NOT THAT WE OUGHT TO MISS IT...:

Karpov v Kasparov: the Guardian's coverage of an epic world chess championship match: It had everything - accusations of foul play, political symbolism, heckling from the crowd, and a near nervous breakdown from one of the players, but it was also a terrific bore.
(Matthew Weaver, 9/22/09, Guardian)

When the Guardian's chess correspondent Leonard Barden reviewed the longest-running world championship chess match, the headline was "The bored game to end them all".

Sounding almost as exhausted as Karpov, who lost 8kg during the match, Barden wrote: "Proclaimed the chess match of the year, it was a bore for long periods ... Anatoly Karpov, classical stylist, and Garry Kasparov, young dynamic risk-taker, just didn't gel at the board."

The Moscow crowd took out their frustration on the grand masters. When Kasparov and Karpov agreed to one of their many draws after only 17 moves there were boos and whistles from the crowd, and accusations they were playing "anti-chess".

Chess audiences had grown used to more drama. The fireworks of the cold war match between Fischer and Spassky and the intrigue of Karpov versus Korchnoi - coded yoghurt pots and all - were still fresh in the memory.

But the marathon Karpov/Kasparov match ended with an episode to equal anything that had gone before.

...but international sport was an awful lot better when the USSR was around. Now the only evil opponents we have to root against are the Yankees, Manchester United and Jeff Gordon.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 23, 2009 6:07 AM