KARPOV'S S****TING ETHICS
<As far as I can tell, Karpov is the only World Champion
in the FIDE era to play a title defense with *no* advantage
(twice with Korchnoi, once vs. Kasparov)> -- David Kane
How quickly we forget!
THIS CRAZY WORLD OF CHESS by GM Larry Evans (page 100)
Korchnoi became the target of Soviet wrath when he defected in 1976.
First they tried to disqualify him from a title shot on the grounds
that he was stateless, but FIDE had the courage to declare that
challengers represented themselves as individuals, not their nations.
FIDE nonetheless bowed to Soviet pressure by forcing Korchnoi to
accept a rematch clause that FIDE had stricken in 1963.
Then the Soviet Union refused to release Korchnoi=92s family and
objected to his playing under the flag of his new country,
Switzerland. During his 1978 title match, the Soviet press never
mentioned his name, referring to him only as "the challenger" or
"Karpov=92s opponent."
Korchnoi squawked that the deck was stacked against him even in a
neutral country like the Philippines. Two members of his delegation
were denied entry to the auditorium, but a parapsychologist with
Karpov=92s entourage was allowed to roam freely in the audience while
trying to hypnotize and unnerve Korchnoi. Try as he might, Korchnoi
could not get Dr. Zukhar removed. When Korchnoi appealed his loss in
the final game of the match on the grounds that the hypnotist had
broken an agreement by moving from the rear of the auditorium to the
fourth row while play was in progress, FIDE not only turned down the
appeal but went on to condemn the challenger for not conforming to
"the s****ting ethics of chess and general social obligations."
The matter did not stop there. The Soviet Union suddenly pulled out
two of her players from the Nineteenth Lone Pine Open in America after
learning Korchnoi was competing. Other tournament organizers were
notified that if Korchnoi were invited, no Russians would come. His
name was conspicuously absent from the list of the world=92s top ten
grandmasters in 1979 competing at the $110,000 Challenge Cup in
Montreal. Anatoly Karpov, who tied for first there with ex-titleholder
Mikhail Tal, had been able to wield his influence as world champion in
sup****t of the party line,
cabling the organizers, "If I could not refuse to face Korchnoi at
Baguio, I am now entitled to expect organizers to respect certain
conditions. Either they invite Korchnoi or me."
Not all the Russians joined the offensive against the expatriate.
Spassky was one of three (but only three) Soviet grandmasters who
refused to sign a letter of censure against Korchnoi. (Botvinnik and
Bronstein were the other two holdouts.) Korchnoi=92s son was imprisoned
in the USSR and beaten on the eve of his next title match with Karpov
in 1981. After Korchnoi lost, his family finally was released.
parrthenon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> GREG'S BILE
>
> Most of you probably noticed that among the
> reasons Greg Kennedy attacked Larry Evans was that
> the 5-time U.S. champion's "scolding" of Kasparov
> for doublecrossing ****rov "had no effect."
>
> Key-razy stuff from a very bitter man in Indiana.
> That would also be a reason for attacking GM Evans
> for pointing out Anatoly Karpov's depredations which
> also "had no effect."
>
> A few of you also likely caught the reference to
> Evans' "puff piece." Greg has a tin ear. Evans was
> answering a question from readers in his column,
> including Kasparov's manager who took umbrage at
> referring to his client's "shabby behavior."
> .
> That is not a "piece," as the term is commonly used in
> journalism. It is an answer from a Q&A column.
>
> Greg is right that GM Evans screamed louder over
> several of Karpov's outrages, but that is because
> GM Evans could and can distinguish among differing
> wrongs, unlike the coulda-been-a-contendah guy who
> is a nobody in chess and rarely has a good word to
> say about anyone..
>
> Kasparov cheated ****rov outrageously; Karpov played
> matches against Korchnoi with the latter's family held
> prisoner inside the USSR. On the eve of the second match
> in 1981, Korchnoi's son was beaten in a Soviet slave camp --
> an event that had a disastrous,though anticipated effect on
> Korchnoi's morale.
>
> Kasparov cheated and swerved and tergiversated; Karpov
> was, and may remain, a prime Grade AAA bonded rat,
> though in sheep's clothing these days.
