It will be fine with me Barclay Tagg says if he races

“It will be fine with me,” Barclay Tagg says, “if he races until he’s nine.”. For the game that has challenged generations with the Open Sicilian and the Helsinki Hedgehog, it is the ultimate proof that chess is dominated by titanic egos and big business – the Prague D?cle. The Classical World Chess Championship (CWCC) between the world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, and a young Hungarian challenger, Peter Leko, had been due to take place in Budapest next month, at the end of a year of painstaking preparation. The federation, known by its French initials as Fide, is controlled by a maverick billionaire, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also president of an impoverished former Soviet republic, Kalmykia, and is known to admire Saddam Hussein.Kasparov’s breakaway body, the Professional Chess Association, folded in 1998 but led to a succession of other splinter groups that the Prague Agreement was designed to resolve.In an arrangement more reminiscent of the horse trading in international boxing than the sedate world of rooks and kings, the accord proposed two preliminary matches between the top players of the CWCC and Fide to culminate in a reunification bout in November. The image of the game needs to change from that of a gloomy, smoke-filled corner caf?here some crazy people play to the one I promote of a physically fit guy who plays chess but might also play for the local soccer team.”It is a scenario that yesterday seemed a distant one.There was confusion about the future of Fide’s match next month amid rumours it too had been unable to secure sufficient sponsorship for its showpiece event in Buenos Aires.Officials at the Swiss headquarters of Fide insisted yesterday that the funds had been secured and the match would proceed. For several weeks they had refused to deny rumours to the contrary.

Mr Ilyumzhinov denied that the visit was to offer asylum to senior member of the regime. Some within international chess said that they feared the latest developments would make Fide unassailable and pull out of the Prague Agreement altogether.One senior player, who declined to be named, said: “They’ve got Kasparov back, they can probably tempt Kramnik so the purpose of Prague has been undermined. It looks like Fide has won and we can forget about unification.”For the British Chess Federation, such a result would be disastrous. David Levens, the federation’s head of marketing, said: “We are trying to get away from this image of the game being played by intellectual nerds who sit in their ivory towers.”What we have instead is people who, for all their intelligence, can’t see far enough ahead to realise the damage their moves are doing.”The Rival ChampionsVLADIMIR KRAMNIKBorn: Tuapse, Russia, 1975Early career:Began playing aged four Won first adult championship in his home town at seven.

Accepted into the school of the legendary Mikhail Botvinnik at the age of 11.International record: Youngest player to represent Russia in the Chess Olympiad in 1992 Wrested the world title from Kasparov in 2000. Ranked second in the world, behind Kasparov, in the Fide listings.What they say about him:Upholds the classical tradition and beauty of the game. Capacity for hard work at the board and laid-back objectivity make it almost impossible to break through his concrete chess.GARRY KASPAROVBorn: Baku, Azerbaijan, 1963.Early career: Won the Soviet Junior Championship aged 12, the youngest to do so in the history of this competition. Went on to become the youngest ever World Chess Champion.International record: The world’s number-one player since 1984 according to Fide. In 1990, he was the first player in history to break the 2,800 ELO ratings mark – the chess equivalent of the four-minute mile.What they say about him: Botvinnik said of the 11-year-old Kasparov: “The future of chess lies in the hands of this young man.” Regarded as the greatest champion ever.. Herbie Hide finally cleared his mind and opened a way forward by stopping Zambia’s Joseph Chingangu at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre here last night.