20 years ago: Anand and Karpov fight for the World Championship

by Dagobert Kohlmeyer
1/6/2018 – Twenty years ago this week, on January 2, 1998, Viswanathan Anand and Anatoly Karpov began their match for the FIDE World Championship in Lausanne, Switzerland — under peculiar circumstances. Anand had qualified for the match by winning the knock-out tournament in Groningen but then had to go immediately to Lausanne to play for the title — without a break or time for preparation.

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Lausanne 1998: A peculiar match

Viswanathan Anand finished the year 2017 on a high note. He won the World Rapid Championship in Riyadh and finished third in the Blitz World Championship. Anand is now 48-years old but he's still able to beat Carlsen and co., today's young elite.

It is worth remembering that twenty years ago, when some of his opponents from today were still playing with toys, Anand was playing for the FIDE World Championship. From January 2nd to 9th, 1998, Anand and Anatoly Karpov played a dramatic match in Lausanne. It was the final and the highlight of the first Knock-Out-World Championship which was played in December 1997 in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Olympic Museum Lausanne

The Olympic logo on the museum | Source: swissolympicteam.ch

After Anand had won the demanding knock-out tournament he immediately went to Lausanne on New Year's Eve to play against Karpov — without time for a break. Before the final, Anand had already played 23 World Championship games whereas the Russian former World Champion was seeded for the final and was fresh — and many thought that this mode of playing for the World Championship was unfair. The world's best player, Garry Kasparov, did not even start in Groningen, arguing that since 1886 the World Championship had always been decided in a long match between the reigning champion and his challenger.

Vladimir Kramnik, back then number two in world, too, boycotted the World Championship in Groningen because he did not agree with the privileges given to Karpov.

The venue of the chess spectacle was the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, located directly at Lake Geneva. Landlord of the beautiful building was Juan Antonio Samaranch, at that time President of the International Olympic Committee. He welcomed FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumshinov with open arms — and open hands. Samaranch received millions to rent the house to FIDE.

Olympic Museum Lausanne

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne | Photo: Dagobert Kohlmeyer


My Career Vol. 1

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995.
Running time: 3:48 hours


A slow start with long game

Janurary 2, 1998 — The President of the IOC opens the first game with the symbolic first move and pushes Karpov's queen pawn two squares ahead. This move is the beginning of a game that will last for 108 moves and will become the longest first game in the history of World Championship matches. On the 31st move Karpov surprises Anand with a fantastic queen sacrifice which later leads to an endgame in which Karpov has two rooks and two pawns against Anand's bare queen and slowly grinds down his opponent who is 18 years his junior.

 

But Anand bounces back. On day two the players discuss a line of the Ruy Lopez and Anand wins a game that is not without faults but very exciting.

 

The third game lasts only 19 moves — before the first and only rest day in Lausanne both players want to avoid any risk.

 

Chess as an Olympic discipline?

Juan Antonio Samaranch visited the match every day to follow the games. At that time FIDE tried to make chess an Olympic discipline and Samaranch was welcoming this idea in principle. On the free day I had the chance to interview him. During his presidency the man from Barcelona paved the way for professional athletes to enter the Olympic games and acquired astronomical sums to market the games. But he welcomes me in his impressive office in a friendly way and answers my questions politely.

Samaranch

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch | Photo: Dagobert Kohlmeyer

Of course, I want to know whether chess has a real chance to become an Olympic discipline. When I ask Samaranch about this he smiles and says that he does not play chess well, and would only play occasionally against his grandsons. But he thinks the leading chess professionals would be interesting personalities.

Do you think that chess is a real sport?

Well, that is complicated. There are about 200 countries on earth. In half of them chess is recognised as a sport, the other half sees chess more as part of culture. We need a clear definition of what sport is.

But there are tough competitions in chess.

The main criterion of sport is competition, true. Chess meets this criterion. Other criteria are more difficult, e.g. if we consider the physical aspect. Of course, top players have to be fit but it is not a movement sport.

That means the chances are small that chess players will see their discipline as part of the Olympic games?

We have to treat this issue step by step. After all, chess is now acknowledged as official member of the Olympic family. By changing the World Championship format to a knock-out format FIDE made an interesting step. The great final is played in the Olympic Museum, fine. The future will show how things will continue.

Where could chess find its place: at the Olympic winter or summer games?

There is a clear definition for the winter games. The disciplines have to be linked to ice and snow. Otherwise you could of course play chess in winter. And as far as the summer games are concerned there is a long list of attractive sports that want to become Olympic disciplines.

When leaving Samaranch I thought: "Well, Ilyumzhinov's grandiose dreams of Olympia will not be realised".

This was 20 years ago and since then there has not been any progress in this direction. But chess players have their own Olympiad, after all.

A fighting final

The next day the World Championship match continues. Anand plays with white. Karpov opts for Caro-Kann and solves all his opening problems. Now Anand makes a couple of inaccurate moves and in the end Karpov's passed pawns decide the game. It is the first time that Karpov won with Black against Anand.

 

The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

The Caro Kann is a very tricky opening. Black’s play is based on controlling and fighting for key light squares. It is a line which was very fashionable in late 90s and early 2000s due to the successes of greats like Karpov, Anand, Dreev etc. Recently due to strong engines lot of key developments have been made and some new lines have been introduced, while others have been refuted altogether. I have analyzed the new trends carefully and found some new ideas for Black.


After a tough game five which ends in a draw after 55 moves Karpov leads 3-2.

 

Anand has to win the sixth and final game to equalise the match and to reach the tie-break. And he succeeds — with the Trompovsky!

 

Trompowsky for the attacking player

Tap into your creative mind and start the game on a fresh note. The Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5) is an opening outside of conventional wisdom. Create challenges and make your opponent solve problems early on.


