Kasparov retires after winning first prize at "Wimbledon of Chess"

[Jack Rabbit]

Former world champion Garry Kasparov, 41, announced his retirement from professional chess today after the completion of the 22nd Ciudad de Linares tournament in which Kasparov won first prize over runner up Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov by virtue of two tie breaking criteria.

Topalov defeated Kasparov in the final round to match Kasparov's score of eight points out of twelve. A player is awarded a full point for each victory while draws are worth a half point each. The first tie breaking criteria at Linares is number of games won; this, too, was even at five victories apiece. The second criteria was number of games won with the Black pieces, by which Kasparov was awarded first prize by a 3-1 margin.

In other games at Linares today, Michael Adams of Britain defeated Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand and Hungarian grandmaster Peter Leko drew his game against Spaniard Francisco Vallejo. Leko, who scored an impressive first place finish at the strong Wijk aan Zee tournament last month, underscored his reputation as a notorious drawing master by settling for the half point in each of his twelve games at Linares. Reigning FIDE champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan drew the last round bye.

Analysis of today's games should be up later on ChessBase.com and ChessCenter.com (The Week in Chess).

This is ninth time since 1990 that Kasparov has taken or shared first prize at the elite Linares tournament, known as "the Wimbledon of Chess". The tournament is named for the Andalusian town in which it is played. Five of the seven participants in this year's tournament were ranked seventh in the world or higher.



Garry Kasparov at Wijk aan Zee, 2001

Details of Kasparov's announcement of his retirement are still coming in and will be reported later on ChessBase. The report has now been posted on ChessCenter.

Kasparov became the youngest player ever to win the world title when, at the age of 22 in 1985, he defeated then world champion Anatoly Karpov. The previous record holder was the late Soviet-Latvian legend Mikhail Tal, who was 23 when won the title in 1960. Kasparov defended his title against Karpov, clearly his nearest rival for years, in 1986, 1987 and 1990. It was in the 1987 match, held in Seville, that Kasparov came closest to losing his title. Needing a victory in the final game to draw the match, Kasparov rose to the occasion.

Kasparov's next defense of his title was in 1993 against British grandmaster Nigel Short. The match was held under circumstances that created a schism that still splits the chess world. Dissatisfied with the efforts of the world chess federation, FIDE, to organize the match, Kasparov and Short broke away and formed the Professional Chess Association. Their match was held in London under the auspices of the new organization. FIDE did not recognize the legitimacy of the match and stripped Kasparov of his title, giving it to Karpov after Karpov won a match with Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman. However, few people felt that anybody could really claim to be world chess champion without defeating Kasparov over the board.

After defending his title against Anand in New York in 1995, Kasparov's PCA ran into difficulty determining a suitable opponent and organizing a title match. Alexei Shirov, a Latvian grandmaster who has taken Spanish citizenship, appeared ready to play Kasparov in 1998, but the match could not be organized. Finally, Russian Vladimir Kramnik was selected by hand and a scheduled sixteen-game match was held in London in September/October 2000. Kramnik won the match with two victories against none for Kasparov and thirteen drawn games.

Kasparov is the highest rated player in the history of the game. His current rating is 2804, ranking him first in the world ahead of Anand at number two, followed by Topalov and current world champion Kramnik.

Crosstable
Linares, 2005

---------------- 1---- 2---- 3---- 4---- 5---- 6---- 7-----Total
1. Kasparov . . ** . .½0 . .½½ . .½½ . .11 . .11 . .½1 . . 8.
2. Topalov. . . ½1 . .** . .0½ . .½½ . .1½ . .11 . .½1 . . 8.
3. Anand. . . . ½½ . .1½ . .** . .½½ . .½0 . .½½ . .½1 . . 6½
4. Leko . . . . ½½ . .½½ . .½½ . .** . .½½ . .½½ . .½½ . . 6.
5. Adams. . . . 00 . .0½ . .½1 . .½½ . .** . .1½ . .½½ . . 5½
6. Vallejo. . . 00 . .00 . .½½ . .½½ . .0½ . .** . .½1 . . 4.
7. Kasimdzhanov ½0 . .½0 . .½0 . .½½ . .½½ . .½0 . .** . . 4.


Photo from ChessCenter.com

[tx_dem41]

1. Jack Rabbit... how shocking is this news? Or was it expected? n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

2. I'm shocked. I don't know about anybody else

At Linares, for thirteen rounds until his loss ot Topalov today, Kasparov was playing at a level that reminded us of his mid-nineties form.

He did say last month that he was no longer interested in participating in the efforts to reunify the world title. Once again, it seems FIDE can't get its act together. Kasparov had an excellent chance of regaining the crown.

[allemand]

3. This is insane...

All because he is so upset about that stupid move Qxf1??

He wanted to play in Sofia later this year and was also considering to take part in the FIDE unification tournament.

I'm completely dumbfounded...

[allemand]

4. Report about Kasparov's press conference by The Week in Chess

"Kasparov had planned to make this statement tomorrow at the closing ceremony but after his loss today he wanted the big words out right away.

He wanted to leave in style and not the way he was playing 6 months ago. He wanted to leave in style and prove to himself he plays better than the others. That he has proven here in Linares, today had little to do with level of the other games, he just collapsed under pressure that it was his last game.

Besides that there is nothing left to prove in the chess world, the mess of the last two years also added bit by bit to his decision. Everyone was happy when he was denied a chance to be in the world championship again. He did not hear a voice of support for him, while he still hears support for Ponomariov. After the Prague agreement there were regular disappointments for him and people were putting their own agenda first for their own good and at the expense of him. He does not want to press anyone, just live his own life now. It was a difficult process to come to this decision. He needs reasons to be so determined in his game and he is missing that now. He has not lost his passion for the game, so he will still play some chess for fun and a lot of writing. Besides Predecessors, there will be a new book at the end of the year, “How life imitates chess”. This book explains how decision-making in chess can help in daily life decision-making. The book is very important to him and for a broader audience.

