WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH 

MOSCOW, STATE TRETYAKOV GALLERY, MAY 10 — MAY 31, 2012 

   

HISTORY

 

Wilhelm Steinitz

The title of world chess champion was first awarded in 1886 and has been contested ever since then. In the nineteenth century, some outstanding players were considered unofficial world champions, including French player Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais, Englishman Howard Staunton, German combination genius Adolf Anderssen and the brilliant Paul Charles Morphy, Esq., of New Orleans, who conquered the Old World with a series of phenomenal victories but then retired from the game. However, it wasn’t until 1883, after a historic tournament in London, that a match for the title of strongest world player was first suggested. Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz, considered the “uncrowned king” of chess after his match victory over Anderssen, unexpectedly came in second in that tournament, a whole three points behind Anderssen’s student Johannes Zukertort. Zukertort was highly educated, fluent in a dozen languages and edited a number of chess magazines, which he used to argue against Steinitz. The latter gave tit for tat, though – he wrote a chess column for The Field, Britain’s leading sports newspaper, and used it to air his views.

However, after the tournament in London his job at the newspaper (and his fine salary!) was given to his historic adversary. Steinitz naturally wanted to recover the glory of the strongest player in the world. He emigrated to the United States, where the first match for the title of world chess champion was organised in 1886. That was a “first to 10 wins” match; draws did not count. A 9-9 tie would have been considered a draw. The competition was played in three cities: New York, St. Louis and New Orleans. Steinitz started disastrously, and Zukertort gained a 4-1 lead. However, after moving to St. Louis, there was a turning point in the match – Steinitz first evened the score and then clinched a remarkable 10-5 victory (with 5 draws), thus becoming the first world champion. From then on, any contender had to defeat the reigning champion to win the coveted title.

Great Russian chess maestro Mikhail Chigorin was the first one to challenge Steinitz. Chigorin had traditionally been a troublesome opponent for Steinitz, and their 1889 match in Havana proved to be uneasy for the champion. The match had a maximum of 20 games, and Chigorin led during the first third of them, but persistent Steinitz made a comeback in the middle of the match and won 10.5-6.5.

Emanuel Lasker

A year later, Wilhelm Steinitz accepted a challenge from English-Hungarian chess master Isidor Gunsberg, who had won several important tournaments while Steinitz was sorting things out with Chigorin. The match in New York proved to be very close; once again, the winner had to score at least 10.5 points in 20 games. The defending champion made a sweeping finish and beat another challenger, this time by 10.5-8.5.

At about the same time, a promotional telegraph match between Steinitz and Chigorin was organised, and the Russian contender secured an impressive landslide victory. Steinitz had to prove his dominance yet again. He crossed swords with the Russian maestro for the second time in 1892, again in Havana. This time the format of the match was somewhat different: the victor needed to win 10 games, and a 9-9 tie meant more games until one of the players scored three wins. The opponents were almost equal; however, when Steinitz led by 9-8, Chigorin gained a superior position, but out of exhaustion allowed his opponent a mate-in-two. Steinitz won 10-8 (with 5 draws).

The first world champion was already nearing 60 and telling the media that he was ready to play his final match, only there was no worthy opponent to defeat him. But it turned out that there was one! Emanuel Lasker, a 25-year-old German, had burst into the ranks of the chess elite and wanted to play a contender match against Chigorin or Siegbert Tarrasch, but the two masters preferred to play each other. Then Lasker decided to challenge the world champion, and Steinitz, who never shied away from a fight, picked up the gauntlet. The match was held in 1894 in three cities: New York, Philadelphia and Montreal.

The match remained equal for the first half, with both players showing tenacity, but when they got to the middle of the match, the aging champion lost a couple of excellent positions, and Lasker managed to snatch the requisite ten wins (10 to 5, with four draws). When congratulating his opponent, Steinitz said loudly, “Three cheers for the new world champion!”

According to the regulations, the former champion was entitled to a rematch, and Moscow was chosen as its venue. However, Steinitz was no longer any match for Lasker; besides, the loss of the title proved to be a crushing blow to the first champion and took its toll on his physical and mental health. During the match, Steinitz was taken to the hospital several times, and the match took much longer than originally planned. Lasker did not want to be declared champion without playing and managed to finish the match despite delays. He won convincingly with ten wins, two losses and five draws.

