp5vZOpdVl4U6M2mymnpcYgrF8pWCFrY-Uh28jbG3S9Gx5XqFpCbC33BG2BWPVRYnIJoScaitHmVsdEqJBQ8taeC95Ehw9nVi8BOQWjgs4s-E/s320/AnandFred.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236665046694807426" border="0" /></a><br /><p>Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand is quite simply, the greatest sportsman India has ever produced. </p> <p>Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand's spectacular career is reproduced here. Keep checking back for updates.</p> <p>TNQ Sponsorship exclusively represents the commercial interests of Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand in India.</p> <p>We can put together a sponsorship program for your brand with Anand, both in India and across the world.</p><p><br /></p> Viswanathan Anand (born <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_11" title="December 11">December 11</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969" title="1969">1969</a>) is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India">Indian</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess" title="Chess">chess</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Grandmaster" title="International Grandmaster" class="mw-redirect">grandmaster</a> and the current <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship" title="World Chess Championship">World Chess Champion</a>. <p>Anand won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship" title="World Chess Championship">World Chess Championship</a> in 2000, at a time when the world title was split. His win in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2007" title="World Chess Championship 2007">World Chess Championship 2007</a> has made him the undisputed World Champion since 2007. In a 2008 article for Time Magazine, Anand expressed satisfaction that the World Championship title had come back to India, the country where Chess originated. <sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a></sup> He will defend his title in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2008" title="World Chess Championship 2008">World Chess Championship 2008</a> against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik" title="Vladimir Kramnik">Vladimir Kramnik</a> in October-November 2008.</p> <p>Anand has been top of the world rating list since April 2007, is one of four players in history to break the 2800 mark on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> rating list, and has been among the top three ranked players in the world continuously since 1997.</p> <p>In 2007 he was awarded the second highest civilian award of India, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Vibhushan" title="Padma Vibhushan">Padma Vibhushan</a>.</p> <table id="toc" class="toc" summary="Contents"> <tbody><tr> <td><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><script type="text/javascript">//<![CDATA[ if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); } //]]> </script> <p><a name="Chess_career" id="Chess_career"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Chess career</span></h2> <p><a name="Early_career" id="Early_career"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Early career</span></h3> <p>Anand's rise in the Indian chess world was meteoric. National level success came early for him when he won the National Sub-Junior Chess Championship with a score of 9/9 in 1983 at the age of fourteen. He became the youngest Indian to win the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Master" title="International Master">International Master</a> Title at the age of fifteen, in 1984. At the age of sixteen he became the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Chess_Championship" title="Indian Chess Championship">national chess champion</a> and won that title two more times. He played games at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitz_chess" title="Blitz chess" class="mw-redirect">blitz</a> speed. In 1987, he became the first Indian to win the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Junior_Chess_Championship" title="World Junior Chess Championship">World Junior Chess Championship</a>. In 1988, at the age of eighteen, he became India's first Grandmaster. He was awarded Padhma Shri at the age of 18.</p> <p>"Vishy", as he is sometimes called by his friends, burst upon the upper echelons of the chess scene in the early 1990s, winning such tournaments as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_chess_tournament" title="Reggio Emilia chess tournament">Reggio Emilia</a> 1991 (ahead of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov" title="Garry Kasparov">Garry Kasparov</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov" title="Anatoly Karpov">Anatoly Karpov</a>). Playing at such a high level did not slow him down either, and he continued to play games at blitz speed.</p> <p>In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_1993" title="World Chess Championship 1993">World Chess Championship 1993</a> cycle Anand qualified for his first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candidates_Tournament" title="Candidates Tournament">Candidates Tournament</a>, winning his first match but narrowly losing his quarter-final match to Anatoly Karpov.