(...)

He will spend some time on Russian politics as he believes every decent person has to oppose to the dictator Putin."

More:
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/r15.html

[nickgutierrez]

5. Good to hear he's working against Putin

I assure you, this will not be the last we hear of Kasparov -- there are still a lot of things he can do.

This news stuns me, though.

[allemand]

7. Possible background? - Interview with Leonid Nevzlin

Menatep head and Yukos shareholder Leonid Nevzlin, who resides in Israel, shares his views on supporting the opposition, and what figures can become part of that opposition, praising the former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov. Text taken from Natalia Gevorkian’s interview of Nevzlin in the Kommersant-Vlast magazine.

(...)

Q: For many years you were involved in politics. In particular, this was part of your collaboration with Khodorkovsky. That is why the rest of my questions are addressed to you as a politician. Are you saying that you support neither Ryzhkov, nor Kasparov, nor Irina Khakamada, nor Grigory Yavlinsky, whom you used to support?

N: The potential of Kasparov and Ryzhkov are obvious, and everything depends on them alone.

(...)

Q:Who do you mean by “we”?

N: The contours of the democratic opposition have already appeared, and I am dealing with these people. I’ve named some of them: Ryzhkov and <2008 Committee head and former chess champ Gary> Kasparov, and Irina Khakamada. Then there is the young Yabloko movement. But if they have to agree each of their steps with the old Yabloko, then no one will need them. Right now I am talking about the opposition sector that’s closest to me. The right-wing.

More:
http://www.mosnews.com/interview/2005/03/10/nevzlin.shtml

Leonid Nevzlin

[Jack Rabbit]

8. This originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal in February

My apologies for the right wing web site

From the Wall Street Journal via the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Dated Friday February 4

Caligula in Moscow
By Garry Kasparov

Democratic reform in the former Soviet Union has been much in the news lately thanks to the victory of Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine. Citizens took to the streets in the millions to protest and force a new election when his Kremlin-backed opponent tried to steal it the first time around. President George W. Bush came in dead last in the race to congratulate the new Ukrainian president. He waited for his "good friend" Vladimir Putin's own tardy acknowledgment that he had been unsuccessful in undermining Ukrainian democracy as effectively as he is dismantling Russia's.

In Mr. Putin's view, Ukraine provides a dangerous model. He is careful not to make such mistakes as allowing an independent judiciary review election results and letting opposition politicians speak on television. These basics of dictatorship have recently been accompanied by other disturbing scenes on the Russian political scene. In his ongoing battle for total control over every aspect of Russian life, President Putin's weapon of choice has been a justice system that provides anything but justice. An expanding network of judges and district attorneys is being used to persecute the opposition and enrich Putin loyalists. A puppet judiciary has been created to accompany the puppet parliament. To add insult to injury, a man from Putin's St. Petersburg with no judicial experience was just named to the highest arbitration court in the land, a move akin to Caligula's naming a horse to the Senate.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov painted a very attractive picture of Russia to eager potential investors. I would love to live in the country that he described! Vladimir Ryzhkov, one of the few independent voices in the Russian parliament, presented the opposite view, a rather gloomy portrait that coincides with those of most external analysts. While Mr. Ryzhkov challenged the party line abroad, the Kremlin responded by having the attorney general's office initiate an investigation in his home district of Altai, Siberia. What they are looking for won't be clear until they find it, but they always do.

Remember the December auction of the Yugansk subsidiary of the Yukos oil giant, which was won by the unknown entity "Baikalfinancegroup." As I predicted in these pages, they and their $9.4 billion existed only on paper, leaving the prize under the control of a state-owned energy company run by Mr. Putin's deputy chief of staff. The only surprise is how badly the swindlers are covering up their crime. The government ministers and bankers involved are all giving different stories about where this mysterious money came from and no one can say where it has gone. Just like that, the money supposedly needed to pay the Yukos tax debt has disappeared, which really isn't so hard because it never existed.

Read more.

[Jack Rabbit]

6. It sounds like he's most disappointed about the reunification collapse

That is too bad. The world chess championship was a great institution. FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has almost single handedly destroyed it.

The observant will notice that in these reports I have referred to Kasimdzhanov as "the FIDE champion". To win the FIDE knock out event is a remarkable achievement, but to call the winner "world champion" is just a wee bit pretentious. Kasimdzhanov is an excellent young player, but he was clearly outclassed by the truly elite players at Linares.

[Jack Rabbit]

9. A classic Kasparov game

Kasparov v. Topalov, Wijk aan Zee, January 1999 (Pirc Defense).

Enjoy.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. ChessBase stroy up w/ video clips

From ChessBase.com
Dated Thursday March 10

Kasparov retires from professional chess

At the press conference after the Linares tournament Garry Kasparov, the world strongest player and leader of the world rankings for twenty consecutive years, stunned the public and journalists by announcing his retirement from professional chess. He had revealed this decision to his closest friends just before the announcement, which was originally planned for the closing ceremony the next day. But after his loss in the last game (of his professional career) to Veseling Topalov he decided to get it out of the way on the same evening.



Garry's mother Klara Shagenovna Kasparova was present at the conference, with tears in her eyes. "We have been going to tournaments for thirty years now," she said, "and this is the last time." A number of colleagues and journalists also had trouble hiding their emoitions.

Read more.

[Name removed]

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