On Apr 29, 12:12*pm, samsloan wrote:
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.

He only wanted what was promised to him, and guaranteed by signed
contract.

One of the reasons more money was not available was that Kasparov had
easily beaten Shirov many times and Shirov had never beaten Kasparov.

Quite irrelevant to the ethical problem. And there are plenty of
cases where the challenger has won a world title match despite having
a poor record against the champion beforehand. For example, Capablanca
was +0 -1 =2 vs. Lasker before 1921, Alekhine was +0 -5 =7 vs.
Capablanca before 1927, Euwe was +3 -6 =8 vs. Alekhine before 1935,
Smyslov was +2 -7 =10 vs. Botvinnik before 1954, and Fischer was +0 -3
=2 vs. Spassky until 1972.

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.

Quite irrelevant to the ethical problem, which stems from the fact
that Shirov was indeed promised much money.

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.

Nonsense. The final offer to Shirov was nothing like $250,000 -- as
I recall, it was closer to $50,000, peanuts considering the work
involved in preparation, the expense of paying seconds, etc. And in
any event even $250,000 would be insultingly low compared to initial
promise of a $2 million purse.. The initial contract called for Shirov
to be paid $200,000 if the match was cancelled -- but Rentero simply
refused! What nerve! Utter faithlessness.

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

Somebody sure as hell had a moral obligation to pay Shirov
something. If not Kasparov, then certainly Rentero.