Karpov's plain was delayed from BRASIL,
where he promoted chess, as he usually do..





"Jerzy" wrote in message ...
"Aryeh Davidoff" wrote in message
om...
Aryeh Davidoff: Please, read Lev Khariton's comment at
www.pakchess.com

Karpov withdraws in Benidorm
(December 1st, 2003)


My comment: Anatoly Karpov is the pride of world chess. I have no
doubt that all the participants of of the Benidorm tournament can
learn a lot from Karpov. By allowing to disqualify him from the
tournament, they are cutting their goose: they will always miss
something in their chess education. Besides, their behavior is immoral
simply on human grounds. Karpov is minimum 25 or 30 years older than
most of the participants and they should respect both his age and his
place in chess history.
In the past I wrote many negative and critical articles on Karpov. All
this, however, does not prevent me from being objective. The
disqualification of Karpov is another disgraceful episode in chess
history.

Also, as my readers know, I had all the support of Radjabov when
Kasparov went into hysteria over Radjabov's winning the beauty prize
for his victory over the 13th World Champion in Linares this year.
Unfortunately, Radjabov's insistence on Karpov's disqualification
sheds a bad light on Radjabov's image in the world of chess.
Gentlemanly behavior does not seem to be the trademark of the great
chess players born in Baku!


After a period of hesitation I`ve decided to answer to your letter (I don`t
know Aryeh`s, Lev`s or someone else).
I don`t understand the point of Karpov. If he were still a professional
chess player he shouldn`t be late even to such an unimportant (from
competitive point of view) chess event like rapid chess tournament in
Benidorm (it was however important from advertising point of view).

It`s said that Karpov is notorious for such late-comings so I assume that he
is not so innocent of the whole mess there in Benidorm. Yes, I agree with
you, double Aryeh and Lev, it`s a question of good manners but I doubt it
was only Radjabov`s fault.

Double regards as usual,
Jerzy