>
> GM Evans' answer in his Q&A column was strongly
> worded and to the point, which is the way he always
> answered questions when his views were definite.
>
> In a separate posting I will present a long
> COPYRIGHTED article I wrote at the World Chess
> Network.It takes note of every sickening curve in
> Kasparov's swerving on the ****rov match. It is rather
> long and may seem a bit unrelenting to those of you
> outside the "coulda been a contendah" bitterness of
> our Greg, but it got the issue right -- an issue that
> had permutations of which our detail-shy Greg is
> blissfully unaware.
>
> Including, I might add, a refutation of a
> famous comment by Leo Durocher.
>
> Yours, Larry Parr
>
>
>
>
> help bot wrote:
> > parrthenon@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> >
> > > GM Larry Evans has been an objective observer of the chess scene for
> > > decades
> >
> > In fact, Larry Evans is the most biased "observer"
> > I know; his spin-zone reminds me of the "fair and
> > balanced" Fox News channel on TV.
> >
> >
> > > EVANS ON CHESS (Best Question, September 1999)
> > >
> > > Answer to a reader who said he was "absolutely disgusted" with the
way=
> > > "Alexei ****rov got shafted after he was promised a title match."
> > >
> > > GM EVANS RESPONDED
> > >
> > > I couldn't agree with you more. In my syndicated column (A Debt Of
> > > Honor) I noted: A planned match with ****rov collapsed because
backers
> > > got cold feet, fearing the contest might be too one-sided.
> > > Nonetheless, many critics feel that Kasparov is honor-bound to give
> > > ****rov a shot at the title first.
> > >
> > > 1. In 1998 Kasparov organized a match between ****rov and Kramnik,
> > > pledging to play the winner for $2 million.
> > >
> > > 2. ****rov won -- but only Kramnik got paid.
> > >
> > > 3. Kasparov has a debt of s****ting honor to see that ****rov is fully
> > > compensated and to face him under terms initially paraded by his
> > > defunct World Chess Countil." Kasparov's retaining draw odds is
unfair=
> > > to Anand and horribly distorted their 1995 tilt which began with
eight=
> > > straight draws.
> >
> >
> > I was a subscriber to Chess Lies at the time that
> > article appeared. Having become well accustomed to
> > the "huge bias" (IM John Watson, et al) of Mr. Evans,
> > I took the article as a token puff-piece-- not anything
> > like what one would expect if, say, FIDE or Anatoly
> > Karpov or any of the other, usual whipping boys had
> > done precisely the same thing.
> >
> > You see, when FIDE messes up -- and it quite often
> > does -- Mr. Evans has a cow. He will rant and rave
> > about the "injustice" or whatever until the day he dies,
> > guaranteed. Yet when one of his faves -- here, Gary
> > Kasparov -- blunders, all we can expect from the
> > hugely biased five-time U.S. Champ is a scolding,
> > and then silence. It is a double-standard to be sure,
> > but then, that seems to be the only kind of standard
> > Mr. Evans knows.
> >
> > So you see, the fact that Mr. Evans wanted "to be
> > seen" as having come out in sup****t of Mr. ****rov
> > does not impress. LE's scolding had no effect, and I
> > don't mean just on the cheating of Mr. ****rov, but on
> > his overall favoritism with regard to Mr. Kasparov.
> >
> > The reason is obvious: sup****ting GK is conducive
> > to Larry Evan's FIDE-ba****ng agenda. That agenda
> > is so im****tant to LE that he cannot afford to side
> > with "justice", no matter what it might happen to be.
> >
> > I couldn't help bot notice that Mr. Parr felt it might
> > help his ad hominem "cause" to switch threads; so
> > then, what was it that he was so worried about in
> > the original thread? I think I know: it was probably
> > the post in which LP presented Gary Kasparov as
> > a champion of "justice", who, much like Superman,
> > fights a never-ending battle for Truth, Justice, and
> > the Kasparov way.
> >
> > The ploy /could have/ worked, but for making such
> > a titanic blunder in the area of casting. I cannot say
> > who is right for the role of champion of justice, but it
> > is painfully obvious that Gary Kasparov ain't it.
> >
> >
> > -- help bot
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