Posted on 03/11/2005 5:51:46 PM PST by HAL9000
GARRY Kasparov, the chess world’s youngest-ever champion and undisputed king for the past two decades, made a stunning move shortly after winning a prestigious tournament in Spain: he retired from professional play.
Kasparov yesterday said he had achieved all he wanted to in the game and was planning to turn his attention to politics.
The announcement by the Russian grandmaster - the world’s No 1 ranked player since 1984 who is considered by some to be the best in the history of the game - came shortly after he won the 14-match Linares tournament in Spain.
"Before this tournament I made a conscious decision that Linares 2005 will be my last professional [tournament], and today I played my last professional game," Kasparov said at a news conference, according to a video posted on the online chess magazine chessbase.com.
He said his last games were "very difficult for me to play under such pressure, because I knew it was the end of the career which I could be proud of".
Kasparov, 41, became the youngest world champion ever at the age of 22, and quickly cut a swathe through the chess world with an aggressive style that shunned settling for a draw. He said part of the reason he was retiring was because he saw no real goals left to accomplish in professional chess.
He said he wanted to concentrate more on politics in Russia. He has emerged as an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and is playing a leading role in Committee 2008: Free Choice, a group formed by prominent liberal opposition leaders.
"As a chess player, I did everything I could, even more. Now I want to use my intellect and strategic thinking in Russian politics," Kasparov said.
"I will do everything in my power to resist Putin’s dictatorship. It is very difficult to play for a country whose authorities are anti-democratic," he said.
Alexander Roshal, the chief editor of a popular Russian chess magazine 64, said: "There’s no-one else of his calibre. No-one comes close. He saw that, and said ‘you go on without me’."
Kasparov has expressed increasing exasperation over the professional chess world, which has been bitterly divided since 1993 into two federations with rival champions. He reiterated that he was disappointed with a failed campaign to reunify the title.
Mr Roshal said that Kasparov had evidently been coming to the decision for a long time after it became clear the reunification match would come no time soon.
"He won more than 40 super-tournaments and in a month he’ll be 42," Mr Roshal said. "For chess, that’s not young, and he has no reason to waste time preparing for another tournament. He’s not going to be greater than he was or is."
Kasparov will continue to write books about chess and take part in tournaments, such as so-called knockout events in which he plays many opponents at once, or in speed-chess games. But he is saying goodbye to lucrative, top-level play. Earlier this year, he withdrew from a World Chess Federation championship match scheduled for this month, saying he had suffered financial and psychological damage from the match’s repeated postponement.
His withdrawal announcement then, in which he said "it breaks my heart" to watch great tournaments from the sidelines, gave no hint he was considering leaving professional play. If anything, it suggested he was determined to remain.
"I will continue to serve chess and those who love our game," Kasparov wrote in January. "I have now held the No 1 ranking for 20 years and I will defend my position against any opponent."
His first title match, from September 1984 to February 1985 against Anatoly Karpov, was the longest in chess history. After 48 games, the psychological and physical strain on Karpov, who was leading but appeared likely to lose, caused chess authorities to end the match inconclusively amid controversy.
Kasparov won a rematch six months later, becoming the youngest world champion.
I say he's dead in a year.
I sincerely hope he is not. I always liked the guy.
If there are any untouchables left there, its him. He CAN be the name that defeats Putin.
After the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, I read an interesting opinion that nothing is going to happen in Russia until there will be a uniting figure that CAN win. Who knows, maybe its him...
1. e4
I like him too.
But Russia is a country of thugs.
If Kasparov try's to play politics...
He's toast.
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