Word: karpovs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When the triennial match for the world chess championship opened last September, excitement ran high. Enthusiasts from all over the Soviet Union and around the world flocked to Moscow's House of Trade Unions to watch Anatoli Karpov, 33, champion since 1975, defend his crown against fellow Soviet Citizen Gary Kasparov, 21, the youngest person ever to compete in a title match. Great, even unprecedented chess was predicted. But no one expected the record-breaking outcome: the longest drawn-out draw in championship history and, in a sport richly littered with strange events, probably the most controversial referee's ruling...
Last week, after five months and 48 games, with Karpov haggardly hanging on to a 5-3 lead but unable for twelve wearying weeks to achieve the match- winning sixth victory, World Chess Federation President Florencio Campomanes stepped in to stop the battle. At a Moscow press conference, Campomanes, who under world chess rules wields practically unlimited power, said he had acted because the contest "has exhausted the physical if not the psychological resources not only of the players but of all those connected with the match." To many--not least the hard-charging Kasparov, who had won the last...
...want to continue the game," protested Karpov half convincingly after Campomanes' announcement. "As we say in Russia, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." (Apparently, Russians read and claim Mark Twain.) Kasparov, who had been sitting in the back of the hall, was stunned. Striding onto the podium, he demanded to know why the match had been called off. "You knew I wanted to continue," he shouted, shaking his fist. "They are trying to deprive me of my chance." With that, he stormed out of the auditorium. To quell the ensuing pandemonium, an unaccustomed diversion at Soviet press conferences...
...foreign diplomats and journalists became nervous every time the radio broadcast somber symphonic music, frequently the first indication of a top leader's death. There were other signs and portents as well for Kremlin watchers: at week's end, for example, the long-running world chess match between Anatoli Karpov and Gary Kasparov was abruptly moved out of the House of Unions, the elegant building where Soviet leaders traditionally lie in state...
...same time, the Soviets unveiled their negotiating team. It will be led by Victor Karpov, a veteran diplomat who was his country's chief negotiator in both the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) at the end of the Carter Administration and the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) during the first Reagan term. His American counterpart in the upcoming discussions will be Washington Attorney Max Kampelman...