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a></sup></p> <p>In 1994-95 Anand and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gata_Kamsky" title="Gata Kamsky">Gata Kamsky</a> dominated the qualifying cycles for the rival <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Chess_Association" title="Professional Chess Association">PCA</a> world championships. In the FIDE cycle (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_1996" title="FIDE World Chess Championship 1996">FIDE World Chess Championship 1996</a>), Anand lost his quarter-final match to Kamsky after leading early.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a></sup> Kamsky went on to make championship match against Karpov.</p> <p>In the 1995 PCA cycle, Anand won matches against <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oleg_Romanishin" title="Oleg Romanishin">Oleg Romanishin</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Adams" title="Michael Adams">Michael Adams</a> without a loss, then avenged his FIDE loss by defeating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gata_Kamsky" title="Gata Kamsky">Gata Kamsky</a> in the Candidates final.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a></sup> In 1995, he played the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCA_World_Chess_Championship_1995" title="PCA World Chess Championship 1995" class="mw-redirect">PCA World Chess Championship 1995</a> against Kasparov in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City" title="New York City">New York City</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center" title="World Trade Center">World Trade Center</a>. After an opening run of eight draws (a record for the opening of a world championship match), Anand won game nine with a powerful <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_exchange_%28chess%29#The_exchange_sacrifice" title="The exchange (chess)">exchange sacrifice</a>, but then lost four of the next five. He lost the match 10.5 - 7.5.</p> <p><a name="World_Chess_Champion" id="World_Chess_Champion"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">World Chess Champion</span></h3> <p>After several near misses, Anand won the FIDE <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship" title="World Chess Championship">World Chess Championship</a> in 2000 for the first time after defeating <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Shirov" title="Alexei Shirov">Alexei Shirov</a> 3.5 - 0.5 in the final match held at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran" title="Tehran">Tehran</a>, thereby becoming the first Indian to win that title. He lost the title when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Ponomariov" title="Ruslan Ponomariov">Ruslan Ponomariov</a> won the FIDE knockout tournament in 2002.</p> <p>He tied for second with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Svidler" title="Peter Svidler">Peter Svidler</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE_World_Chess_Championship_2005" title="FIDE World Chess Championship 2005">FIDE World Chess Championship 2005</a> with 8.5 points out of 14 games, 1.5 points behind the winner, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veselin_Topalov" title="Veselin Topalov">Veselin Topalov</a>.</p> <p>In September 2007 Anand became World Champion again by winning that year's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2007" title="World Chess Championship 2007">FIDE World Championship Tournament</a> held in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City" title="Mexico City">Mexico City</a>. He won the double round-robin tournament with a final score of 9 out of 14 points, a full point ahead of joint second place finishers <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Kramnik" title="Vladimir Kramnik">Vladimir Kramnik</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Gelfand" title="Boris Gelfand">Boris Gelfand</a>.</p> <p>In 2000, when Anand won the FIDE World Championship, there was also the rival "Classical" World Championship, held by Kramnik. By 2007, the world championship had been reunified, so Anand's victory in Mexico City made him undisputed World Chess Champion. He became the first undisputed champion to win the title in a tournament, rather than in matchplay, since <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Botvinnik" title="Mikhail Botvinnik">Mikhail Botvinnik</a> in 1948.</p> <p>Anand is scheduled to defend the title against Kramnik in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2008" title="World Chess Championship 2008">match in 2008</a>. In October 2007, Anand said he liked the double round robin championship format, and that the right of Kramnik to automatically challenge for the title was "ridiculous".