Anatoly Karpov, who has not won a chess tournament in several years, and who has consistently finished behind such players as Anand, Topalov and Kramnik in tournament competition, has defeated Anand in two games of high speed chess to retain his portion of the "World Chess Championship".

I d not accept this result as valid. I doubt if many others will. It is to be remembered that Kirsan Iljumzhinov canceled the regular world championship cycle back in early 1996, by decree without consulting anybody, and then openly paid bribes in the form of wristwatches (supplied by Ignatius Leong of Singapore) and cash to the FIDE delegates at the World Chess Olympiad in Armenia in December, 1996 to get himself elected as President of FIDE.

This setup was so obviously stacked in favor of Karpov, especially since the challenger had to survive at least six rounds of knock-out two-game matches, thereby almost ensuring that the best player would not win.

It was almost a miracle that a leading challenger did emerge, whereas other players better than Karpov were eliminated by lesser players in the two game knock-outs (Ivanchuk was eliminated by the American Yasser Seirawan and Topalov was defeated by Piket of the Netherlands. Both Seirawan and Piket were eliminated by their next opponent.)

I, for one, do not accept the victory by Karpov as valid. It is to be remembered that under a two-game system, Fischer would have been defeated by Spassky in their epic 1972 World Championship match in Reykjavik, Iceland. Also, Anand would have defeated Kasparov in their 1995 World Championship match had a similar rule been in effect.

Kirsan Iljumzhinov got himself elected by guaranteeing that he personally would come up with five million dollars to pay the prizes for his 96 player knock-out world championship. Plans to throw Iljumzhinov out have been put on hold awaiting the appearance of this five million dollars. Now the question is: Will the $5,000,000 be paid?

Sam Sloan

[Event "World Chess Championship Quick Chess Playoff"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "1998.01.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Karpov"]
[Black "Anand"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2745"]
[BlackElo "2765"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. d3 Nbd7 6. Nbd2 e6 7. e4 Be7 8. Qe2 O-O 9. h3 Bh5 10. Re1 dxe4 11. dxe4 e5 12. b3 Qc7 13. Bb2 Rfe8 14. Qf1 Rad8 15. a3 b5 16. Bc3 Bf8 17. Nh4 Nc5 18. Bf3 Bg6 19. Nxg6 hxg6 20.Bg2 a6 21. Qe2 Ne6 22. Nf3 Nd7 23. a4 b4 24. Bb2 a5 25. c3 bxc3 26. Bxc3 Rb8 27. Rab1 Bb4 28. Rec1 Bxc3 29. Rxc3 c5 30. Qe3 Qd6 31. h4 Nd4 32. Bh3 Nb6 33. Rbc1 c4 34. bxc4 Nxa4 35. c5 Qe7 36. Ra3 Nxc5 37. Rac3 Ncb3 38. Rc7 Qf6 39. R1c3 Nxf3 40. Qxf3 a4 41. Qxf6 gxf6 42. Bd7 Nd4 43. Bxe8 Ne2 44. Kg2 Nxc3 45. Bxf7 Kf8 46. Bxg6 Nb5 47. Rf7 Kg8 48. Rxf6 Ra8 49. h5 a3 50. h6 a2 51. Bf7 Kh7 52. Bxa2 Rxa2 53. g4 Nc3 54. g5 Nxe4 55. Rf7 Kg6 56. Rg7 Kf5 57. h7 Rxf2 58. Kg1 Kg4 59. h8=Q Kg3 60. Re7 Rg2 61. Kf1 Nd2 62. Ke1 {Black resigns} 1-0

(3:27/3:19) [Final Position in First Playoff Game]

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 c6 4. Nf3 Qb6 5. b3 Bf5 6. e3 Nd7 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8.Qxd3 e6 9. c4 Ne7 10. c5 Qa5 11. Nc3 b6 12. b4 Qxb4 13. O-O Nf5 14. Rfc1 bxc5 15. Rab1 c4 16. Qc2 Qa5 17. Rb7 Qa6 18. Rcb1 Bd6 19. e4 Nxh4 20. Nxh4 Rb8 21. Rxb8 Bxb8 22. exd5 cxd5 23. Ng6 fxg6 24. Qxg6 Kd8 25. Qxg7 Re8 26. Qxh6 Qa5 27. Qg5 Kc8 28. Qg6 Rf8 29. Rc1 Qb6 30. Ne2 e5 31. Qh5 Qf6 32. Rf1 Rh8 {White resigns} 0-1

[Final Position in Second Playoff Game]

Here is: Game One

Here is: Game Two

Here is: Game Three

Here is: Game Four

Here is: Game Five

Here is: Game Six

Here is my chart showing all seven rounds of the 1997 FIDE World Chess Championship Candidate's 96 player knockout tournament, won by Anand: The FIDE World Chess Championship Candidate's Tournament Chart. We must all thank Willy Iclicki and the team at Chess Planet, for the magnificent job they have done in providing first ever live on-line access to the FIDE World Chess Championship. Here is: The Chess Planet Web Site. However, be forewarned that due to an enormous number of hits it has been nearly impossible to reach their site. My own $30 per month site has received more than 24,000 hits during the past 24 hours and my server has shut my site down near the end of every hour because of this web traffic. If you want to get into my site, the best time to try is just at the beginning of the hour.