Kasparov returns: Monkeying around with the Media
Kasparov: More Fake News !?
I thought that I was the only one who found incomprehensible the ‘breaking news’ that Kasparov had decided to ‘officially’ return to tournament chess. Especially with Kasparov having already played so much this past year or so!
“Neither prank nor clever wording” ?!?
Infact, what ChessBase wrote deserves yet another prize for the type of abstruse chess journalism that has so much become associated with Friedel’s editor-ship. The whole Kasparov ‘return’ is just that: a media prank!
MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov has already taken part in a tournament in St. Louis, USA, in April 2016, and the fact that he is returning is no sensation whatsoever, 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov told TASS.
On Wednesday, Kasparov, 54, announced that he would resume his career to play in the Grand Chess Tour, which will be held in St. Louis in August.
President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov later informed TASS that the issue of Kasparov’s return to professional chess would be considered by the FIDE Ethics Commission. The former world chess champion was disqualified for two years for corruption and vote buying at the FIDE presidential elections in 2014.
“I do not understand why this is such a big sensation. He already played in St. Louis a year ago and decided to continue,” Karpov noted. “One cannot say that he is coming back from somewhere.”
In April 2016, 13th World Champion Kaspavrov took part in a friendly blitz tournament held in St. Louis with US grandmasters Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So.
Kasparov held the title of world champion from 1985 to 1993. He also won the World Chess Olympiads eight times as a member of the Soviet and Russian national teams. He retired from chess in 2005. Since then he has participated in friendly chess games and tournaments several times.