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Oct-12-04
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| Joshka: <iron maiden> Yes....it's in one of my many chess books...I just have to find it again...I think I know where I read about it...and when I do will give you the info....in fact this statement about their training match in this book is the only reference I have ever found. |
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Oct-12-04
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| keypusher: In Brad Darrasch's Bobby Fischer v. the Rest of the World it's reported that Fischer wound up working more with Kavelek than Lombardy. No idea if it is true. I read somewhere (maybe Darrasch again?) that Karpov, when he came to the US in 1972 for the San Antonio tournament, confirmed that he had played a training match with Spassky and added "I didn't lose." Given his subsequent record against Spassky, I can well believe it. |
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Oct-12-04
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| Joshka: <iron maiden> <keypusher> Allright the quote is in Gufeld's book "Bobby Fischer from chess genius to Legend" page 82. After Karpov had beaten Korchnoi in the candidates Finals from 1974...."Bobby played a private training match with GM L. Kavalek, which was soon joined by IM Bernard Zuckerman."....I apologize for thinking it was in preparation for Spassky in 1972. |
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| Oct-12-04 |
| WMD: <I read somewhere (maybe Darrasch again?) that Karpov, when he came to the US in 1972 for the San Antonio tournament, confirmed that he had played a training match with Spassky and added "I didn't lose." Given his subsequent record against Spassky, I can well believe it.> This is contradicted by what Karpov wrote in his autobiography, Karpov on Karpov (and quoted in Russians vs Fischer): "Then suddenly - imagine - I received an invitation to attend the
Spassky training session... This was an honour. True, my star too was rising swiftly, my name already carried considerable weight, and I had received my share of support. But all this was new to me, and the backstage preparations for a world title match seemed to me something like a secret altar. To be there, to peer into this holy of holies was something I could not have imagined a mere year earlier... And so I went to the Spassky session. "Of course I was not allowed anywhere near the holy of holies. I was
considered a chance person and potentially dangerous. Therefore I
was only occasionally invited to take part in some trite and non-essential analysis of one of Fischer's games. "I was amazed to see Spassky doing nothing.
"Usually the morning would begin with him enthusiastically recounting,
over breakfast, another episeode from the Greek myths, which he loved
dearly and read before going to bed. Then there would be tennis. Then
something else. Anything except chess. At the time he was expounding the 'theory' of a clear head. With a clear head and refreshed, he would,
with his talent, outplay anyone. This theory had been invented by his coach
Bondarevsky so as somehow to justify the World Champion's pathological
laziness. Although I too consider myself lazy, Spassky's laziness astonished me. I was certainly not impressed by the fact that he had been able to win his match with Petrosian after such 'preparation.' With all due credit to Petrosian, I felt even then that the experience of the match with him could not be simply extrapolated to the coming match with Fischer. These were not just different people; Fischer symbolized the coming of an entirely new type of chess. Was this not obvious?... "Toward the end of the training session, Spassky - wishing to test his
form - decided to play a few games with me. In the first he asked me
to open with the Ruy Lopez. I had the white pieces and soon obtained
a won position, but - overplayed my hand and lost. Spassky liked the
game. He decided that he was in excellent form and that there was no
point in continuing the test. My participation in that last training
session before the match was practically confined to that one game." |
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Oct-12-04
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| keypusher: Thanks, <WMD>, for the correction. I had never heard that story. Very interesting about Spassky! |
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Oct-13-04
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| cu8sfan: I recently read "Bobby Fischer Goes to War" and that's what they say, too, that Spassky was lazy and didn't work very hard on his preparation. Maybe if he would have Fischer might never have become World Champion. |
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Feb-18-05
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| Albertan: GM Kavalek writes a column for the Washington Post which you can read at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy... |
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Feb-18-05
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| Appaz: Why not put such links to chess columns in the biography <cg.com> ? |
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Apr-09-05
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| Caissanist: Nice story about how Kavalek made it to the west, from TWIC. Looks like he calculated all the variations correctly and made the right move. http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/eve... |
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| Apr-30-05 |
| offramp: Here is one of my favourite games of his: Portisch vs Kavalek, 1975 |
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| Apr-30-05 |
| ChessHistorian: What does he do now? |
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Apr-30-05
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| Caissanist: I was actually reminded of that exact game when I read the story of how he made it to the west. In both cases he faced what seemed to be a hopeless position against a very strong but rather unimaginative adversary, and so decided to do something "crazy" that his opponent could not possibly have planned for. To me, it takes the same kind of mind to sacrifice a queen for a bishop out of the opening as it does to spend all your tournament winnings on vodka (to use for bribes). Or, more to the point, to do it successfully. |
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Jun-18-05
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| Where is my mind: Does Lubomir Kavalek still write his chess column @ washingtonpost.com? The last one was posted april 18. |
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| Jun-19-05 |
| offramp: Kavaek always seems to me to be fully American; I keep forgetting that he was born in Prague. Does he now have an American accent? |
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Jul-25-05
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| Caissanist: His column's still there, and the archive at www.washingtonpost.com shows columns throughout the year. If you have it bookmarked you might want to update your bookmarks; the link that I have is http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy.... |
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Sep-25-05
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| Where is my mind: Thanks for the link <Caissanist>.I needed to update the bookmark. |
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| Dec-10-05 |
| WTHarvey: Here is a little collection of puzzles from Lubomir's games not shown here: http://www.wtharvey.com/kava.html |
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| May-04-06 |
| BIDMONFA: Lubomir Kavalek KAVALEK, Lubomir
http://www.bidmonfa.com/kavalek_lub...
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| Aug-20-06 |
| Kenkaku: "Players Bobby's age, like myself, are a lost generation. We always lived in the shadow of Bobby. We had him as an idol. He was someone to follow. When he stopped playing, I somehow got lost. We lost our inspiration. The last decade belonged to me in the United States. I was always ahead in ratings; but I can't say I was first because, in the back of my mind, there was always Bobby. He was still alive. He is still alive." – Lubomir Kavalek |
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| Oct-10-06 |
| RookFile: Kind of echoes what Steinitz must have felt as long as Morphy lived. |
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Oct-10-06
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| Honza Cervenka: <Does he now have an American accent?> No, he has no accent. He speaks Czech perfectly and the only accent he has is the Prague one.:-) Btw, only tennis players like Lendl or Navratilova and top-models are getting it (quite quickly, I would say.) |
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Oct-10-06
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| keypusher: <Kind of echoes what Steinitz must have felt as long as Morphy lived.> Ha! |
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Jul-12-08
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| whiteshark: <When the truth is inconvenient for him, he has been known to resort to "fables" and to become angry when they are revealed for what they are.> -- Lubomir Kavalek (on Kasparov)
QotD on gmchess.com
After all he's only human! |
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Nov-03-08
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| waustad: I'm glad to see that his articles are still coming. I had an outdated bookmark for the archive. I met him in '77 in Washington when I went to a simul given by Tigran Petrosian. When trying to recall his accent when speaking English I'm sorry, but I keep hearing George Jellanek in my mind's ear. I know that can't be right because Jellanek, though ethnically Czech grew up in Budapest if I recall. |
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Nov-03-08
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| waustad: The problem seems to be that the links we have been posting for his column always include a date. Here is one that gets to a parent from which to search: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/w... I thought his column had died, but that is because I used a dated link. Try this. Links always change so if you find a better approach, please post it. |
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