Wlodzimierz Holsztynski wrote (2004-02-01 14:00:24 PST):
Karpov avoided "succesfully" a championship match
against Fischer.

I wrote (2004-02-02 10:12:18 PST):
If Wlodzimierz Holsztynski wants to blame Karpov
for failing to agree to a requirement that he would
have to try to finish two or more points ahead of
Fischer, it seems to me that he should be explicit
about this instead of using vague language like,
"avoided 'successfully'".


Nick wrote (2004-02-03 14:39:23 PST):

I concur with you that Wlodzimierz Holsztynski
could be more explicit in his language about why
he blames Anatoly Karpov. But it seems to me that
Mr Holsztynski already has been clear enough in
expressing his vehement opinion that Bobby Fischer's
demanded "two point margin of victory" condition
was a fair one, and that Karpov was wrong, stupid,
cowardly, dishonest, and unfair to Fischer not to
have accepted it.

"Karpov could easily make a statement that 9:9
clause is no big deal (indeed, it was not). He
could say: I want to play. Instead he chose to
cooperate with the Soviet Federation in avoiding
ther math (sic). He chose not to play."
--Wlodzimierz Holsztynski (7 December 2003, in
this thread)

_
The quote is about four weeks old. In case anyone
has started reading since that time, it seemed to
me to be appropriate to clarify what Wlodzimierz
Holsztynski apparently means when he says that
Karpov "avoided" Fischer.

"Bobby Fischer had sent in a number of demands ... Some
of these were conceded ... But two demands were rejected.
... Numerous telegrams had been sent to the Congress by
Fischer via his spokesman, Fred Cramer. The last one said
that, in the light of FIDE's decisions, he was resigning his
FIDE world-championship title. ... Another attempt was
made to bring the FIDE and Fischer into complete accord,
when Colonel Edmondson (U.S. Chess Federation) asked
for the summoning of an extraordinary meeting of the FIDE
Congress. There being a sufficient number of countries in
agreement, it duly assembled at Bergen-aan-Zee in the
Netherlands from 18 to 20 March, 1975. It was an
extraordinary congress in every sense of the word, and
eventually, after much heated discussion, one of Fischer's
demands was conceded: the match was to have a limitless
number of games. But Fischer's other demand - that a
draw be declared when the situation reached nine to nine
- was rejected by a majority of three. Fischer's words on
hearing this were, 'It's all over then.' No match took place.
Fischer ignored the request to say by 2 April whether or not
he would play, and Karpov became the new world champion"
- Golombek (1976)

"Many have rather cynically described [Fischer] as
engaging in 'gamesmanship.' It seems more likely
that the capture of the title led to an emotional
upset of serious proportions. His conditions for
the match with Karpov seem motivated more by inner
fantasies than anything else. Thus so far he has
not played a serious game of chess since he became
champion. There is the grave danger that he may
never play again." - Fine (1976)