Word: karpov
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...Moscow insiders will be joined in Geneva by two of the Soviet Union's arms-control negotiators, Viktor Karpov, 57, and Yuli Kvitsinsky, 49. K. & K. have been a team at superpower arms talks since 1982, but U.S. observers have recently spotted below-the-surface tension between the two. Karpov, the chief negotiator at the Geneva arms talks, is a bluff, methodical diplomat, a protégé of Gromyko's with ties to the military and the Kremlin Old Guard. Kvitsinsky, who runs the subordinate space-weapons talks, is closer to the upwardly mobile Soviet technocrats who are being promoted...
...audacity on and off the board, after jitterily watching his obdurate foe almost come from behind and after being driven all the way to the final game in the series, Gary Kasparov at 22 became the sport's youngest world champion. He rang down the curtain on Anatoli Karpov's decade-long top billing with a decisive, 42-move victory, to the obvious delight of a capacity crowd...
From the first act the histrionics of the protagonists seemed at least as tailored for the theatrical boards as for the chessboard: the cool and politically well-connected Karpov, 34, defending his crown in his hometown, vs. the crowd-pleasing, passionate young provincial up for a title shot. Intensifying the tension was old-fashioned human loathing. Long before the end of the match, the contestants were barely speaking to each other, and shook hands perfunctorily. "The best part," a chess master told the Chicago Tribune, "is that these guys hate each other...
...animosity began in a controversial and inconclusive match that was halted last February. Karpov was leading 5 games to 3, but Kasparov appeared to be closing on him fast after a draining record of 40 draws. Then World Chess Federation President Florencio Campomanes, a close friend of Karpov's, abruptly stopped play because, he said, players, officials and organizers were exhausted. The real reason, many insiders charged, was that the champion was physically and psychologically frazzled, ripe for a humiliating defeat. An enraged Kasparov shook his fist: "They are trying to deprive me of my chance!" Later he sneeringly told...
...Karpov, on the other hand, is what a Swiss newspaper called Homo sovieticus: a culture hero with close ties to the late leader Leonid Brezhnev, recipient of the Order of Lenin and a strong voice in the inner circle of Soviet chess. Owner of an impressive collection of rare stamps, the chilly and distant Muscovite is a well-known ruble millionaire who is rumored to be a dollar one as well. Although he enjoys rare Soviet amenities like a mobile telephone in his car, Karpov does not ignite the imagination. "Style?" he once puzzled. "I have no style...