Russians Kasparov, Karpov Rekindle Chess Rivalry

More than 25 years after their rivalry gave chess, and Russia, a much-needed jolt, former champions Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov will face off for a series of matches in Spain, beginning tomorrow, the Telegraph reports. The younger Kasparov took Karpov’s world title in 1985, and then seemed to mirror the ascendancy that brought Mikhail Gorbachev to power.

But Kasparov, at 46 a dozen years junior to Karpov, plays down experts’ assessments that he’s the favorite in Valencia: “I have not played a serious game for 5 years, which makes me doubt that I will be capable of recapturing my instinct.”
(More Garry Kasparov stories.)