Prague Agreement
In February 2002 GM Yasser Seirawan initiated a proposal called “Fresh Start” to unify the world of chess. The basic idea was to find a challenger to V. Kramink when R. Ponomariov will have to play G. Kasparov who has been world number one for nearly two decades and is also the most famous player. On May 6th, 2002 in Prague Bessel Kok convened a meeting that brought most of the mighty in chess together. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Alexy Orlov and many others all in one room, signing the “peace plan”.
Mark Crowther analysed the good and bad sides of the formula: “Kasparov’s participation is both financially and for publicity purposes very desirable. However there seems no sporting justification for seeding him directly to a match against one of the champions Ponomariov. Moreover Kasparov seems to have emerged with more political power than any other player, worrying as Kasparov has proved to be very divisive away from the board.
One reading of the situation is to say simply good luck to Kasparov, he negotiated a good deal for himself whilst the other players did not. Most certainly Kasparov is a powerful personality who tends to get his way a lot of the time. Nevertheless the agreement leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Anand and Ivanchuk turned down the Dortmund qualifier remaining loyal to FIDE and in return they were not offered a place in the unification process.
One obvious solution would have been to take Ivanchuk (as losing FIDE finalist), Svidler and Anand (as losing semi-finalists) and add Garry Kasparov to produce an elimination tournament of 12 rounds, the winner to play Ruslan Ponomariov. However that would have had to have been firmly on the agenda before the offer was made to Kasparov (and we don’t know who floated this idea and when it became real). Once Kasparov found the idea of playing Ponomariov acceptable he was hardly going to accept anything less. Kasparov then negotiated with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov directly and they came to an agreement before Prague. If the solution of an extra qualifying tournament had been the one offered to Kasparov then he would have had to either accept or turn it down. There is some talk that the Ponomariov – Kasparov match is only agreed in principal and that other players could be included but it would be very hard to add another stage now although Kasparov would look incredibly magnanimous if he accepted such a proposal.”
For FIDE and its president the day was historical. Kiran Ilyumzhinov expressed himelf with great satisfaction in Sport Express: “It is a historical moment. The most important and universally recognized thing is that there is only one organization representing chess players in all the domains (not only in Olympic movement) – FIDE. It is neither debated nor discussed anymore. It is just a historical fact. I am very pleased, that Kasparov himself suggested recognizing the World Champion title as FIDE’s property. From now on neither ‘Coca-Cola’, ‘Pepsi-Cola’, nor ‘Einstein’ or any other organization can call it into question. We will settle all the legal issues later on. However, the main document is already signed.
Q: When you became the president of FIDE, you promised to put Karpov and Kasparov at the chess table in the world championship. However Kasprov pulled himself out from under your jurisdiction for seven years. He was harshly criticizing you all this time. Everything is forgotten? No hard feelings? We see a new alliance now. How did it happen? A: Andrei Makarov (a well-known lawyer, politician (in the past) and former president of the Russian Chess Federation – Y.V.) gave me a call and suggested meeting with Garry Kimovich in his office to discuss the unification of the chess world. We met and had a several-hour discussion. We realized that our opinions on the future of chess coincided. The unification is necessary for the further development of chess.
Q: Many chess professionals of the ‘middle echelon’ are concerned: what will happen with your favorite brainchild, knockout championships? They offered everybody a real chance to fight for the title and to earn money. Will knockouts sink in the whirlpool of the unification process?
A: No way! The knockout format remains in force but it will be more extended. The final will be the 12-game (not 6-game as it was last time) classical chess world championship match. 5 people qualify for the Candidate matches from the knockout.
Q: You often called Kramnik the ‘champion of a pumping-station’. Has your attitude toward his title changed?
A: The reunification process has already started, but until the unifying match is played Kramnik remains the ‘Brain Games’ champion, under the aegis of which he won his title.
Q: Do you have a feeling that you accomplished something grandiose?
A: I am glad that (using a common language) this mess in chess is over. I have an impression that both Kramnik and Kasparov are satisfied too. They are feeling relieved.
What do the leading players think about the Prague Unity Agreement?
Ponomariov’s opinion after Prague:
Q: Another revolution is being hatched up in chess now – the absolute world championship. But you, the FIDE World Champion, did not participate in the development of this project.
