It is a year-end warm-up for chess lovers as the prestigious online Champions Chess Tournament 2020 kick-started by November end, followed closely on the heels by the Speed Chess Championship in December. As the championships bring cheers to chess galleries, it would be interesting to look back at some of the most controversial tournaments that stirred up a few storms in the history of chess.
The 23rd Game
David Bronstein v/s Mikhail Botvinnik 1951
In 1951, David Bronstein of Ukraine narrowly failed to beat the then reigning champion Mikhail Botvinnik (Soviet Union) by just one point and become the 7th world champion. But controversies sparked as the Moscow Times suggested that he was pressured into losing!
An energetic player, Bronstein’s creative and unpredictable ideas on the board were in stark contrast to the scientific chess promoted by Botvinnik. The ever-romantic at the board, Bronstein was not willing for conservative games. In the 1951 match, he lost both games to Botvinnik, the patriarch of the Soviet chess school. He never again played for the world championship.
The rumors were that the Soviet authorities pressured him to lose to their favourite Botvinnik. Bronstein half-confirmed it as he consoled a young teary-eyed Bobby Fischer at his defeat at the hands of Spassky in 1960.
Luis Rentero - organizer of the prestigious annual Linares chess tournament – remembered how Bronstein consoled the future world champion by remarking that he never cried even when “they” forced him to lose an entire match to Botvinnik.
Later in his book "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" Bronstein wrote, addressing the rumors, "The only thing that I am prepared to say about all this controversy is that I was subjected to strong psychological pressure from various origins and it was entirely up to me to yield to that pressure or not."
The Cold ‘Feat’
Boris Spassky - Bobby Fischer, Reykjavik 1972
One of the most legendary world championship matches of all times, the 1972 match between Russian player Spassky and the American stalwart Bobby Fischer was controversial in multiple ways.
Initially, Fischer didn’t show up in Iceland for the match and it took the then U.S. State Secretary Henry Kissinger to persuade him personally to participate. The match more or less represented the Cold War.
When the game took off after much drama, Fischer lost the first game thanks to an amateurish blunder. The U.S champion didn’t show up for the second game. He forfeited and Spassky led with 2–0. Fischer constantly threatened to leave Iceland if his absurd demands were not met by the authorities. As the match continued nevertheless, Fischer rocked with his brilliance shining through and won the match.
War and Peace
Anatoly Karpov - Viktor Korchnoi, Baguio 1978
The game was a cold war between the Soviet Loyalist Anatoly Karpov and the Soviet defector Viktor Korchnoi.
Korchnoi had decided to defect from the Soviet Union, following the Candidates Final match between Bobby Fischer and Karpov, accusing the Soviet authorities of unfair partiality towards the young Karpov. Karpov publicly condemned Korchnoi’s defection and the two nursed bitter and often public hatred for each other.
The 1978 match had many bizarre moments like Karpov having a hypnotist in his team, Korchnoi complaining of Karpov’s “disturbing” hypnotic stare and wearing reflective sunglasses to avoid the same. There were accusations that secret messages were encoded in Karpov’s favourite blueberry yoghurt. Even the chairs were X-rayed. Karpov led easily, even as Korchnoi was granted a few wins in the late stages. Karpov won the game.
The Game of Thrones
Karpov v/s Kasparov, Moscow 1984–1985
It was an epic match that had all the essentials of a Hollywood thriller – accusations of foul play, political strongholds, heckling from the audience and a mental breakdown of one of the star players.
The highly controversial and on-the-edge match lasted for five intriguing months and had to be called off due to highly unpleasant circumstances.
The match initially had six wins. Following the initial nine rounds, Karpov seemed the sure-winner with four wins. A one and a half months later, that witnessed draws, Karpov won the 27th game. With a leading of 5–0 the grandmaster required only one more win.
Though Kasparov managed to win game 32, his victory was followed by another long series of draws. Again Kasparov counted victories, winning games 46 and 47 in succession. But FIDE intervened and aborted the match, as Karpov’s health declined and he lost 8 kgs.
Guardian's chess correspondent Leonard Barden wrote,”Proclaimed the chess match of the year, it was a bore for long periods ... “
He remarked that “the classical stylist (Karpov), and the young dynamic risk-taker (Kasparov), just didn't gel at the board."
Till date, it remains a question as to what would have happened if the match was not aborted. Who would have emerged the winner? But Kasparov sealed his mettle by winning the rematch the same year.
The Short Destiny
Garry Kasparov - Nigel Short, London 1993
The match ignited 13 years of controversy regarding the world championship title. Garry Kasparov had split with FIDE and created his own chess organization, the PCA, to promote personalised chess. In retaliation, FIDE officially stripped the world champion of his title.
Though eventually, PCA collapsed as its sponsor Intel withdrew, the championship remained split between the two rival organizations for the next decade.
Even though Nigel Short had won the candidates tournament, Kasparov was the hero. The lifetime record of Kasparov against Nigel Short is +22 -2 =26.
The game ended up as Kasparov predicted: “It will be Short, and it will be short”. He had a quick win with an early lead.
The Fateful Negotiation
Garry Kasparov - Vladimir Kramnik, London 2000
The match that was played at the peak of the controversy on the world championship title also turned out to be the first failure in Kasparov’s life. Kramnik crushed him in 25 moves.
Kasparov had separated ways with FIDE and established PCA, the Professional Chess Association. But the organisation collapsed as Intel, its main sponsor withdrew.
For the London match, Alexei Shirov had qualified to play Kasparov as he beat Kramnik in the candidates final. But negotiations regarding a match between the two went futile. Kasparov tried to rope in Anand but in vain as negotiations failed again.
Finally, the card came upon Kramnik as he was the next as per the rating list. But he turned out to be the nemesis of the World Champion in the match. The match shocked the world as Kasparov lost without winning a single game for the first time in his life.
The Toiletgate Match
Kramnik-Topalov, WCC Elista 2006.
The match between Vladimir Kramnik, the Classical World Champion, and Veselin Topalov, the Bulgarian grandmaster, and winner of the 2005 FIDE World Championship dragged the former into yet another controversy. Kramnik was accused of cheating by secretly using a computer.
After the initial two games that Kramnik won, Topalov and his team found the champion’s frequent excuses to the toilet fishy and accused him of cheating. While FIDE gave in to Topalov’s demands, Kramnik protested and forfeited the fifth round. Though the match continued, Kramnik threatened that if he were to lose because of the forfeit, he would hold it against FIDE and take legal action.
The match ended with Kramnik winning on tie-breaks. But the hostility remained between the two grandmasters who even refused to shake hands in their future matches.
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