High hopes

Now that the dust has settled in the Professional Chess Association's world championship match between Gary Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand, a big question remains over the proposed reunification match between the champions of the PCA and the World Chess Federation (FIDE): will it take place?

When this question was posed to Kasparov at the World Trade Center in New York where the PCA match was played, he replied:

"I can't add anything concrete now but we shall stick with our word to make a financial contribution to help FIDE survive during this very difficult time."

But he claimed that the reunification match was being hindered by Anatoly Karpov and Gata Kamsky who would not sign an agreement to have this match. Karpov and Kamsky are due to play for the FIDE world championship title but the dates have not been finalised due to a lack of bids for the match.

Kasparov said the PCA had proven that it was the only organisation capable of staging a proper world championship match.

"This is the first privately-organised world championship event. We had huge media coverage and great success with the public. Today we can announce that the era of professional chess has started. This is the first time a match was really open to the public. It was also without any political agenda.

"In essence, it was a pure chess event."

At about the same time that Kasparov was speaking in New York, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a panel discussion on the PCA match. The panelists included Karpov, FIDE president Florencio Campomanes and grandmaster Daniel King who was linked to the BBC studio via satellite from the States.

When Campomanes was asked how he was going to bring FIDE and the PCA together, the FIDE president claimed: "But we have already! In Moscow, the Congress had signed a declaration of unity with the PCA and we are now working out the agreement that will make possible the play between the winner of this match and the winner of the Karpov-Kamsky match. The two winners will get to play next year when we get to sign a reasonable agreement with the PCA."

But when Campomanes was pressed into indicating when the FIDE match itself could take place, he was unable to give a firm commitment. His replies were general to the point of being evasive.

Pronouncements like "if you ask me when it will be, only the event will tell us" or "we never have anything sure until the final moment when you have everything put down on paper" or "no amount of statements and announcements on your part or my part will make any difference to when the match actually takes place" do not convey the feeling that Campomanes is in full control of the situation at FIDE.

Indeed, despite the FIDE president saying that he had taken every possible measure to have a Karpov-Kamsky match, Karpov himself interjected that there were good chances to play the match in three Russian cities - St Petersburg being one of them - but these were blocked by Russian Chess Federation president Andrei Makarov who was also a member of the FIDE presidential board.

At this point, King said that the PCA had formulated a contract and sent it to Campomanes for FIDE and the two potential challengers - Kamsky and Karpov - to sign that they were in agreement with the PCA proposals.

He added that the PCA was prepared to organise the match next year, sponsors were already lined up, and the PCA is ready with a very generous offer to support FIDE financially.

In effect, this would mean the PCA buying off the world championship rights from FIDE and will be giving FIDE a very decent financial settlement in return.

However, Campomanes was very insistent that there would be a Karpov-Kamsky match. When pressed further by John Snow, the BBC presenter, Campomanes said curtly:

"Mr Snow, you have never been in FIDE. You don't know that things materialise only when they do materialise. The fact is, why should you be privy to what we do? The fact is that we will have the match and I have assured Mr Karpov and Mr Kamsky that we will have the match."

TURBULENT PAST

It was 10 years ago that controversy erupted over the stopping of the first world championship match between Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov by the FIDE president, Florencio Campomanes, after the match had dragged on for four months.

For a very long time after that infamous incident, Kasparov remained very critical of Campomanes's decision and this was despite him having wrested the crown from Karpov in another match in 1986.

However by 1992, Campomanes and Kasparov seemed to have become the best of pals. At the closing ceremony of the Manila Chess Olympiad that year, Kasparov was almost singing the praises of FIDE and Campomanes.

But from behind that happy mask emerged Kasparov's true colours. The storm broke again when Kasparov and Nigel Short led a move to play their 1993 title match outside FIDE's jurisdiction. The two players formed the Professional Chess Association to organise the match in London for US$1.7 million (RM4.2 million.

Not to be outdone, FIDE announced their replacement world championship match between Karpov and Jan Timman in Holland and Oman, with an even bigger prize money. But Holland later could not raise their share of the money while Oman withdrew their sponsorship at the final minute.

It was left to Jakarta to save Campomanes' face by staging the FIDE world championship match but FIDE had to fork out the prize monies from its own coffer.

Then last year, FIDE was left in a quandry when the Greek Chess Federation aborted their attempt to hold the biennial Chess Olympiad. Then Andrei Makarov, president of the Russian Chess Federation, offered to host the Chess Olympiad in Moscow, an offer FIDE could not resist. However, Makarov was a Kasparov supporter and it became clear that the money for the Olympiad came from the PCA. In return, FIDE had to agree to allow Kasparov and Short, then under a FIDE blacklist, to play for their respective teams.

At the Chess Olympiad and Congress, Kasparov and Campomanes were suddenly the thickest of friends again. Kasparov campaigned vigorously for Campomanes' reelection when it became clear that the latter was facing a concerted effort to have him removed.

Procedures and rules for the FIDE elections were changed or interpreted at the Congress to Campomanes' favour and Makarov himself was seen to intimidate the delegates from the central Asian countries (the republics making up the former Soviet Union) to ensure they voted to Makarov's orders.

In return for this support, Makarov was elected as one of FIDE's deputy presidents. A declaration was then made at the Congress to reunify the FIDE and PCA world championship titles into one. It was a triumph for Kasparov and his supporters.

And where did this leave Karpov? Out in the cold. He could not even book himself into the Cosmos Hotel where the Chess Olympiad was being held and where all the players stayed. In short, he was persona non grata at the Olympiad.

According to the PCA-FIDE joint declaration to reunify the two chess titles, both organisations would play to complete their own championship cycles this year and the winners would then play a reunification match next year.

The PCA world championship match has now concluded but not the FIDE version. The problem was in finding a sponsor for the Karpov-Kamsky match which until today, no sponsor has been found.

But the latest heard from the grapevine was that Kamsky has been talking to some Argentine sponsors.