A: The decision on the championship was taken in Prague during the supertournament where I did not participate. However, an assistant of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has called me and told what is what, so I’m in the know. Surprisingly that we don’t have either official regulations or the contract until now…
Q: Then it suits you to play with Garry Kasparov in the semi-final?
A: The champion must defend his title and I’ll be doing it! How to defend and against whom – these are details. Surely, in this particular case there could have been some other options. For instance, the match between me and Kramnik who are two champions by various versions. But FIDE gave up to Kasparov so as to switch him back into their system. That was a strong move on the part of the Federation. Still I feel sorry for my colleagues whom FIDE voluntarily screened out from the struggle for the crown. I mean the same Ivanchuk and Anand.
Kasparov was asked what of the impact of the new peace plan would be on the world of chess. The results were published on Chessbase website.
- The world of chess will never be the same. It will enter the 21st Century and become a mainstream sport.
- The creation of an undisputed world chess champion in classical chess is something we have not had for nine years since Nigel Short and I left FIDE in 1993.
- The classical chess world title goes way back in history and is ten years older than the modern Olympic games. Now it seems that after a decade of turmoil, chess players and fans will get their wish, an undisputed world chess champion.
- United under one body, we have cleared the way for FIDE to embrace professional management to do for chess what other sports have taken for granted for years.
- A byproduct of this unity will certainly be major commercial interest and sponsors which will spawn major chess tournament events, classical, rapid and blitz.
- All leading grandmasters will prosper with a successful worldwide circuit
- Chess can become a TV sport and sponsors and the TV networks will soon realize the immense potential. While chess on TV is a potential, chess on the internet is huge and will take the game live into a potential 100 million households throughout the world.
- With FIDE as the only body representing all of chess, entry into the Olympic Games should happen quicker, and if chess enters the Olympics, it will be universally recognized as a sport.
- The grass roots of chess will also benefit if government funding is achieved.
- Chess is a mixture of sport, social, cultural and educational endeavors and we expect that chess in the classroom will increase on a world-wide basis.
And a long interview of Garry was published on Kasparovchess website: Garry Kasparov:“It is necessary to understand, that this encounter was dictated by blind situation at all fronts. It’s an absurd to think that Ilyumzhinov will always pay. I know that Kirsan Nikolayevich searched for an escape from this situation. Unfortunately, many of my associate chess players did not understand that sooner or later, it would be necessary to search for a solution. Their life was good; Ilyumzhinov pays – they play. Nobody cares if there is television – there is no television, there is a return of money – there is no return. This could have continued infinitely, and now, in my view, the solution, which satisfies the basic sides of conflict, was found. FIDE, in principle, obtained the main thing they wanted: the complete acknowledgement of its rights to the title of the World Champion and acknowledgement as the universal organization, which does not have competitors in the chess world. On the other hand, FIDE recognized the need to create the professional organization, which could carry out the World Championship cycle. Bessel Kok and his command can be included actively even now. These are the key positions, which make it possible to hope that this construction will not prove to be unsteady.”
Q: At which moment did you begin to believe that the agreement would be reached?
A: In principle, the basic parameters of the agreement were already developed before Prague through the initiatives of Seirawan only two months ago. However, the events were developing very fast. Strangely enough, the key point of the negotiations was the tournament in Dubai. Ilyumzhinov became aware of the fact that FIDE’s line is heading nowhere. They put their hopes on concrete people and concrete structures. Ilyumzhinov, possessing the greatest possibilities in the chess world, had to make a choice – to enter into the negotiations or not.
The negotiations went very efficiently after Dubai, because it became understandable that Kirsan understands the concept of transformation of FIDE into a license organization. Certainly, it is possible to lead all and pay for all, but one can divide responsibility and control, but in this case, obtain commission for the rights, which are recognized by all. It became clear that it is possible to grasp the concept, which I was able to eventually generate, and today it was realized. The concept suited Bessel Kok, since it allows him to be actively included into the game; but in this case, he is included not to fight for existence, but in order to prove the commercial justifiability of chess.
This no longer a discussion of “who is right and who is wrong”, but matters like conditions of license, for what period it reveals, what financial obligations the new organization will bear etc. I think that if nothing exceptional happens, the chess situation will be stabilized by the FIDE Assembly in Slovenia in November. We will expect serious changes for the best, i.e. chess will see some steady financing. This is what the chess world lacks today, since one cannot consider Ilyumzhinov’s personal money as a guarantee of stability in professional chess world, no matter what my young associates say about it.