AJEDREZ DEMOCRÁTICO
Madrid, April,8 2000
Open Letter.
We, the undersigned chessplayers, would like to express our deep distress and disapproval
in relation with the announcement made on April, 5 by the company "Mindsports"
(later on somehow transformed into "Braingames Network" -TR) and Gary Kasparov
to organize a 'Match' for the title of 'The World Champion' between the GMs Kasparov and
Kramnik.
It is well known by all the chessplayers that a qualification match between the GMs
Kramnik and Shirov was organized at Cazorla, Jaen (Spain) in June, 1998. It was
convincingly won by GM Alexei Shirov (the final score: 5,5 - 3,5; +2=7-0), who thereby
conquered the right to dispute a 'Match' for the Kasparov's title, the right that had been
personally guaranteed to him by Kasparov and Rentero - the two plenipotentiaries of the
WCC (World Chess Council), the organization in charge. Nevertheless, the rights won by
Shirov over the chessboard were spurned by Kasparov: no sooner had he learnt the name of
the winner, he deliberately avoided to contest the 'Match' with Shirov under a thin
pretext of his 'lack of commercial interest'.
Extreme absurdity of the situation is aggravated by the fact that the loser of the 'Match'
in Cazorla, Kramnik, had received the stipulated fees, whereas the winner, Shirov, has
never been remunerated for his brilliant victory.
In our opinion the pretext of Shirov's 'lack of commercial attractiveness' adduced by
Kasparov, not only lacks credibility but is thoroughly ludicrous while the present
intention to hold a 'Match' for the Kasparov's title with participation of the loser of
the qualification 'Match' is an obvious manipulation of the competition.
We consider that the convincing results of Shirov in the previously disputed 'Matches' as
well as his brilliant and "commercial" style of play enhance his legitimacy as a
challenger - all this makes an encounter between Kasparov and Shirov much more attractive
for the chessplayers than another one between the two compatriots of the same nationality,
whose recent games show a clear drawish tendency and a lack of real combativity.
In expression of our support to the only candidate who had conquered his rights over the
chessboard, we deem that another 'Match' between Kasparov and any other rival would
constitute a farce and by signing this letter we would like to voice our support of the
legitimate candidate for the World Title, the Spanish Grandmaster Alexei Shirov.
José Martin León, the organizer of the annual tournament 'Boadilla del Monte',
Carlos A. Lozano Arribas, organizer,
Luis Blasco de la Cruz, arbiter,
Javier Perez Llera, arbiter,
Felipe Martínez García, arbiter,
Emilio Sancho Pascual, arbiter,
varios GMs, IMs, participants of the tounament 'Boadilla del Monte'
[the total of 89 signatures].
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