Garry Kasparov, the world champion, playing efficiently and incisively, made short work of Game 18 of the World Championship match in Lyon, France. He needed just 17 moves in the adjournment sessions to defeat Anatoly Karpov. After the Game 19 draw, Kasparov leads with a 10-9 score.
After eight consecutive draws, the contest has been shaken up by three decisions in a row. Kasparov won Game 16, Karpov Game 17 and Kas-parov Game 18.Since the match has a limit of 24 games, time is running out for Karpov to recover the title he lost to Kas-parov in 1985. This isn't to suggest that Karpov can't do it, but it won't be easy.
One victory won't do because the champion would keep his title in a 12-12 tie.
Game 19 was scheduled for Monday, but Karpov asked for a postponement. The game was played Wednesday night and ended in a draw.
Whence came the world title and world championship?
The title of "world champion" was not considered to be official prior to Wilhem Steinitz, although there is no doubt that several players before him, notably Adolf Anderssen (1818-1979) and Paul Morphy (1837-1884) were in fact the leading players of the day and most certainly deserve to be considered world champions.
Since 1948, awarding the title world champion has been under the direct control of FIDE (Federation Internationale Des Echecs).
Prior to then, the winner of the championship could determine whom he would next play to defend the title and was able to name his own terms and accept or reject the suggested venue.
The world title was formerly considered to be the personal property of the holder. This led to abuses in which the champion might refuse to defend his title at all for periods of several years.
Emanuel Lasker, for example, did not defend his title for nearly 10 years (1898-1907).
The following table lists the official world champions and the inclusive years of their reigns:
Wilhelm Steinitz - 1866-1894
Emanuel Lasker - 1894-1921
Jose Raoul Capablanca - 1921-1927
Alexander Alekhine - 1927-1935
Max Euwe - 1935-1937
Alexander Alekhine - 1937-1946
Mikhail M. Botvinnik - 1948-1957
Vasily Smyslov - 1957-1958
Mikhail M. Botvinnik - 1958-1960
Mikhail Tal - 1960-1961
Mikhail M. Botvinnik - 1961-1963
Tigran Petrosian - 1963-1969
Boris Spassky - 1969-1972
Robert J. Fischer - 1972-1975
Anatoly E. Karpov - 1975-1985
Garry Kasparov - 1985 Since 1948 there has been a three-year qualifying cycle to determine the challenger for the World Championship match. The stages in this cycle have been the zonal tournaments, the interzonal tournaments and the candidates tournaments or candidates matches.
At present, the world is divided into 10 zones, which all hold triennial zonal tournaments in the same year as the World Championship match of the previous cycle.
Each nation is allocated a number of places based on the strength of its chess players and selects its representatives by its own criteria.
The leading players in the zonals then qualify for the interzonal tournaments with other players who have been nominated by FIDE.
Until 1970, only one interzonal was held in each qualifying cycle. Since 1973, two interzonals have been held.
The leading players in the interzonals then proceed to the next stage, which was a candidates tournament until 1962. Since 1965, it has been a series of candidates matches. There they are joined by the loser of the previous World Championship match and the player who was second in the previous series of candidates matches. All compete in a series of knock-out matches.
The final winner becomes the challenger for the next World Championship match.
- CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SOLVERS! - Joseph Pergler, Monroe Iversen, Neil Iversen, Hal Harmon, Jack Crandall, Dave Sonntag, William D. Price, Gordon Green, Ted Pathakis, Eugene Wagstaff, Edwin O. Smith, William DeVroom, Robert E. Lee, Michael Brough, Ron Copier, Aaron Brough, George Stucki, Nathan Kennard, Daniel Barker, Wilburn West, Jim Turner, Dan Thompson, Richard Adams, Stanley Hunt, Raeburn Kennard, Brent Tarry, Joseph Evans, Donovan Weight, Joye McMulland, Dale Brimley, Stephen Kirk, David Wilhite, Curt Jeppson, David L. Evans, Kim Barney, Glennin Cloward, Cher Wood, Vali Kremer, Prof. Ardean Watts, Ryan Stucki, Tim Painter, David D. Kirk, Russell O`Dell, Ann Neil, Kevin Smullin, David Wilnes, Kay Lundstrom, Paul R. Lindeman, Thomas Hazen, Jim Reed, David Ferguson, Alison Hermance, Farrell Ostler, Ramon Bassett, Scott Mitchell, Peter Rogers, John Newman, Ken Frost, Ronnie Millet, Julie Brimhall and Steven Staker.