Word: karpov
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Dates: during 1981-1981
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Word last week from the northern Italian village of Merano came 41 moves into the 18th game of the 30th World Chess Championship. Challenger Victor Korchnoi, 50, conceded his final defeat to Defending Champion Anatoli Karpov, 30, six games to two with ten draws. The pair, known to chess fans as "K-2," traded off-court insults during much of their 51 days of play. Soviet Wunderkind Karpov takes home $280,000. Korchnoi, a defector from the U.S.S.R., $170,000. A nice check, mates...
...Karpov beat Korchnoi six games to five in their 93-day 1978 marathon, but not before they exchanged charges about the use of "evil eyes," illegal signals with yogurt cartons, and microphones hidden in chairs. This second championship Karpov-Korchnoi meeting-"K-2" to insiders-is well on the way to becoming as byzantine and acrimonious as the first. The stakes this time: $260,000 and world bragging rights for the winner, $160,000 and humiliation for the loser...
...Karpov, a slightly built, coldly articulate Soviet, checked into the Riz Stefanie hotel along with 18 assistants, 4,000 volumes on chess and boundless disgust for the challenger. "Korchnoi must have the right atmosphere to play well," sniffed Karpov. He took the world championship by default in 1975 when the reigning champion, American Bobby Fischer, refused to defend his title. Since then Karpov has played more tournaments than any other modern champion, in an apparent effort to legitimize his easy accession to the crown...
Korchnoi is described even by friends as paranoid. He refuses to drive in his adopted Switzerland because, he says, the KGB would arrange an accident. Since his defection, the Soviets have attempted to boycott every tournament he has entered, except the world championships. Korchnoi's complaint: "Karpov is a little boy. I know of no other player with such poor end-game technique...
Technically, a Karpov-Korchnoi game is the equivalent of a Dallas Cowboys-Oakland Raiders Super Bowl. Karpov is his sport's Tom Landry, precise and by the book. Korchnoi plays with creative abandon, moving "out of book" into unexplored permutations. A book play proved crucial in the match's opening contest. Korchnoi made questionable exchanges at moves 10 and 12, allowing Karpov to execute a centerboard attack on the 24th move. Korchnoi resigned a hopeless position after the 43rd turn...