Kasparov takes Pamplona
Garry
Kasparov was talking about his Great Predecessors, but it was clear the province
of Navarra and its capital of Pamplona are bigger fans of the 13th world champion.
The local paper, Diario
de Navarra, dedicated two or three pages to each of the three days of
Kasparov's visit. We bring you some scans and clips from their excellent coverage.
The mayor of Pamplona presented Kasparov with the traditional red kerchief
of the famous bull runners of the San Fermin festival. When asked, Kasparov
said he wasn't tempted to run himself, but said he'd like to see it some day.
"Everyone goes crazy in their own way," is how he summed it up.
Kasparov came into the mayor's office and was met by a woman in a bright yellow
outfit. For a moment he thought she was going to introduce him to the mayor,
but she turned to BE the mayor! Yolanda Barcina took office last year at the
age of 43.
Kasparov also had a chance to meet Navarra's most famous son and one of Spain's
greatest sports heroes, cyclist Miguel Indurain, a five-time Tour de France
winner. They dined together and the papers were eager to ask about impressions.
Kasparov described Indurain as "charming, even after so many years of competition
he has remained warm and friendly. Many professional sportsmen become rigid."
Here they are on together on the front page.
Kasparov was interviewed several times and the paper was interested in just
about anything other than chess! Even Kasparov's favorite hobby of politics
was left aside in favor of his passion for football (soccer). He pleased the
interviewer by remembering local team Osasuna's victory over powerhouse Real
Madrid and he cautiously takes Maradona over Pele. (Now that he's safely out
of Brazil!) Of his visit to Pamplona, Kasparov was more categorical: "Everywhere
I've been I've found both positive and negative things. Here in Pamplona it's
been all positive. It's allowed me to recharge my batteries."
Then came the chess, a 20-board simultaneous exhibition. The Oberena sports
society organizes the powerful annual Pamplona tournament and has previously
hosted Kramnik and Morozevich, among other leading lights. Kasparov quickly
realized that apart from the masters and experts on the top boards, the supposed
amateurs on the lower boards were also good club players. After 30 minutes Kasparov
was sure he would give up at least a few draws, but two hours and twenty minutes
later he had scored 20-0.
In the paper, Kasparov also talked about his drive to get chess introduced
into more schools around the world. The neighboring Basque province recently
tried to exclude chess as an official sport to cut its funding and Kasparov
condemned the effort. "Sport doesn't have to have physical contact. What
about golf? It's less strenuous than chess. I'd be able to outdo a golfer in
the gym." Tiger Woods, are you listening?!
Diaro de Navarra really pulled out the investigative stops when it came
time to report on Kasparov's simultaneous exhibition. Their report included
not only a list of the players and the score, but how long it took him to make
each move (a second per move on the first lap, plus another second to shake
hands with each opponent), how long it took for one of his pieces to be captured
(one minute), the first time he looked up from the board at an opponent (three
minutes, ten seconds), how many times he put his hands on the table (1800 times)
and adjusted his tie (900 times).
They judged that their local players were putting up a good fight by how many
times Kasparov hunkered down with his elbows on the table, 35 times. His longest
think of the event was four minutes, twenty seconds against Txema Gonzalez.
There were over 200 spectators for the event.