Rk. Title Name Country ELO    
1 GM Viswanathan Anand
 
2783 01½0½1 3.0
2 GM Anatoly Karpov
 
2626 10½1½0 3.0

The rules stipulate the the tie-break has to be played on the same day. Anand, whose strength in rapid chess is well-known, is considered to have good chances. But Karpov profits from the professional approach of his fitness coach Valery Krylov who gives the Russian a relaxing massage before the tie-break to prepare his protégé for battle.

Finally, Anand's nerves also begin to show. In the first game Anand reaches an excellent position and has ten minutes more on the clock when he suddenly makes mistakes that are hard to explain and led to a loss.

 

In the last game Anand cannot bounce back. He overpresses and goes down with flying colours. For Anand it's a bitter end of the World Championship.

 
Rk. Title Name Country ELO    
1 GM Anatoly Karpov
 
2626 11 2.0
2 GM Viswanathan Anand
 
2783 00 0.0

Karpov kept his title of FIDE World Champion for another year until Alexander Khalifman dethroned him in Las Vegas 1999. But in 2000 Anand finally became FIDE World Champion after winning the knock-out tournament in Delhi and beating Alexei Shirov in the final in Tehran.

The match between Karpov and Anand was played twenty years ago. What will happen in another twenty years, in 2038? Maybe the chess magician Anand will still move the pieces with impressive strength? Good luck Vishy!


Master Class Vol.6: Anatoly Karpov

On this DVD a team of experts looks closely at the secrets of Karpov's games. In more than 7 hours of video, the authors examine four essential aspects of Karpov's superb play.


My Career Vol. 2

Vishy Anand is one of the greatest chess talents of all times. On this DVD he speaks about his career, his views on chess, and presents the most beautiful and interesting games of his career.

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer


Dagobert Kohlmeyer is one of the best known German chess journalists. For more than 25 years Kohlmeyer, who lives in Berlin, has been travelling all over the world to report about and to capture impressions of Chess Olympiads, World Championships, and top tournaments.

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walirlan walirlan 5/19/2023 10:53
what a story that is, thanks for sharing
edlen edlen 1/11/2022 02:59
none
maxharmonist maxharmonist 1/9/2018 08:59
"you become a world champion by beating the world champion in a match"

Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. Botvinnik and Anand became undisputed World Champions for the first time by winning tournaments, while Steinitz and Karpov also became World Champions without beating the former World Champion in a match. When for example Anand had won the undisputed title in 2007 it didn't exist any other World Champion or organisation, so no one questioned his being the one and only World Champion.
adbennet adbennet 1/9/2018 03:36
The book "Five Rings Over Korea" details Samaranch's strategy for dealing with the North Koreans: keep them endlessly negotiating until their flag falls. Kohlmeyer's interview with Samaranch shows that this was also the strategy for chess as Olympic sport. But politicians don't mind endless meetings. For them heat and light are equal.
Bostonian Bostonian 1/9/2018 02:18
Anand, tired and exhausted was served as meat on a silver platter to Karpov. Disgusting Russian chess mafia all over this. Enough said
Petrosianic Petrosianic 1/8/2018 08:11
I agree with everything genem said except that Kramnik lost the title in 2008. Kasparov walked out with the title in 1993, yes. All the "championship" matches FIDE held between 1993 and 2004 were for the FIDE title only. Almost nobody took them seriously as world championships.

But Kramnik defended and lost his Undisputed world title at Mexico City, 2007. Although it made a lot of people unhappy, there was no rule saying the champion COULDN'T defend in a tournament. (The World Champion was always the World Champion of Chess, he was never referred to as "Match Champion".) Anand was recognized by all GM's including Kramnik as the undisputed World Champion after Mexico City.
ulyssesganesh ulyssesganesh 1/8/2018 05:37
sorry peter .... you must remember the ruy lopez and trompovsky wins by vishy and the tiebreak wins by karpov
daftarche daftarche 1/7/2018 12:29
you become a world champion by beating the world champion in a match. this has been most accurate way to determine the world champion and the tradition of chess.
Peter B Peter B 1/7/2018 08:58
Very remiss of the article to not mention the title was split.

And may I add, I honestly cannot remember a single game from any of these meaningless FIDE knockout championships. But on the PCA/Classical side, I well remember Kasparov's Dragon in 1995, Kramnik's Berlin in 2000, and Kramnik's breakthrough win in the last game in 2004.

And of course Anand won the championship in 2007. How can anyone claim Kramnik was still champion after that, when even he didn't claim he was.
maxharmonist maxharmonist 1/6/2018 05:40
”Kramnik lost the true Match World Chess Championship title to Anand in 2008, not in 2007”

There is no true Match World Chess Championship, only disputed and undisputed World Champions, and by winning the only existing World Championship in 2007 Anand also became the undisputed World Champion.
macauley macauley 1/6/2018 01:14
@genem - Thanks. Fixed.
drgenial drgenial 1/6/2018 12:14
Yes.

And now we have Carlsen, Undisputed.
daftarche daftarche 1/6/2018 11:45
lol all these phony world championship knockouts and matches.
genem genem 1/6/2018 09:46
First sentence wrongly says "1988", but means "1998".

This match was for a 'FIDE Championship' only, not the Steinitz-based true Match World Chess Championship. Mr. Kohlmeyer did not switch to including the prefix 'FIDE' in the title name until late in the article: the prefix is needed on the first mention and on all mentions.
(Kramnik lost the true Match World Chess Championship title to Anand in 2008, not in 2007.)

To answer the question, Yes chess IS a sport. To be precise, chess is a DIGITAL SPORT, whereas soccer is an Analog Sport. Both types are true 'sports'. Both types have their inherent advantages and disadvantages.
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