A Little Right, a Little Wrong

It seems Anatoly Karpov is still alive and pretending to be relevant. He recently gave an interview which is hosted on ChessBase. Karpov made some statements that sound decent, but, Soviet hack that he is, some things he said are just laughable.

Question: Is the best chess player ever still playing or did he step back from chess?

Karpov: No, I am still playing.

Well shucks! Here our blog has been a lie, seeing as we commented on how, in fact, Garry Kasparov DID retire! As this Karpov interview continues and you hear how much he whines, you can maybe forgive him for such a silly answer as this one. After all, the fact that he NEVER won the World Championship but was merely granted it by default probably still weighs heavily on his mind.

Let's shift gears from Karpov for just a minute and check out the hack actually doing the interview. Hartmut Metz is either completely biased or simply an idiot; I would go with "both" actually.

Question: All the world champions came from Russia, except Bobby Fischer. In theory they were called amateurs by the Russian government, ...

Say what, say what, say what what what!? Try these on for size, ass.
Max Euwe: The Netherlands.
Jose Capablanca: Cuba.
Emanuel Lasker: Germany (later USA).
Wilhelm Steinitz: Bohemia (later USA).
Steinitz, remember, was the first player good enough to claim the title at all! A case could also be made for both Paul Morphy (USA) who simply wasn't interested enough to invent the title, judging by his abrupt retirement, and for Adolf Anderssen (Germany) who didn't invent the title either, but was the opponent Steinitz defeated in order to justify calling himself the World Champion. Attention Metz: drop this pro-Soviet propaganda (and yes, the "Russian" champions were actually Soviets) and learn some history.

Question: In the past, people knew the name of the world champion. Nowadays, everybody is exchangeable.

Karpov: You are right. People knew about 110 years of chess history. Nowadays, nobody is able to tell you the name of the world champion of 2000.

For an example, see above.

Question: So, for you as FIDE president, a unification of the world title would be the first point on your agenda?

Karpov: Exactly. I am convinced that Kasimdzhanov would never have become world champion if he had played eight or more games per round. In Tripoli he showed some good nerves, but that is not enough to deserve the title. First of all, we have to go back to the classical time control. It is not a good thing however to play marathon matches like the ones I played against Kortchnoi or Kasparov. Besides, classical chess should not be mixed with rapid chess or even blitz. If we had played like this in the past, Mikhail Botvinnik or Boris Spassky would have never become world champions.

I confess, this interview was the first I had heard of a Karpov FIDE Presidency. Oops on me, I guess. However, correct as this answer was (for a change), has anyone stopped to wonder about how Karpov could possibly rule FIDE and change things? I seriously doubt that the KGB can stand behind his chess-politic opponents with a gun pointing in their back, the way he won so many of his tournaments. Without their, ummm..., "assistance" Karpov is no formidable figure at all.

Just one more little item:

Question: So you could say that only Bobby Fischer is missing in this exquisite field.

Karpov: I hope that he is safe in Iceland now. I am very happy that this story in Japan has ended peacefully for him. This whole fuss did not only damage Fischer’s image, but that of the USA as well. The way the Americans treated one of their most popular citizens did not make a positive impression worldwide.

Of course, ANY article or interview on chess has to come back to this anti-Semitic lunatic felon. And why not? Really, there is no answer, but this is ChessBase, and they won't EVER be able to stop metaphorically pleasing Fischer's... King Pawn, if you take my meaning. However, again Karpov is pi out of phase with reality. Fisher has been damaging his "image" ever since appearing in public for the first time. And, of course, silly us for wanting to enforce our laws and those imposed by the UN. At least Karpov is tacitly admitting that the UN is worthless. And, of course, it is. And what does Karpov know of our most popular citizens? Fischer won some chess games years ago before going 100% psycho. Many people today only know of his chess because it is given as background for the news stories about his illegal and disgusting activity. Concerning the most popular of Americans, Karpov was, of course, completely wrong: Michael Jackson was acquitted.