This marked the beginning of his 27-year reign. In his first matches, the new chess king walloped his opponents. In 1907, Lasker played the best American chess player, Frank Marshall, in the United States and won the first-to-win-eight-games match 8 to 0 (with seven draws).

Siegbert Tarrasch, reverently dubbed “Teacher of Germany”, once rejected Lasker’s challenge saying that the young talent first needed to prove that he was a worthy opponent. After Lasker won the world title, their roles changed, and it was Tarrasch who started seeking a match with Lasker. However, the German Chess Union didn’t manage to raise the money needed to organise the match until 1908. Lasker was at his very peak, while Tarrasch was already past his prime. The reigning champion dominated the match, played in Dusseldorf and Munich, and although Tarrasch won a few solid, brilliant games, Lasker won the title match handsomely (8 to 3, with five draws).

His next opponent was Dawid Janowski, a French-Russian chess master. Although not the strongest of all contenders, he managed to find a wealthy sponsor, who spent a generous sum to organise the match. The match between Lasker and Janowski was held in 1909 in Paris, the heart of Europe, and saw another convincing win for Lasker, 7 to 1 (with two draws).

Only in 1910 did Emanuel Lasker finally play a worthy opponent. Chess historians still debate whether the Emanuel Lasker – Carl Schlechter match held in Vienna and Berlin was for the World Chess Championship: there were too few games (ten), and the champion played the next official match, also in 1910. Some sources say that Schlechter needed a 6-4 victory. The Austrian master was very close to his goal, leading 5 to 4, but Lasker snatched the victory in the hard-fought final tenth game and the match ended in a draw.

Jose Raul Capablanca

Dawid Janowski dreamed of playing another match for the world championship title, and his dream came true with the help of his rich patron. The second Lasker-Janowski match was held in Berlin in 1910. The first player to have eight wins would be declared the overall winner, and the defending champion crushed his opponent 8 to 0 (with three draws).

Despite the easy wins against weaker Janowski, the match with Schlechter made it clear that the champion had lost his comfortable lead over the best players of that time. To put it mildly, Lasker was not exactly eager to play a match against the most serious contenders. For example, the negotiated match against prominent Polish Grandmaster Akiba Rubinstein never took place. WWI started soon, and chess fell out of fashion in Europe. Unsurprisingly, the next World Championship match was organized across the ocean, and only in 1921, when Lasker, under serious public pressure, had to take up the gauntlet thrown by ingenious Cuban player Jose Raul Capablanca. At some point, the aging world champion even wanted to resign his title in favour of the great Cuban, but chess enthusiasts naturally objected to such a move.

Capablanca’s appearance in the world of chess caused a real sensation. The Cuban had never lost a game in any of the tournaments he had played over the previous seven years. The title match was unkind to the 52-year-old defending champion – it was hard for Lasker to play in 40-degree heat against the mighty challenger. But the devastating war had brought Lasker to ruin, and he could not withdraw from a match with substantial prize money. The champion managed to withstand the fight early in the match, but the tension proved too much, and he surrendered when the score was 0 to 4 (after ten draws).

Alexander Alekhine

Jose Raul Capablanca became the third world champion and immediately took a number of decisive steps to protect his title. It was Capablanca who initiated the “London Rules”, an agreement signed by the champion and world title challengers (Alekhine, Reti, Vidmar, Rubinstein, Bogoljubov, Tartakower and Maroczy). The deal was very beneficial for the champion: the first player to win six games would win a World Championship match, and the champion would keep the title if there was a 5-5 draw. In addition, the champion was entitled to accept the challenge only for a prize of more than $10,000 in gold, which was an enormous amount at the time. The result was that many of the leading players of that time, notably Richard Reti and Aron Nimzowitsch, never managed to raise the money to challenge Capablanca, although there used to be a plaque on Nimzowitsch’s apartment door in Copenhagen that read, “Aron Nimzowitsch, contender for the title of world champion”.

Capablanca didn’t have to defend his title for six years, until Alexander Alekhine, a Soviet emigrant, managed to find sponsors during his tour of South America to help him organise a World Championship match against Capablanca in Buenos Aires in 1927. By that time Alekhine had won a few top-class tournaments, but his track record in games against Capablanca was poor, and hardly anyone believed that the Russian player would defeat the “Human Chess Machine”. Alekhine started off winning the first game, but then lost two. The two opponents fought bitterly, often until the kings were the only pieces left on the board, but most of the games were drawn. Alekhine managed to win three games in the middle of the match and led 4 to 2. The Cuban managed to win one game back, sensing the threat of losing his title, and was very close to levelling the match. However, Alekhine withstood the onslaught and came out on top, 6 to 3 (with 25 draws). Alexander Alekhine thus became the fourth world champion.

The two champions became enemies after the Buenos Aires match, and Alekhine did his best to push Capablanca outside the chess world – he even demanded that organisers of top tournaments refrain from inviting the Cuban. As a result, fans never saw a revenge match between Alekhine and Capablanca. Efim Bogoljubov, another Soviet emigrant, became Alekhine’s title match opponent, challenging him twice and losing both times. Alekhine used to say that he admired the great champions of the past and was ready for a match against Lasker. However, by that time, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) had gained weight and appointed Bogoljubov to be FIDE’s official challenger to Alekhine. Bogoljubov, being obviously inferior to Capablanca, did not offer much resistance. In 1929, the defending champion won 15.5 to 9.5 (Wiesbaden – Heidelberg) in a best-of-30-games match (FIDE was opposed to an unlimited match), and in 1934, Alekhine won 15.5 to 10.5 in Germany.

Mikhail Botvinnik

Despite his brilliant chess career, Alekhine’s personal life was far from perfect. At some point, the Russian champion became addicted to alcohol, and, unfortunately, the match with outstanding Dutch player Max Euwe (Holland, 1935) was organised during one of his bad spells. The schedule of the match had the players moving from one Dutch town to another, which wore out the older Alekhine. The fourth world champion took an early lead; however, in the middle of the match, when tension got high, Alekhine started drinking before each game to relieve stress. But that shouldn’t detract from Euwe’s magnificent achievement – his 15.5 to 14.5 win and the title of the fifth world champion were well deserved.

Despite his problems with the schedule, Alekhine proved to be a very practical player. His contract with Euwe included a rematch provision. The Dutchman had promised a match with Capablanca, but first he had to play a rematch with the Russian master. The former champion had recovered his strength for the 1937 match and even bought a cow to include fresh milk in his diet. Alekhine won the rematch by a large margin (15.5 to 9.5) and regained his title.

Alas, that was Alekhine’s last World Championship match. He accepted the challenge of Czech grandmaster Salo Flohr, but the match was prevented by the beginning of World War II. After the war was over, some leading grandmasters accused the aging champion of cooperating with the Nazis (he had played German tournaments and wrote an unseemly article entitled “Aryan and Jewish Chess”) and demanded that Alekhine’s title be revoked. Alekhine did the only thing possible under the circumstances – he signed an agreement to play a match with Soviet champion Mikhail Botvinnik in the USSR. Before the war, the Soviet Union had produced a series of excellent players, and Botvinnik was the leader of the pack, having successfully played tournament matches against Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine and Euwe. But the historic match never took place – Alexander Alekhine died undefeated.

Vasily Smyslov

The public was in favour of declaring Max Euwe the world champion, as he was the only ex-world champion alive. But then it was decided to organise a title tournament with the six leading chess players in the world. At the last minute, American Reuben Fine withdrew, and only five grandmasters took part – Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres (all of the USSR), Samuel Reshevsky (of the USA) and Max Euwe (of the Netherlands). The winner of that landmark tournament, held in the Hague and Moscow in 1948, was Mikhail Botvinnik. Since then, the Soviet school dominated the world of chess; World Championship matches were held exclusively in Moscow and only between Soviet players until 1972. Mikhail Botvinnik aided FIDE in developing a coherent system for selecting challengers: Zonal, Interzonal and Candidates Tournaments. The winner of the Candidates plays a title match (24 games) against the champion. The champion retains the title if the match is tied; if he loses, the champion is entitled to a rematch.

