Re: The Match That Wasn't

help bot wrote:
> On May 3, 1:36 pm, "parrthe...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
" <parrthe...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > Several readers said they understood "selfmate" to mean only that
> > Fischer mated himself by handing the title to Karpov without a
> > fight..
>
>   This nonsense about Bobby Fischer handing "his"
> title off to Anatoly Karpov is wrongheaded.
>
>   In fact, Mr. Fischer resigned the FIDE title, and it
> was only later given to the winner of the final playoff
> match, by FIDE (not BF).   Mr. Fischer's battles
> were with or against the FIDE assembly, not AK.
> And I wouldn't say that BF did not put up a fight; it
> is perhaps more accurate to say that he lost by
> TKO, after winning nearly every round but the last.
>
>
>   -- help bot


You can argue this one either way. In June of 1974, when FIDE wouldn't
agree to his match conditions, Fischer wrote the letter resigning his
"FIDE title." In September of 1974, Karpov won the final Candidates
Match. In that sense, Kennedy's quibble is correct. However, in May-
June 1975, FIDE held another meeting and agreed to _almost_ all of
Fischer's conditions. They then sent Fischer a request to play, more
or less ignoring the "resignation" letter. When Fischer refused to
rely, Karpov was declared the winner by forfeit. Looked at that way,
Evans's account is fairly accurate -- by declining to play, Fischer
"gave" the title to his (known) opponent.