Leonard Barden
The Guardian, Saturday 5 September 2009
Like two ageing heavyweights, Garry Kasparov, 46, and Anatoly Karpov, 58, will face up to each other again this month. The 25th anniversary of the first of their five world title matches will be marked in Valencia, Spain, on 21-24 September by a 12-game series (four rapid, eight blitz), and there are suggestions that if this is successful they may repeat the exercise in their other championship venues, which include London. Frankly, if Kasparov came here I would rather see him in a rematch with the rejuvenated Nigel Short.
Though Kasparov is officially retired and Karpov is not, the older grandmaster’s disastrous last place recently in San Sebastián and his relative weakness in speed play make him the underdog. Both took part last month in events to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Zurich chess club. Eight world champions (some of them Fide knock-out winners) each took on 25 amateurs. Kasparov scored an unbeaten 23-2, Karpov 20.5-4.5, so this week’s game is interesting as a rare indication of how far Kasparov’s genius has survived years of relative chess rust while he sought unsuccessfully as a politician to unseat Vladimir Putin.
Here is the full article.
Karpov will surprise Kasparov big time.