David Bronstein won the first Candidates Tournament in 1950. Bronstein, a representative of the Ukrainian chess school and a bright and dynamic player, whose favourite openings were the King’s Gambit and the King’s Indian Defence, had an excellent chance of defeating the unpractised Botvinnik (after he won the title, Botvinnik stopped playing tournaments, and instead wrote his doctoral dissertation). The challenger led 11.5-10.5, but poorly analysed the adjourned 23rd game and surrendered. He still had a chance of winning if he won the final game of the match, but Botvinnik’s nerve prevailed and he made a draw in a better position, tied the match by a score of 12-12 and retained his championship.

The year 1954 saw the beginning of a series of matches between Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov. The Moscow grandmaster had confirmed his status as one of the world’s top players back at the post-war international tournament in Groningen in 1946 and finished second in the 1948 tournament match. Smyslov came in first in the 1953 Candidates Tournament, finishing ahead of Bronstein, Keres, Reshevsky and other brilliant grandmasters, and won the right to play Botvinnik for the coveted title. However, his first attempt was unsuccessful – Botvinnik led at the start of the match, then Smyslov had a winning streak, but the match ended in a 12-12 tie, and the sixth champion again retained his title. However, by the mid-1950s, Vasily Smyslov had built up power, and went on to win another challenger tournament and defeat Botvinnik in their second title match (1957), leading from start to finish with a final score of 12.5-9.5, thus becoming the seventh world champion.

The following year, Smyslov had to play a return match with his adversary. A scandal erupted prior to the match, when Botvinnik demanded that each player should have only one second (Botvinnik’s team lost to Smyslov’s seconds in the 1957 match in analysing adjourned positions). FIDE’s president met the demand of the former champion. Winning the psychological duel ahead of the match, Botvinnik seized the initiative and won 12.5-10.5, thus regaining the chess crown.

In the late 1950s, the chess world became entranced by an amazing chess master from Riga. Mikhail Tal was called a “wizard”, “sorcerer”, and “meteor”. He sacrificed pieces right and left and easily mated opponents hitherto considered impenetrable. After his triumph in the Candidates Tournament, Tal was to play the title match against Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960. The 49-year-old champion felt uneasy playing the young star. It was a head-to-head match up until the middle despite exhausting time pressure, but youth overpowered staidness, and Tal won by 12.5-8.5, becoming the eighth world champion.

Tigran Petrosian

But one year later, Tal was to play a return match, as Smyslov had before. The young champion led a dissolute personal life – he never kept to a strict sporting schedule, was a chain smoker and enjoyed the well-deserved favours of girls. Tal did not train hard for the match, apparently believing that he could defeat the veteran hands down. Botvinnik, for his part, was very serious about the coming match. And the 1961 return match showed that Tal was in far from ideal shape. The public was surprised to see the 50-year-old former champion destroy the “Hussar from Riga” 13-8 and regain the world title once again.

Botvinnik would be almost 52 by the time of the next title match, and he published a statement that he was ready to resign his title provided a worthy Soviet player won the Candidates Tournament. It must have been a psychological trick, because he was ready for the 1963 match against challenger Tigran Petrosian and fought the best he could. The sixth champion won the first game, and then Petrosian scored two wins. Botvinnik managed to even the score after game 14, but “Iron Tigran” had three wins in the final half of the match and beat Botvinnik with a final score of 12.5-9.5, becoming the ninth World Chess Champion. By that time, FIDE had abolished the rematch provision, and Botvinnik retired from world championship tournaments, as he did not want to start a crusade for the crown as an ordinary Candidates contender.

Anatoly Karpov

The 1960s saw a generational shift in the Soviet chess world. Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov and Bronstein could no longer really contend for the world title, so Boris Spassky became the new challenger in 1966. Spassky had had early successes but entered a slump in world championship qualifying events, thus staying far from the top. However, as soon as he switched from his first trainer to famous grandmaster and coach Igor Bondarevsky, his results markedly improved. In 1966, FIDE replaced the Candidates Tournament with Candidates knock-out matches. He won the qualifiers and the right to a one-on-one match for the title with Petrosian, but his first attempt did not win him the title. Petrosian had trained hard for the match and won by 12.5-11.5. The challenger did not seem to be fully prepared for the title match and often played dubious lines. However, three years later, Spassky earned the right to play Petrosian again and didn’t miss his chance this time. The 1969 Petrosian-Spassky match was as hard as the first one. This time Spassky was much better prepared and managed to penetrate the defence of the “Iron Tigran” a few times, snatching the victory by 12.5-10.5. Boris Spassky thus became the tenth World Chess Champion.