<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a></sup></p> <p><a name="World_Rapid_Chess_Champion" id="World_Rapid_Chess_Champion"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">World Rapid Chess Champion</span></h3> <p>In October 2003, the governing body of chess, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a>, organized a rapid time control tournament in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap_d%27Agde" title="Cap d'Agde">Cap d'Agde</a> and billed it as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_Rapid_Chess_Championship&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="World Rapid Chess Championship (page does not exist)">World Rapid Chess Championship</a>. Each player had 25 minutes at the start of the game, with an additional 10 seconds after each move. Anand won this event ahead of ten of the other top twelve players in the world, beating Kramnik in the final. His main recent titles in this category are at: Corsica (six years in a row from 1999 through 2005), Mainz (seven years in a row from 2000 through 2006), Leon 2005, Eurotel 2002, Fujitsu Giants 2002 and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Amber" title="Melody Amber" class="mw-redirect">Melody Amber</a> (five times – and he won the rapid portion of Melody Amber seven times). In the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melody_Amber" title="Melody Amber" class="mw-redirect">Melody Amber</a> 2007, Anand did not lose a single game in the rapid section, and scored 8.5/11, two more than the runners-up. His performance in the rapid section was 2939.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a></sup> In most tournament time control games that Anand plays, he has more time left than his opponent at the end of the game. He lost on time in one game, to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gata_Kamsky" title="Gata Kamsky">Gata Kamsky</a>. Otherwise, he took advantage of the rule allowing players in time trouble to use dashes instead of the move notation during the last four minutes only once, in the game Anand - Svidler at the MTel Masters 2006. <sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-6" title="">[7]</a></sup></p> <p><a name="Other_results" id="Other_results"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Other results</span></h3> <p>Anand won three consecutive <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Chess" title="Advanced Chess">Advanced Chess</a> tournaments in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3n,_Le%C3%B3n" title="León, León" class="mw-redirect">Leon</a>, Spain after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov" title="Garry Kasparov">Garry Kasparov</a> introduced this form of chess in 1998, and is widely recognized as the world's best Advanced Chess player, where humans may consult a computer to aid in their calculation of variations.</p> <p>Anand has won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Oscar" title="Chess Oscar">Chess Oscar</a> in 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, and 2007 becoming the third non-Russian player, after <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent_Larsen" title="Bent Larsen">Bent Larsen</a> of Denmark and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer" title="Bobby Fischer">Bobby Fischer</a> of USA, to win the Oscar. The Chess Oscar is awarded to the year's best player according to a world-wide poll of leading chess critics, writers, and journalists conducted by the Russian chess magazine <i>64</i>.</p> <p>His game collection, <i>My Best Games of Chess</i>, was published in the year 1998 and was updated in 2001.</p> <p>Anand's recent tournament successes include the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corus_chess_tournament" title="Corus chess tournament">Corus chess tournament</a> in 2006 (tied with Veselin Topalov), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dortmund_Sparkassen_Chess_Meeting" title="Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting">Dortmund</a> in 2004, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares_chess_tournament" title="Linares chess tournament">Linares</a> in 2007. He has won the annually held <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco" title="Monaco">Monaco</a> Amber <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindfold_chess" title="Blindfold chess">Blindfold</a> and Rapid Chess Championships in years 1994, 1997, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He is the only player to have won five titles of the Corus chess tournament. He is also the only player to win the blind and rapid sections of the Amber tournament in the same year (and he did this twice – in 1997 and 2005). He is the first player to have achieved victories in each of the three big chess supertournaments: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corus_chess_tournament" title="Corus chess tournament">Corus</a> (1998, 2003, 2004, 2006), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares_chess_tournament" title="Linares chess tournament">Linares</a> (1998, 2007, 2008), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dortmund_Sparkassen_Chess_Meeting" title="Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting">Dortmund</a> (1996, 2000, 2004).