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03/09/2009
It has been 25 years since their first duel, but Anatoli Karpov and Garry Kasparov are still not talking to each other. Their legendary rilvalry makes that, according to the organization of the match which will confront them September 21st to 25th, they are going to be in different hotels during their stay and they won’t see each other until they have to sit down and play. They don’t want to see each other before.
Although it’s an exhibition, the two K’s are taking this match very seriously. They are going to play a 12 games match; It will consist of 4 rapid (or semi rapid) and 8 blitz games and will take place exactly 25 years after the mythical encounter between the two players. This match between Kasparov and Karpov is in honour of the Queen as a chess piece, which emerged from the region of Valencia in the XV century, thus putting the beginning of the modern chess rules.
While Karpov, cold, astute and defensive, was one of the defenders of the Communist regime, Kasparov is aggressive, rebel, furious and symbol of the Perestroika. Two complete different personalities. Chess has never been the same it was with them. "We can’t say we are friends" says Karpov. "Our styles were opposed, like fire and ice", reminds Kasparov.
2007, Kasparov was arrested because of his differences with the president, Vladimir Putin, who he considers "a dictator". Karpov tried to visit him at the cells of the soviet police. But, as they both have often recognized, "it was a gesture of respect, not of friendship".
Before and after 500 hours playing against each other, both Karpov and Kasparov declared openly the hate they felt against the other. 25 years later, and approaching to their match, their enmity has risen and we can see it on details such as them not sharing the same hotel.
Their first match for the World Championship (Moscow 1984) was suspended because of physical exhaustion of both. It was the beginning of 144 official games and 5 World Championships, until 1990. A golden period in the history of chess, in which one of the biggest sports rivalry between two geniuses was founded. Now, they are going to compete in Valencia with the same emotion.