In 1972, Reykjavik hosted what was probably the most politicised title match of all time. At the height of the Cold War, Soviet champion Boris Spassky had to confront U.S. chess genius Robert James Fischer, who had beaten Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen with perfect scores of 6-0 in the qualifiers and confidently defeated ex-champion Petrosian. For the first time since 1948, a non-Soviet chess player had a chance to grab the title. However, Fischer had a poor track record playing Spassky, with three losses and no wins. The American grandmaster failed to arrive in Iceland on time and kept making new demands. British banker Jim Slater increased the prize money to entice Fischer to play. They say it took a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to persuade Fischer to fly to Iceland. But in the end, the match did take place. The first game proved to be a disaster for Fischer: while in a drawn position, he imprudently captured a poisoned pawn, thus allowing his bishop to be trapped, and couldn’t find the spectacular way to draw the game that was available. Spassky took an early lead of 1-0, but the American never showed up for the second game! The match was again under threat, and the Soviet champion was negotiating with Moscow on a daily basis – the USSR demanded that the match should be stopped. But Spassky decided to continue, although his nerve and morale had been undermined. Fischer soon evened the score and then took the lead by 6.5-3.5. At that point, Spassky was able to pull himself together and play with renewed vigour. He knocked Fischer out in game 11 and narrowed the gap, but the American stole game 13. Spassky never won another game, although he dominated throughout the second half of the match. After winning game 21, Robert Fischer became the eleventh World Champion (with a score of 12.5-8.5).

Robert Fischer

After winning the title, Fischer demanded that FIDE change the rules for the World Championship match and FIDE complied, introducing the unlimited match instead of the 24-game battle. In the meantime, it was young Soviet grandmaster who challenged Fischer, having won the Candidates Matches. Fischer had not played chess for three years, and his title was obviously in danger. Therefore, the American demanded that the title match should continue until one player wins 10 games, same as back in Steinitz’s times. The Federation satisfied the champion’s whims again, while rejecting the provision that Fischer retain his title in the event of a 9–9 tie. In this case, Karpov would have to secure at least a two-point margin, which was clearly unfair. Fischer, enraged, forfeited the title by refusing to play the match, and the 1975 Fischer – Karpov match, which could have been the greatest event in the history of the game, never took place. Anatoly Karpov became the twelfth World Chess Champion by forfeit.

Boris Spassky

Nevertheless, even after Fischer resigned political overtones never disappeared from world chess. Very soon grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi, who lost the Candidates final to Karpov in 1974, emigrated from the USSR to Switzerland. This move must have put new heart in the disgraced player, and he won all of the Candidates matches brilliantly. The Soviet Union demanded that Korchnoi be disqualified and declared a boycott; however, Max Euwe, then-president of FIDE, did not allow the former Soviet grandmaster to be excluded from the qualifying cycle. The title match between Korchnoi and Karpov was held in Baguio City in the Philippines in 1978. Fischer’s unlimited format had been cut – the two used the Alekhine – Capablanca formula, with the first player to win 6 games being declared champion. The match was filled with scandals: the Soviet camp demanded that Korchnoi play without a flag, and after game 7 Karpov declined to shake his opponent’s hand, while Korchnoi gave numerous press conferences denouncing Mikhail Tal and other Soviet grandmasters who took Karpov’s side. Both fought over where Karpov’s personal doctor, Zukhar, should sit in the room, as the challenger believed the doctor was a parapsychologist. Karpov was the first one to lead, but Korchnoi evened the score, which was followed by the champion winning three games, to lead 4-1. The Baguio City final was one of the most hard-fought matches in history, and the longest one ever, with many draws. After Karpov opened up a 5-2 lead and seemed sure to win, it appeared that the Soviet champion, who had never been in superb physical shape, lacked the strength for the final attack. And then Korchnoi again tied the score – 5-5 – in a miraculous comeback. Both players needed just one victory to be declared winner, and Anatoly Karpov won 6-5 (with 21 draws), retaining the chess crown.

Viktor Korchnoi never came to terms with his defeat and managed to repeat the achievements of Smyslov and Spassky, wining the right to play Karpov for the title for a second time in 1981. But unlike his predecessors, his second attempt was unsuccessful. The boycott of Soviet chess players forced the disgraced contender to miss most of the top tournaments, while Karpov played a lot of successful matches, making his superiority over other grandmasters even more apparent. Karpov dominated during the next title match, held in Merano, Italy, and led comfortably 3-0 after just four games. Korchnoi came back with two wins, but could not yield any more victories, and Karpov defended his title relatively easily by a score of 6-2, with 10 draws.

The match made it clear that Korchnoi would not be able to really contend for the world title any longer, the more so because a new generation of Soviet chess talents, including Garry Kasparov, Alexander Beliavsky and Lev Psakhis, was ready to fight for the crown. The biggest talent of them all – Baku grandmaster Kasparov – won the Candidates cycle. All of the Karpov-Kasparov matches are etched in the history of the game in golden letters and are known as “The Great Confrontation”. The first title match against Karpov, held in Moscow in 1984-1985, was a closely contested battle – Anatoly Karpov had prepared thoroughly for the match against his younger opponent and secured a quick lead, winning five games to establish a dominating score of 5-0. The format was first-to-6-wins, not counting draws, and Kasparov found himself on the edge. He managed to win one game after a series of draws, and with a score of 5-1, the match turned into a marathon. Games were often postponed, because the venue, the Pillar Hall of the House of the Unions, was needed for other events (sometimes for funerals). Anatoly Karpov had a few “goal chances”, but never managed to score, and the match outlasted everyone’s expectations. More than 40 games had been played, and when Kasparov finally managed to win two more games, bringing the score to 5-3, FIDE President Florencio Campomanes called the match off without announcing a winner. Both opponents were resentful of the decision, and both Karpov and Kasparov criticised the FIDE president.

Garry Kasparov

A new title match was scheduled to take place in late 1985, again in Moscow. FIDE had decided to return to the Botvinnik 24-game formula, and in the case of a tie, reigning champion Karpov would retain the title. Furthermore, a rematch clause was in effect. Kasparov secured an early lead in the match, but Karpov bounced back to take the lead after games 4 and 5, bringing the score to 3-2. The Baku grandmaster managed to recover in game 11 and pulled ahead after brilliant victories in games 16 and 19, leading by a score of 10.5-8.5. Karpov made an extra effort and minimised the gap, 12-11. The defending champion needed just one victory, but it was Kasparov that snatched the win in the final game, winning the match by 13-11 and the title of the thirteenth World Chess Champion. He was 22 at that time, which made him the youngest ever World Champion.

Karpov exercised his right to a rematch against Kasparov a year later, in 1986. The title match was to be played in both London and Leningrad. After the London round, Garry Kasparov led 6.5-5.5, playing strongly and confidently. In Leningrad, he secured a 9.5-6.5 lead, but just when it looked like the former champion would be easily defeated, Karpov rose from the ashes and won three consecutive games, levelling the score at 9.5-9.5! At this point, a scandal erupted in Kasparov’s team – the champion accused his second, Evgeny Vladimirov, of selling information to Karpov’s team, and Vladimirov left Kasparov. The Baku grandmaster scored one more win and kept his title with a final score of 12.5-11.5.

Now Karpov had to get through the Candidates Matches to once again become challenger, and he succeeded in doing so after handily defeating Andrei Sokolov. The next Kasparov-Karpov World Championship match took place in Seville, Spain, in 1987. The defending champion kept a one-point lead until game 16, and then Karpov, playing black, managed to win an important game and even the score at 8-8. The former champion redoubled his efforts during the final phase, and Kasparov miraculously escaped defeat a few times. Nevertheless, after game 22, the match was tied 11-11. During the two final games, true drama developed. First, Kasparov forgot his analysis at the end of game 23, made an incorrect rook sacrifice and had to concede defeat a few moves later. Now Kasparov needed a victory. He started the final game aggressively, and although Karpov could have saved the match, he overlooked a simple combination when he started slipping behind on the clock. The Black had no chance to draw in the adjourned position – Kasparov skilfully converted his extra pawn into a final victory and kept his title by sheer miracle at 12:12.