</p> <p>In 2007 he won the Grenkeleasing Rapid championship, which he won for the tenth time defeating Armenian GM <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levon_Aronian" title="Levon Aronian">Levon Aronian</a>. Incidentally, just a few days before Aronian had defeated Anand in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess960" title="Chess960">Chess960</a> final. In March 2007, Anand won the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linares_chess_tournament" title="Linares chess tournament">Linares chess tournament</a> and it was widely believed that he would be ranked world No.1 in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating" title="Elo rating" class="mw-redirect">Elo rating</a> list for April 2007. However, Anand was placed No.2 in the initial list released because the Linares result was not included. FIDE subsequently announced that the Linares results would be included after all,<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-7" title="">[8]</a></sup> making Anand number one in the April 2007 list.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-8" title="">[9]</a></sup></p> <p>Anand won the Mainz 2008 Supertournament Championship by defeating upcoming star Magnus Carlsen.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-9" title="">[10]</a></sup></p> <p><a name="Rating" id="Rating"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Rating</span></h3> <p>In the April 2007 FIDE <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system" title="Elo rating system">Elo rating</a> list, Anand was ranked first in the world for the first time,<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand#cite_note-10" title="">[11]</a></sup> and (as of July 2008) he has held the number one spot since then.</p> <p>He is the sixth person to head the rating list since its inception in 1970; the other five being <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer" title="Bobby Fischer">Fischer</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Karpov" title="Anatoly Karpov">Karpov</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparov" title="Garry Kasparov">Kasparov</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramnik" title="Kramnik" class="mw-redirect">Kramnik</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topalov" title="Topalov" class="mw-redirect">Topalov</a>.</p> <p><a name="Chess_titles" id="Chess_titles"></a></p> <h3><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Chess titles</span></h3> <ul><li>1983 National Sub-Junior Chess Champion - age 14</li><li>1984 International Master - age 15</li><li>1985 Indian National Champion - age 16</li><li>1987 World Junior Chess Champion,</li><li>1988 Grandmaster</li><li>2000 FIDE World Chess Champion</li><li>2003 FIDE World Rapid Chess Champion</li><li>2007 FIDE World Chess Champion (Undisputed)</li></ul> <p><a name="Awards" id="Awards"></a></p> <h2><span class="editsection"></span><span class="mw-headline">Awards</span></h2> <p>Anand has received many awards.</p> <ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arjuna_award" title="Arjuna award" class="mw-redirect">Arjuna award</a> for Outstanding Indian Sportsman in Chess in 1985</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Shri" title="Padma Shri">Padma Shri</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Citizens_Award&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="National Citizens Award (page does not exist)">National Citizens Award</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soviet_Land_Nehru_Award&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Soviet Land Nehru Award (page does not exist)">Soviet Land Nehru Award</a> in 1987</li><li>The inaugural <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajiv_Gandhi_Khel_Ratna" title="Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna">Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna</a> Award, India's highest sporting honour in the year 1991-1992.</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Chess_Federation" title="British Chess Federation" class="mw-redirect">British Chess Federation</a> 'Book of the Year' Award in 1998 for his book <i>My Best Games of Chess</i></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Bhushan" title="Padma Bhushan">Padma Bhushan</a> in 2000</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jameo_de_Oro&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jameo de Oro (page does not exist)">Jameo de Oro</a> the highest honour given by the Government of Lanzarote in Spain on 25th April 2001. The award is given to illustrious personalities with extraordinary achievements.</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Oscar" title="Chess Oscar">Chess Oscar</a> (1997, 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2007)</li><li>Sportstar Millennium Award in 1998, from India's premier Sports magazine for being the sportperson of the millennium</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padma_Vibhushan" title="Padma Vibhushan">Padma Vibhushan</a> in 2007</li></ul>External Links:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIDE" title="FIDE">FIDE</a> rating card for <a href="http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=5000017" class="external text" title="http://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=5000017" rel="nofollow">Viswanathan Anand</a></li><li><a href="http://www.365chess.com/players/Viswanathan_Anand" class="external text" title="http://www.365chess.com/players/Viswanathan_Anand" rel="nofollow">Viswanathan Anand games at 365Chess.com</a></li><li><a href="http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=12088" class="external