Garry Kasparov - The happiest day of his life

It was the beginning of a new era and a new world champion. Seven months earlier, in what was easily one of the most scandalous and controversial moments in world championship history, FIDE president Florencio Campomanes had stepped in to stop the first match between reigning world champion Anatoly Karpov and challenger Garry Kasparov on the ground that it was boring everyone to tears after 48 games and no end. Had he done this after game 46, most likely little would have been written about it, and even Kasparov might not have objected overly much to a reboot, especially as he had been losing badly by that point. The problem was that games 47 and 48 had both been won by Kasparov, and despite being down still, the momentum was clearly swinging.

The longest world championship match in history

It bears comparing with recent title matches, not out of disrespect to the current champions, but as a contrast to times of yore. The 1984/1985 match started on September 9, 1984, and was called to a halt on... February 8, 1985, a full five months later. It was unquestionably tough to stay fascinated, and you can imagine their initial opening preparation had long been used up, but the tedium had certainly broken after games 47 and 48. Exhaustion no longer applied to either of the players, and sufficiently strong synonyms have yet to be added to the dictionary. Nevertheless, should readers wish to read up on this topic in more detail, we strongly recommend the excellent, and deeply referenced article by renowned chess historian, Edward Winter, titled "Termination".

As far as books are concerned, Garry Kasparov remains the most prolific
chess author of all world champions. Chess fans can find his detailed
chronicles and commented games of the matches in Kasparov vs Karpov,
1975-1985 (including the 1st and 2nd matches).

Before taking up the rematch scheduled for September that very same year, Kasparov stayed in shape by playing two six-game matches against top players of the time: Ulf Andersson and Robert Huebner. Both were also noted positional players, extremely solid, but Garry once more left no doubts that the only true challenger for the title was him as he steamrolled Andersson by 4-2 and then Huebner by 4.5-1.5.

It was tempting to share one of the games against Huebner, commented in detail by the German
grandmaster, and found in Mega Database, but the notes were so incredibly detailed (note the image
showing variation B1b2112) readers would spend the day scrolling down to read the rest of the article.
Nevertheless, it is a testimony to the treasure trove found hidden in the unique database.

Top grandmasters were not the only ones to suffer Garry's wrath as he took on a unique, well publicized simul against all the top chess computers of the day. This was organized by ChessBase's very own Frederic Friedel and Der Spiegel magazine. Friedel wrote up a detailed illustrated article well worth reading.

Garry vs Mephisto: on the left with the desktop computer is programmer Richard Lang
(Mephisto, Chess Genius), behind Kasparov in the middle is Ed Schroeder (Rebel)

Finally, the grand match the entire world had been waiting for was ready to start. This time the conditions had been changed, and instead of the first player to reach six wins, it was a classic 24-game match with the draw odds going to the incumbent champion. It was a great match, and after 23 games, the score stood at 12-11 for Kasparov, with Karpov needing a win at all costs in order to secure his title.

Anatoly Karpov - Garry Kasparov (November 9, 1985 - Game 24)

Although one might bemoan the dire situation of the final game, history would put Garry Kasparov to the very same test a couple of years later, when in Seville it was he who faced a win-at-all-costs situation in game 24 of his fourth match against Anatoly Karpov. He pulled it off, and retained his title.

On November 10, 1985, 30 years to this day, Garry Kasparov was crowned
the 13th World Champion

The final result

Garry Kasparov celebrated the historic date on his personal Facebook page with the following comments and video:

"Thirty years ago today! Hard to believe, but it was that long ago when I won the World Championship against Anatoly Karpov. November 9, 1985 at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. Karpov resigned game 24 at 9:54pm Moscow time. The "worst times ahead" I refer to in that old voiceover was the rematch in 86 and then yet another Karpov match in 1987, when my comments were recorded. Of course there was yet another "K-K" match, the fifth and last, in 1990. I'll see about posting the full video of my ceremony and speech later. Today is a day to remember and celebrate with friends. Thank you everyone!"

Be sure to check out Garry Kasparov's post where he includes video footage

"PS: I would like to tell the story of how I was congratulated that day by the wife of former world champion Tigran Petrosian: Rona. I was expecting kinder words, but Rona said to me, "Garry, I feel sorry for you." What?! Sorry for me? Now? The day I became the youngest world champion in history? "I feel sorry for you," she went on, "because the happiest day of your life is over." Wow! I couldn't believe it. I could imagine, after all, well, maybe she is right. But her words also gave me a new challenge in my life: to prove her wrong! If you always have new challenges, the happiest day of your life is never over."

The international press did not overlook the date either, and articles appeared in all over the world,
from Germany's magazine Der Spiegel...

...to CNN. It is worth noting that in spite of appearing on November 9, the anniversary of the
day he won the title, the article is on the political situation of Russia and Putin, and speaks
volumes on how CNN views Kasparov today.