Sergey Karjakin in war of words with Garry Kasparov after world chess defeat
Leonard Barden
Friday 9 December 2016 11.07 EST
After Sergey Karjakin v Magnus Carlsen the next bout was Karjakin v Garry Kasparov in a sharp war of words. The legend and former world champion Kasparov, defeated in his bid for president of the global chess body, FIDE, lives in New York but did not attend a single session at the match site in Manhattan.
At the end of the series Kasparov tweeted: “Congratulations to Magnus! His lack of preparation angered the goddess Caissa, but not enough to drive her into the drab Karjakin’s arms.” Pressed in an interview for an explanation of “drab”, Kasparov went further: “Karjakin as world champion would have been a misunderstanding … The stars would have had to align in an unusual configuration for a chess player of Karjakin’s level to beat a player of Carlsen’s level.”
Karjakin’s response was calmer but definite. Asked who was better, Kasparov in his best years or Carlsen, he replied: “Magnus. It’s not just that I lost to him. It’s simply that the Norwegian is a more universal player. Kasparov had very good openings and tactically he was at a very high level but in positional play and the endgame it seems to me that he was far inferior to the current Carlsen.”
Discussing his personal relations with Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, Karjakin revealed that he had visited Karpov before his journey to New York “and he gave me useful tips that I employed” but that “Kasparov and I don’t speak and I have no intention of doing that since I think that he’s doing a lot of bad things, even for chess.”
Full article here.