Gulfnews (25/05/08): ‘Chess organisers made wrong moves’

Garry Kasparov said that chess failed to cash in on the famous rivalry between him and Anatoly Karpov in the ’80s and ’90s of the last century to catapult it into a modern and professional sport.

«Great rivalries help push sport like the [Mohammad] Ali-Foreman [George] duel in boxing and the [Bjorn] Borg-McEnroe [John] one in tennis. Likewise, there was a momentum in chess during the ’80s but the game’s organisers failed to use it to spread the game’s popularity,» Kasparov told Gulf News on the sidelines of a lecture assignment.

«The Fischer-Spassky rivalry presented another chance but unfortunately nothing happened. Today, chess is in a much worse situation as the other sports have all progressed and left this sport far behind,» said the man who was rated world number one for almost two decades.

En otras palabras, que según Kaspy la culpa de que el ajedrez decaiga entre los demás deportes la tienen los organizadores por no haber aprovechado las oportunidades que él les ofreció 😉