7/14/2005 -
Karpov gave an interesting interview conducted by the organizers of
the Mainz Chess Classic. I recalling seeing a comment in MIG's chess ninja
site about Karpov being interested in being FIDE President. I think the time
is ripe for Karpov to take the role. Prior to Kasparov retirement, I thought
Karpov for FIDE president would not work, but now the door is open for
Karpov to take over the role. Karpov is no longer the dominate player he was
thru out the 70, 80's and 90's.
With the chess world in turmoil, we need
someone who is respected to restore order. FIDE did well when it was run by
former World Champion Max Euwe. Let us recall that it was Euwe who
saved two world championship matches. The first being the 1972 Fischer vs.
Spassky match, the 2nd was the 1978 Karpov vs. Kortchnoi match.
Under the
current leadership the reunification of the chess world championship was
planned but never realized. Certainly Karpov would appreciate the need
to have a worthy world championship process and a worthy world champion.
I think as FIDE President, Karpov would have the respect of the players,
sponsors and fans. Karpov has done much to help promote the game around the
world. He has opened over 50 chess schools. Earlier this year he
opened a chess school in Kansas. Here are some of the excerpts from that
Interview.
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Karpov's excerpts:
Kasparov knocked himself out and became a victim of his own pitiful
diplomacy. After that he stepped back from chess which is not good for chess
in general at all.
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Hangin's take:
No question, Kasparov retirement is not good for chess.
After watching the movie "Game Over." I can certainly understand why Garry left
the chess world. At the end of the movie, Garry spoke about how keeping
ahead of the younger players and how working towards getting his title back
kept him motivated to play chess. This motivation evaporated due to
the 3 years of no progress in getting Garry a reunification match.
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Karpov's excerpts:
Even a dickhead would do a better job than Ilyumzhinov. The chaos in the
chess world is caused by “leaders” who are unable to do their job properly.
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Hangin's take:
No question about it, FIDE was inept with the
implementation of the Prague Unification agreement. They showed no sense of
urgency when problems arose. Due to FIDE ineptness, no unification occurred
and the greatest world champion in chess history lost his motivation for
professional
chess and retired.
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Karpov's excerpts:
When Ilyumzhinov found out that the world championship title and the names
of Karpov and Kasparov were far more interesting than the name of the
president of FIDE, he decided to devaluate the title, because he could not
deal with the fact that others are more popular. Well, he succeeded, but
unfortunately he destroyed chess as well.
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Hangin's take:
I think FIDE just doesn't like dealing with true world
champions. I guess at times they can be very difficult. Bobby Fischer was a
royal pain in the butt. However, chess is better for dealing with Fischer
then not. Euwe could have canceled the 1972 world championship match, but
the chess world benefited greatly from having that match.
FIDE seems to
want to get the world championship process over with quickly. I think that is why it
uses the KO process to decide the champion. These KO events are a few weeks
long and almost anyone can win it. After all it an exciting blitz crazed
process. The thing that FIDE does not realize is that a true world
championship process brings many new fans into the game. FIDE also doesn't
realize that a true world champion is a great ambassador to the game. I am
sure Karpov realizes this, because he went through a touch world
championship process. He was a true world champion and continues to be a
great ambassador to the game.
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Karpov's excerpts:
People knew about 110 years of chess history. Nowadays, nobody is able to
tell you the name of the world champion of 2000.
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Hangin's take:
No question about it, the true chess world championship
could be in trouble. FIDE has broken with rich tradition of the man who beat
the man who beat the man. A True world championship process brings many new
fans into the game. True world champions inspire people to play chess.
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