The last battle between Kasparov and Karpov took place in 1990 in two cities, Lyon and New York, after Karpov had again won the Candidates Tournament with flying colours. The match was neck-and-neck until game 18: Kasparov gained the lead twice but Karpov recouped twice. However, the fate of the match was sealed after the champion won games 18 and 20. Under the wire, Karpov scored a consolation goal, bringing the last showdown between the two Ks to 12.5-11.5 in Kasparov’s favour. The match was also preceded by a conflict between the contestants, as Kasparov had decided to play under the Russian tricolour flag while Karpov remained loyal to the Soviet flag.

It seemed that a new, sixth duel between the two Ks was inevitable. However, the Candidates matches in 1993 were sensationally won by Nigel Short of Britain who defeated Karpov in the semi-finals. Short then offered to play a match against Kasparov outside the aegis of FIDE in order to avoid the dictate of Campomanes and not let FIDE pocket 20% of the prize fund. Kasparov agreed and as a result the chess world was split. FIDE disqualified Kasparov and Short and hastily staged a match between Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman who had lost the Candidates Tournament in Holland and Indonesia. Karpov won 12.5-8.5 to become FIDE World Champion. In the Kasparov-Short match, the young challenger was unable to offer credible resistance to the great champion, and the Russian won easily by 12.5-7.5.

The following year saw the start of qualifying rounds under both FIDE and the Professional Chess Association (PCA), established by Kasparov. Both rounds were dominated by young, new wave players: Kasparov was challenged by Indian Viswanathan Anand and Karpov was to play against a Leningrad-born American, Gata Kamsky. In 1996 Karpov defeated Kamsky in Elista with a score of 10.5-7.5. The hard-fought Kasparov-Anand match in New York ended with a similar score in favour of Kasparov. Anand even led 5-2 after game 9, but then suffered several defeats.

The conflicting sides had difficulty agreeing on a unifying match between Karpov and Kasparov and new qualifying rounds were problematic because of a lack of funds. As a result, the PCA fell apart and Kasparov was left only with his title and the reputation of an invincible player. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who had become president of FIDE, started to hold world championships according to the knockout system. In 1998 Viswanathan Anand won the qualifying knockout tournament but then lost to Anatoly Karpov in Lausanne by 3-5 (3-3 in classical chess and 0-2 in rapid chess). In 1999 Alexander Khalifman of Russia became FIDE World Champion, but in 2000 the title went to Anand.

Vladimir Kramnik

Kasparov had not defended his title for four years while attempts to stage a match with Alexei Shirov or Viswanathan Anand had failed. However, in 2000 London agreed to host a match between Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, who was rated number two. Kramnik was thought to be not very good at playing matches after suffering defeat in the Candidates rounds in the 1990s and trailing behind Shirov. However, the challenger began the “match of his life” with guns blazing. For the first time, Kasparov failed to score a single win whereas Kramnik twice defeated his opponent. It was a 16-game match and Vladimir Kramnik won 8.5-6.5 to become the fourteenth world champion in classical chess.

Meanwhile, the winner in the FIDE knockout cycle was Ruslan Ponomaryov of Ukraine in 2002 and Rustam Kasymzhanov, a grandmaster from Uzbekistan, in 2004. Eventually the Prague Agreement was signed to unify the cycle. Under its terms, Kasparov was to play against the FIDE world champion and Kramnik against the winner of the Brain Games selection tournament, which turned out to be Peter Leko of Hungary. The winners of these matches would then play each other. However, attempts to organise Kasparov – Ponomaryov and later Kasparov – Kasymzhanov matches failed and unification of the chess world was delayed, although Kramnik had fulfilled his obligations under the Prague Agreement. The Kramnik – Leko match took place in Brissago in 2004. The world champion won the first game but the Hungarian Grandmaster managed to come back and gain the lead. Before the last and fourteenth game, Peter Leko led by 7-6 and a draw would have made the challenger the fifteenth chess champion. However, Kramnik, playing white, won the crucial game to retain his world title.

