World Chess Championship 1984–1985

The World Chess Championship 1984 was a match between challenger Garry Kasparov and defending champion Anatoly Karpov for the World Chess Championship title. After 5 months and 48 games, the match was abandoned in controversial circumstances with Karpov leading five wins to three (with 40 draws), and replayed in the World Chess Championship 1985.

Qualification

Interzonals

Three Interzonal tournaments were held. The top two finishers in each qualified. Kasparov, aged 19 years old at the time, won the Moscow Interzonal by a convincing 1½ point margin ahead of Alexander Beliavsky. Zoltan Ribli won the Las Palmas first Interzonal ahead of 62-year-old former World Champion Vasily Smyslov, and the Toluca Interzonal was won jointly by Lajos Portisch and Eugenio Torre.

Candidates

The six Interzonal qualifiers were joined by Viktor Korchnoi and Robert Hübner, the Candidates finalists from the previous cycle (World Chess Championship 1981). The eight players participated in a series of knockout matches. The winner was Garry Kasparov.

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Moscow, 1983

Garry Kasparov

6

London, November-December 1983

Alexander Beliavsky

3

Kasparov

7

Bad Kissingen, 1983

Korchnoi

4

Lajos Portisch

3

Vilnius, March-April 1984

Viktor Korchnoi

6

Kasparov

8½

Alicante, 1983

Smyslov

4½

Zoltan Ribli

6

London, November-December 1983

Eugene Torre

3

Ribli

4½

Velden, March-April 1983

Smyslov

6½

Robert Hübner

7

Vasily Smyslov

7

Candidates controversies

The Smyslov–Hübner match was originally tied at 5-5. After playing four extra games without breaking the tie, the match was resolved by a spin of the roulette wheel.

Politics threatened Kasparov's semi-final match against Viktor Korchnoi, which was scheduled to be played in Pasadena, California. Korchnoi had defected from the Soviet Union in 1976, and was at that time the strongest active non-Soviet player. Various political manoeuvres prevented Kasparov from playing Korchnoi in the United States, and Kasparov forfeited the match. This was resolved when Korchnoi agreed for the match to be replayed in London, along with the Vasily Smyslov vs. Zoltan Ribli match. The Korchnoi-Kasparov match was put together on short notice by Raymond Keene. Kasparov lost the first game but won the match 7-4 (four wins, one loss).

Championship match

World Chess Championship Match 1984

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Karpov	=	=	1	=	=	1	1	=	1	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=
Kasparov	=	=	0	=	=	0	0	=	0	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=
	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
Karpov	=	=	=	=	=	=	1	=	=	=	=	0	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=
Kasparov	=	=	=	=	=	=	0	=	=	=	=	1	=	=	=	=	=	=	=	=
	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	Wins
Karpov	=	=	=	=	=	=	0	0	5
Kasparov	=	=	=	=	=	=	1	1	3

The championship match between Karpov and Kasparov had many ups and downs, and a very controversial finish. Karpov started in very good form, and after nine games Kasparov was down 4-0 in a "first to six wins" match. Fellow players predicted he would be whitewashed 6-0 within 18 games.

But Kasparov dug in and battled Karpov to 17 successive draws. He lost game 27, then fought back with another series of draws until game 32, his first-ever win against the World Champion. Another 14 successive draws followed, through game 46. The previous record length for a world title match had been 34 games, the 1927 match between José Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine. Games 47 and 48 were both won by the contender, making the score 5-3 in favor of Karpov and the eventual outcome far less certain.

Then the match was ended without result by Florencio Campomanes, the President of Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), and a new match was announced to start a few months later. The termination was controversial, as both players stated that they preferred the match to continue. Announcing his decision at a press conference, Campomanes cited the health of the players, which had been strained by the length of the match (5 months: September 10, 1984 to February 8, 1985).

The match became the first, and so far only, world championship match to be abandoned without result.

The restarted match (the World Chess Championship 1985) was best of 24, with the champion (Karpov) to retain his title if the match was tied 12-12. Because Karpov's 2-point lead from the 1984 match was wiped out, Karpov was granted the right of a return match (the World Chess Championship 1986) if he lost.

Crucial game 16

Kasparov vs. Karpov, game 16

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after 37. Kg2, draw agreed

One move in game 16 may have had a profound effect on chess history. In this position, Karpov was tired and offered a draw (and Kasparov accepted) (Kasparov 2008:137–38). Karpov should have won if he had played 37... Rd5! At this point Karpov was leading the match 4-0. If he had won this game, his win in game 27 would have ended the match with a 6-0 victory.

Andy Soltis and Yasser Seirawan discuss this possible scenario. Kasparov would be demoralized after his 0-6 defeat and would not have been the same player that he soon became. Karpov would have remained World Champion for perhaps a decade, and Kasparov would not have split from FIDE as he did in 1993 to form the Professional Chess Association. The havoc that this split caused in the World Championship for 15 years would not have occurred (Soltis 2010:12).

References

• Kasparov, Garry (2008), Modern Chess: Part 2, Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985, Everyman Chess, ISBN 978-1-85744-433-9
• Soltis, Andy (2010), "Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda, or Black to Play 37. ...Rd5 and Change History", Chess Life: 12–13 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• Edward Winter, The Termination (1988, updated in 2005, 2007, and 2008)