On Apr 26, 5:28 pm, " wrote:

Now we come to the crux of the matter. Despite good-faith efforts and
even the challenger's apparent folly, Kasparov is not absolved from
his pledge to give Shirov a title shot for $2 million as announced to
the world at Linares in 1998. Kasparov put his trust in a person who
proved unreliable, but he also put his credibility and prestige behind
the WCC (which went the way of his GMA and PCA). These facts can't be
evaded. It turned out, perhaps, that he unwittingly treated himself
more shabbily than he did Shirov.

I still believe Kasparov has a debt of sporting honor to play Shirov.
If he should do so, you can rely on me to celebrate in bold type and
capital letters. As it stands, however, Shirov never got paid for
beating Kramnik or a title shot -- both are Kasparov's obligation.

Sorry, but I disagree with your analysis.

Garry Kasparov did not refuse to play a match with Shirov. Kasparov
was ready and willing to play. Shirov refused to play because he
wanted more money.

One of the reasons more money was not available was that Kasparov had
easily beaten Shirov many times and Shirov had never beaten Kasparov.
Nobody gave Shirov any chance at all to beat Kasparov in a match.
Thus, sponsors were unwilling to put up much money for such a match.

None of this was any fault of Kasparov.

The prize fund being offered Shirov was generous in spite of these
problems. I believe that the amount offered was $250,000. This is more
than the amount initially offered for the Kamsky Tapolov Match more
than ten years later. Shirov was a fool not to take the $250,000.

The claim that Kasparov had a moral obligation to pay Shirov out of
his own pocket has no basis.

Sam Sloan