Whoa!! Wait a minute Aravena Sloan. Some guy from brighton beach?
Are you a Ranger fan? Jealous that NJ wins 3 cups and the Rangers
with the highest payroll in Hockey can't even make the playoffs. As
for Kamsky a lot of ill will toward Kamsky was due to his overbearing
father.

EZoto

Eric Hicks wrote in message ...
Its amazing that Gata Kamsky disappeared off the chess scene at the
height of his powers.

No, he just chose another profession. Or someone made the decision for
him. Either way, it's a shame he stopped playing pro chess.


What is it with "American" Chess stars, and potential world champion
contenders quitting Chess? Kamsky should go down in American Anals with
Morphy and Fischer...but definately never will.

Sorry, but I had a really good laughter with this "anal" thing. I can
already imagine Morphy and Fischer parading their anuses and Kamsky
following.

That is because he has
to be one of the most unliked Grand Masters of all time...especially in
the GM cirle. I remember him winning a LA tournament and the other
Grandmasters running around giggling with a Mr Potatoe head with Kamsky
glasses. Kamsky was around 16, and probably sensitive to that kind of
cruelty.

It is true that Kamsky wasn't liked, but I think it was mostly due to
his father. I had never heard of the Mr. Potato Head story. By the
way, the "potatoe" spelling reminded me of Dan Quayle.
http://www.capitalcentury.com/1992.html

The intolerance the chess scene had for Kamsky is sad when you consider
the enormous pressure Kamsky was under, the fact that he had defected
from his home country, he had a lets say an "overbearing" father, he was
immersed in the chess spotlight, the big fact he was just a
teenager...and he had "colleague" gm's running around with Kamsky
potatoe heads making Kamsky jokes....try that scenario on any teenager
and see how they react.

Certainly Kamsky was under a lot of pressure. But wasn't most of it
from his father? Whatever jokes the GMs made were probably the same
type Kamsky would have gotten from his peers at an American school. It
doesn't justify it, but I don't think the impact would have been any
different.

It seems to me that many of his behavior were similiar to Fischer's, and
Kamsky was actually more dominant in chess than Fischer when you
consider his age and that he was already a world championship contender
at 17 years old... but Kamsky never managed to capture the imaginations
of the American Public.

What?? Please do check your facts before you post that.
What is a "world championship condenter"? Someone who made it to the
candidates? the interzonal? in the top 10 rating list?
In 1959, at the Yugoslavia candidates tournament, Fischer was
participating, and he wasn't 17 yet.
http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/5860$cix.htm

Kamsky, on the other hand, was around 16 years old when he played at
the Manila interzonal, and DID NOT qualify for the candidates
(therefore, you couldn't consider him a world championship contender
yet). He didn't become a candidate until 1993, when he played in both
FIDE and PCA qualifying tournaments (and went on to become a
candidate). He turned 19 in '93.

Fischer's dominance became more apparent when he won matches against
other cadidates 6-0. Kamsky never won in such a fashion. The most you
can say is that he participated in two qualifying cycles
simulatneously, and that he split matches with Anand: outstanding
performance, but not "dominating".

I for one have been more than curious on the fate of Kamsky. And as time
goes on, memories grow fonder of his chess dominance.

Again with the dominance... I think he was a really good player when
he stopped playing (he had just lost a match to Karpov for the FIDE
world championship), and he probably would have had another chance to
play for the championship again, but he really wasn't "dominant", when
players such as Kramnik and Anand were still around (not to mention
Kasparov).

I feel he is a great loss to chess...and to American Chess especially.

Yes, a very deep loss to chess. Quite unfortunate. However, I don't
get the feeling that the U.S. embraced Kamsky as an American. At least
I don't remember a big buzz being made by the media during his match
vs. Karpov, in the way that Fischer vs. Spassky (both I and II) made
the headlines.

"Flobby Bischer" wrote in message
.. .
He played a number of games on ICC under the name of UDAV and Talion (a
name
he used when trying to fool the world into thinking he was Karpov playing
there.) He promised a comeback as Talion but we never saw it. Maybe he's
too busy diagnosing anxiety attacks and strep throat in some cheezy
doctors
office.

UDAV showed up today (30/7/03) on the ICC, kibitizing the games of the Biel
tournament and rubbing elbows with hoi polloi. Kamsky obviously misses
chess. A curse on his father.


--
Ian Burton
[Please Reply to Newsgroup]