ANATOLY KARPOV JOINS
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

FIDE press release
Former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov of Russia announced that he
shall join the World Championship organized by FIDE starting 25th November
at the Kremlin in Moscow.
The time is right for me to make a comeback, Karpov said.
I celebrated my 50th birthday this year with close to 2000 guests
at the Bolshoi Theatre and many of my friends encouraged me to make this
move. My recent victory at the Najdorf Memorial Cup in Buenos Aires has
inspired me to seek the title again, he said. Another reason was
the change of the World Chess Championship cycle rhythm from 1 year to
2 years.
Karpov said that the World Championship being held in Moscow would enable
him to give to his beloved Russia his best. I brought the title
back to Russia from the West in 1975. Now in 2001 I feel it is my duty
to wrest the crown from the East and take it back to Mother Russia.
The defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India won the title last
year when the World Championship was held in New Delhi and Teheran. Anand
had the home court advantage then. Now I shall have the edge since the
World Championship is in Russia, Karpov added.
Concerning the 3K tournament, Karpov said, I approached Organizing
Committee to coordinate another date at the beginning of next year. I
strongly support the idea of that tournament in honour of great M. Botvinnik.
ANATOLY KARPOV (sgd.) Wien, 10.10.2001
Why 2K?
Editorial
commentary from Kasparov Chess
The FIDE site quotes 12th world champion Anatoly Karpov saying he will
play in the FIDE KO world championship starting next month in Moscow.
This would conflict with the much-anticipated "3K" Botvinnik
Memorial tournament with Kasparov and Kramnik scheduled for December,
which Karpov says he would like to be rescheduled to January (when it
would clash with Corus). Karpov states he wants to reclaim the title for
"Mother Russia", but a fear of being stomped by the other two
K's might also be a factor. We suspect this was also a move by FIDE to
poke 'renegades' Kasparov and Kramnik in the ribs, and Karpov has always
gone to the highest bidder. On the other hand, it could turn 3K into the
de facto K-K rematch Kasparov has been after!
Reaction of the 3K organisers
As you can imagine, the organisers are not amused by Anatoly Karpov's
sudden decision not to play in the tournament. After all they had announced
everything a month ago a press conference in the Central Office of the
Russian News agency ITAR-TASS. There was even a
report in Newsweek. Evgeny Atarov, one of the chief organisers,
said that he still hopes to go ahead with a Kasparov-Kramnik match. "If
the two champions agree to play the match, the only loser will be Karpov
himself." You can read it (in Russian) at Atarov's web site: