Garry Kasparov, possibly the greatest player in the history of chess, is currently hanging around to supersede Vladimir Putin as prime minister of Russia. This process may take a couple of decades, an unusual wait even for a tournament chess player. Meanwhile, to kill time, and possibly for nostalgic reasons, Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov have agreed to renew their epic competition by carrying out a series of matches throughout the world.
Certainly for a time there was bad blood between Karpov and Kasparov. Their dispute started with the cancellation of the marathon match that they were having in 1984 and the scheduling of a second match. In his 1990 biography, Karpov was unstinting in his criticism of Kasparov’s use of political connections in carrying out his wishes for the conduct of international chess. According to Karpov, Kasparov even insisted that Karpov be kept out of London during Kasparov’s match with Viktor Korchnoi.
However, when Kasparov was arrested for demonstrating on the streets of Moscow, Karpov publicly opposed the arrest and attempted to visit Kasparov in jail.
According to Karpov, in an Izvestia interview reprinted on Susan Polgar’s website (www.Susan Polgar.com), Karpov and Kasparov meet occasionally and in the course of one meeting decided to renew their rivalry. The spectacle will commence in Valencia, Spain, which labels itself the birthplace of modern chess. It will then adjourn to the Louvre in Paris this December and then possibly to Moscow and New York next year.
Kasparov is also in the news for concluding an arrangement with Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian chess prodigy rated No. 4 in the world, to act as coach to this enormously gifted youngster. Kasparov can perhaps help him with chess techniques, and he of course has a cornucopia of chess openings in his computer preparations. What else to do while cooling one’s heels to become a world political leader!
All this makes us wonder what Hikaru Nakamura will need for backup help. No doubt Nakamura wants to go for the world championship. At this point, his second is Kris Littlejohn, a good friend and helper, who has no FIDE rating and is rated in the US at only around 2200.
Brevity: J. Loksenc v. Ludek Pachman, (Praha 1943) 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.e3 e5 7.d5 Ne7 8.Qa4+ (1-0, as black’s bishop falls).
Winners: New England Open Scholastics, Under 800 section - Kevin Hu of Sharon, 4-0; K-6 Under 1300 - Sabrina Zhang of Lexington, 4-0; K-6 Under 700 - Sonia Deodas of Norfolk, 4-0; K-3 Under 1200 - Henry Li of Acton, 4-0; K-3 Under 600 section - Benjamin Wiegand of Cambridge, 4-0.
Coming events: Oct. 2, Waltham First Friday #90, Waltham CC, info@walthamchessclub.org; Oct. 3, BCC Quads 9-10, www.BoylstonChessClub.org; Oct. 4, MACA’s Fall Foliage Chess Festival/First State Scholastic Championship/Spiegel Cup Qualifier; The Sage School, 171 Mechanic St., Foxborough, www.MassChess.org; Oct. 6, 13, 20, 27; MetroWest CC Trick or Treat Swiss, Kennedy Senior Center, Natick, www.MetroWestChess.org
