Chess legends Garry Kasparov and Anatoli Karpov said on Monday they hope the re-match of their epic 1984 world championship this week in Spain will renew interest in the game.
“We are here to recover, if not a golden age at least a silver age, for chess,” Karpov, 58, told a joint news conference with his old foe Kasparov in Valencia in eastern Spain on the eve of the start of their clash.
Kasparov, 46, who has been active in the political opposition to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin since withdrawing from competitive chess in 2005 and setting up his own political party, said the World Chess Federation “had let the game die.”
“The chess that is played today is more technical, more aggressive, with younger players, but it has lost its glamour,” he said.
“The duel will put chess in the spotlight once again, as it did 25 years ago,” he said in an interview published in Spanish daily El Pais on Monday.
That epic encounter in Moscow lasted five months before the World Chess Federation, in a controversial move, stopped the duel without a clear winner on alleged health grounds though both players said they wanted to continue.
Karpov, who was 33 at the time, had won five of the matches, Kasparov, who was only 21, won three and 40 more were draws.
In their 1985 rematch, Kasparov beat Karpov narrowly, becoming the youngest world champion, and defended his title the following year.
The last time he played Karpov was in 1990 when he narrowly won.
Their new duel will have only 12 games — four semi-rapid and eight rapid — with the two men facing off under the watch of Dutch chess arbiter Geurt Gijssen in Valencia.
The tournament officially got under way on Monday with both players facing local personalities, but the real action began yesterday when Kasparov and Karpov played their first match of the series.
Kasparov acknowledged that the match will not carry the same suspense as the 1984 Moscow showdown, when he was challenging then world champion Karpov.
“Don’t expect a match with the same quality as 25 years ago,” he said.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors