Evans On Chess. March 29, 1996. Copyright Chesstours. All rights reserved. 

                              STORM OVER BAGHDAD

                                *************

     EVANS: What was your reaction when FIDE first told you Saddam
     Hussein was going to host your match with Karpov in Baghdad?

     KAMSKY: You'll have to ask my father.

                                *************  

Politics and sport don't mix too well. Even the royal game is a pawn in the 
larger game of geopolitics.

Bobby Fischer, 53, the greatest player America ever produced, holed up in 
Budapest after the United States indicted him for violating its embargo on 
Yugoslavia because of his $5 million match with Boris Spassky in 1992. His 
offense wasn't going there but getting paid.

Will history repeat itself?

American challenger Gata Kamsky met with a nasty surprise when FIDE gave the 
nod to a $2 million bid from Iraq to host its title match with Anatoly Karpov 
in Baghdad on June 1. Although FIDE insisted sporting events don't violate UN 
sanctions on Iraq, a universal storm of protest swiftly erupted.

"This tells you something about Saddam Hussein's priorities. Instead of 
feeding his people he's going to host a bunch of chess grandmasters," huffed a 
State Department spokesman, who hinted that Kamsky can't return if he wins 
money there.

Kamsky, who defected from Russia in 1989, is not yet an American citizen. To 
pursue his dream of capturing the FIDE championship, must he defy his adopted 
country?

Gary Kasparov, the real champ who is undefeated at the board, blasted FIDE's
decision as "a crime against chess." Inside Chess stated bluntly: "Iraq is 
simply out of the question. While no one knows where all of this might lead, 
clearly the chess world and everyone in it are the losers."  

The Russian Chess Federation also denounced the site: "We find it completely 
immoral, despite the size of the prize or what Saddam Hussein wears at the 
opening ceremony. It disgraces all who take part in it." 

Observers compared it to Hitler hosting the Olympics in 1936. Polite requests 
by the U.S. Chess Federation for a change of venue were ignored. Several 
nations including Iceland and Israel threatened to pull out of the world chess 
body, whose future looks bleak.

A lonely dissent came from the sponsor of an international tourney in San 
Francisco last year: "Hey, Americans, wake up! If you don't like it, put up 
funds to hold the match here! As someone who spends a lot of money to bring 
topflight chess to America, I can only say it's hypocritical for a country 
with our resources to take offense at another country's efforts to sponsor 
chess events because of this or that fault in their society."

The saddest part of the story is that FIDE sabotaged other bids for over a 
year. Cynics wonder if it was a gambit by Karpov, 45, to duck his 21-year-old 
contender. "If our match helps bring peace to the region, let us take this 
first step," he cooed. 

To stifle criticism both players were coaxed into pledging 25% of the purse to 
Iraqi children, who are presumably victims of American aggression. This 
reduces the prize to $1.5 million. While scrambling to find another sponsor, 
FIDE submitted the issue to the United Nations.

A prediction? In the words of president Bush when Iraq invaded Kuwait: "This 
will not stand!"