text" title="http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=12088" rel="nofollow">Viswanathan Anand</a> at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChessGames.com" title="ChessGames.com">ChessGames.com</a></li><li><a href="http://latestchess.com/showInterview.php?id=1" class="external text" title="http://latestchess.com/showInterview.php?id=1" rel="nofollow">Interview with Viswanathan Anand</a> year 2007</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_%28magazine%29" title="Time (magazine)">TIME</a>: History of Chess, by <strong class="selflink">Viswanathan Anand</strong></li><li><a href="http://www.pluggd.in/2007/11/startup-inspirations-from-viswanathan-anand-chess-champ" class="external text" title="http://www.pluggd.in/2007/11/startup-inspirations-from-viswanathan-anand-chess-champ" rel="nofollow">Startup Lessons from Viswanathan Anand</a></li><li><a href="http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/64541/05_2008/devils_anand_0405_1/devils-advocate-viswanathan-anand-on-mind-games.html" class="external text" title="http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/64541/05_2008/devils_anand_0405_1/devils-advocate-viswanathan-anand-on-mind-games.html" rel="nofollow">Interview with CNN IBN, May 2008</a></li></ul><br />Courtesy : <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viswanathan_Anand</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-1489745074777845202008-08-20T10:52:00.000-07:002008-08-20T10:56:27.930-07:00Daily Chess Jokes 10Capablanca was waiting in a train station in New York one day, with his coffee, danish, newspaper and chess set, when a man approached him. Gesturing at the chess set, he asked if Capablanca cared for a game. Always delighted to play, Capablanca immediately set up the board, then removed his queen from the board, to even up the game. Annoyed, the man blurted out, "Why did you do that? You don't know me, I might beat you!" Unruffled, Capablanca replied, "Sir, if you could beat me, I would know you."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-67829637403746991072008-08-20T10:48:00.000-07:002008-08-20T10:52:18.736-07:00Daily Chess Jokes 9A chess master died - after a few days, a friend of his heard a voice; it was him! "What's it like, where you are now," he asked. "What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news." "Tell me the good news first." "Well, it's really heaven here. There are tournaments and blitz sessions going on all the time and Morphy, Alekhine, Lasker, Tal, Capablanca, Botvinnik, they're all here, and you can play them." "Fantastic!" the friend said, "and what is the bad news?" "You have Black against Capablanca on Saturday."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-54203993831272885912008-08-20T10:43:00.000-07:002008-08-20T10:48:26.935-07:00Daily Chess Jokes 8"I've created a chess program that mimics human play" said the computer science major.<br /><br />"So it plays at GM level then?" asks the advising professor.<br /><br />"No, but it does blame its loss on outside conditions!"Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-12645334973582910702008-08-20T10:39:00.000-07:002008-08-20T10:43:49.134-07:00Daily Chess Jokes 7<p> BERKELEY, CA - The Berkeley Board of Education voted last night to ban the game of Chess from all of its elementary, junior high and high schools. The board claims that Chess has a negative influence on students because of the backwards and outdated thinking that was responsible for creating the game. </p><p> One board member, Claudia Starsniffer, compiled a list of seven grievances against Chess. Starsniffer's list claims, </p><ol><li> Chess is irrelevant to our society because it was created by dead white guys.<br /><br /></li><li> Chess encourages racism by having a 'war' between a white army and a black army.<br /><br /></li><li> Chess reinforces current racist tendencies in our society by always having the white army move first.<br /><br /></li><li> Chess glorifies war.<br /><br /></li><li> Chess oppressively reinforces heterosexual stereotypes. It does this by forcing each army to have a king and a queen and by not allowing the game to be played with either two kings or two queens.<br /><br /></li><li> Chess is guilty of breaking the separation of church and state by allowing a bishop to be a belligerent in war.<br /><br /></li><li> Chess destroys self-esteem. When children play the game, one always loses. Losing causes a child to feel dumb and inadequate.</li></ol> <p>Said Starsniffer, "There is no place in our society for a monstrous game like Chess. Chess is dangerous. Chess is destructive. Chess teaches racial and sexual oppression. Chess has got to go! </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7831787653186243540.post-61918235127572472122008-08-20T10:33:00.000-07:002008-08-20T10:39:14.312-07:00Daily Chess Jokes 6A gentleman must play a game of chess with a blind person, he proposes to the blind person:<br />"As him cannot see he will grant an advantage to him as part of the deal. We will not play in equality of conditions."<br />"This sound really fair" replied the Blind Person.<br />Then he asks the gentleman: "When?"<br />"Very well", the other men responded to him "any night that you prefer."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0