Chess
Fide in extremis?
Harry Golombek
The match for the world chess cham- pionship which ended in Moscow so disastrously and dishonourably for the reputation of both world champion and the Fide President was, I am happy to write, unparalleled in the history of such matches for its blatant disregard of all the honest principles of a game where one would have thought cheating and the non-observance of agreed rules was practically impossible.
Certainly if you have, as I have done, devoted your whole life to what you regarded as more an art, and a noble art, than a game, what makes one's disappoint- ment, perhaps grief is the better word, all the more bitter is that one had entertained such high hopes of a match between a wonderful player like Kasparov, who play- ed, very much as Tartakower put it as regards Alekhine, sun chess, and a world champion in Karpov who had played with
magnificent success and skill in a vast number of tournaments. But just look at the games of the match and tell me if there was really a worthwhile piece of real chess from either side. Kasparov's wonderful combinational style of play was never even glimpsed and Karpov produced only one passage of chess worthy of a world cham- pion and that was the work of his mass of worthy seconds after an adjournment.
About my reasons for thinking that the challenger played most of the match under the influence and pressure of outside threats to his nearest and dearest I have already written, and I have no space to repeat them here. So I will simply affirm that the way the match was ended, with its barbarous and evil disregard of all the rules and regulations agreed beforehand, by the Fide President merely confirms and streng- thens my suspicions.
Ray Keene has said in an excellent book on the match that Karpov only saved his title by the action of the Fide President as a deus ex machina and my comment on this is that if the President acted as a deus, it was
not as Jupiter but as his brother Pluto, Lord of the Underworld.
In a feeble statement after the match, in a vain endeavour to disguise the fact that he had transgressed all rules and regula- tions as though they did not exist, Florencio Campomanes has asked what he could have done in the face of the assur- ance by the Soviet Chess Federation that further play would be detrimental to the health of the players and my reply is that he should have reminded the federation of the fact that there was an official doctor of the match. He should be consulted as to whether the players could safely continue and if not there could be a pause. But there would still have to be a resumption of play and if Karpov was unable to continue then he should have resigned the match.
For Kasparov there still exists the possi- bility of beating Karpov, if indeed he is allowed the chance of playing the world champion in some such neutral area as London Dockland. For Karpov there re- mains and will continue to remain through all the history of the game that he resorted to the most shameful methods of retaining his title. He should reflect too that he may not always have the good fortune of meeting a compatriot and thereby the means of bringing him to heel by non-chess methods.
Maybe his next opponent will be the talented young Dutchman, Jan Timman, who, if the following game from this year's Wijk aan Zee is any guide, is also a likely future opponent. Alas, I have no space for notes, so just play the game through and relish its power and excellence.
Timman-Kudrin: Q. P. Nimzo-Indian Defence. 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 B134 4 Bg5 h6 5 Bh4 c5 6 d5 d6 7 e3 Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 e5 913 Nbd7 10 Bd3 Qe7 11 Ne2 g5 12 Bg3 e4 13 Bxe4 Nxe4 14 fxe4 Ne5 150-0 0-0 16 Bxe5 Qxe5 17 Ng3 Qxc3 18 Rd l Qe5 19 Qh5 Qg7 20Q13 Qg6 21 Qf6! h5 22 Qe7 f5 23 exf5 Bxf5 24 Nxf5 Rxf5 25 Rxf5 Qxf5 26 Rfl! Qg6 27 R16 Qbl + 28 Kf2 Qb2+ 29 Kg3 Black lost on time.
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