In 2005 Garry Kasparov announced that he was retiring from professional chess. Meanwhile, FIDE and Vladimir Kramnik finally agreed on a merger. The 2005 FIDE World Championship in St Louis was won by Bulgarian Grandmaster Veselin Topalov. In 2006 Elista hosted the long-awaited unifying match between Topalov and Kramnik, consisting of 12 games. If the score was 6-6 the match would be decided in rapid chess. The match got off to a nervous start with the two players making angry statements in the press and in the first two games, both parties made many mistakes. As a result, Kramnik led by 2-0. The next two games ended in a draw and before the fifth game the Bulgarian side lodged a complaint accusing Kramnik of visiting the restroom too frequently and spending a long time there, suspecting the Russian of foul play. The Appeals Committee decided to close the participants’ personal toilets and instead open one common restroom. In protest against the decision, which violated the contract, Vladimir Kramnik did not show up for the fifth game, which was registered as a forfeit loss for him. The match in jeopardy, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov immediately flew to Elista. After changes in the Appeals Committee, the game resumed from the 3-2 score, meaning the fifth game was awarded to Kramnik’s opponent. Inspired by this turnaround, Topalov took initiative and in the eighth game brought the score to a 4-4 draw and then established a 5-4 lead in the ninth game. The buzz in the media was that Kramnik was thrown off balance by the scandal and was unlikely to be able to recoup, but the Russian restored the balance in game 10 (5-5). The two final classic chess games were drawn and the match went into a tiebreak, meaning 4 rapid chess games. With the score at 7.5-7.5, Vladimir Kramnik won the crucial fourth game.

After the reunification of the chess world, it was decided to hold a world championship tournament with the top eight Grandmasters taking part: Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Boris Gelfand, Peter Leko, Peter Svidler, Alexander Morozevich, Levon Aronian and Alexander Grishchuk. In the event of failure, Kramnik would have the right to play a match against the winner. The tournament, held in Mexico City in 2007, was won by Viswanathan Anand, who scored 9 points out of 14 with no losses, overtaking Kramnik and Gelfand by one point. Kramnik availed himself of the right to play a match against the tournament winner and Anand and Kramnik crossed swords in 2008 in Bonn, Germany to battle for the title of the world’s number one chess player. The schedule of the match was a replica of the Kramnik-Topalov match: 12 games and a tiebreak if the score got to 6-6.

The Indian Grandmaster had prepared very well for the opening and at the beginning trounced Kramnik three times. The score reached 4.5-1.5 in Anand’s favour. To Kramnik’s credit, he fought on and even won a consolation tenth game. However, Viswanathan Anand won the match 6.5-4.5 to become the fifteenth world champion.

Veselin Topalov did not take part in the 2007 tournament in Mexico City and missed the next cycle of World Championship qualifying competitions. As compensation, FIDE allowed the Bulgarian Grandmaster to play a match against Anand if he defeated World Championship winner Gata Kamsky. Topalov was better prepared for the match than the American. The Anand – Topalov match took place in Sofia in 2010 and had the same format as the Kramnik – Topalov and Anand – Kramnik matches. The battle between Anand and Topalov was one of the highest quality in the whole history of chess matches and was marked by the high tensions both over the chessboard and away from it. Topalov pointedly played all positions until bare kings remained and after the games the rivals did not shake hands. The Bulgarian Grandmaster used a powerful supercomputer to analyse the opening positions, while Anand had Kasparov and Kramnik as his advisors. In the first game the Indian Grandmaster rather recklessly played a sharp line of the Grunfeld Defence and fell victim to a powerful follow-up developed by the Bulgarian team. Topalov took the lead. Anand then completely changed tactics, avoiding dramatic moves and managing twice to out-manoeuvre his opponent, bringing the score to 2.5-1.5 in his favour. In game 8, Topalov outwitted the champion in the endgame, bringing the score to 4-4. The players were both highly resourceful, but neither Anand nor Topalov managed to stun the opponent. The score was level at 5.5-5.5 before the last game. Remembering his setback in the tiebreak with Kramnik, Topalov tried to sew up the outcome during regular time, but overestimated his chances and Anand won by launching an elegant counterattack. The final score was 6.5-5.5 and Anand remained the champion.

In May 2012 Viswanathan Anand will defend his title against Israeli Grandmaster Boris Gelfand. The two most powerful tournament and match players of recent times will play in Moscow in May. World Champion Anand is the only player in the history of chess to win match, tournament and knockout competitions. The challenger is Gelfand, who shared second place with Kramnik in the tournament match in Mexico City (2007), and won the World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk (2009) and the Candidates Matches in Kazan (2011).