The deterioration must have been rather recent. In 2006 he shared first with Ivanchuk in the Keres Memorial, lost 1 of 8 against Leko, and drew both against Kasparov when he shared first in the Lichthof blitz. In rapid against Istratescu (2617) he scored 3.5-0.5.

In 2007 Fischl's stats have him as 5th in the world in rapid, even if that of course is much better than his real strength. In 2008 he reached the Cap d’Agde semi and was 0.5 behind winners Pono and Gelfand in the Pivdenny Bank Cup. In a very tough Tal Memorial Blitz he was equal with Moro after the 33 rounds. This year he drew his rapid games against Svidler in the ACP Rapid Cup but lost one of the blitz games. In Zürich last month he drew Topalov and won against Polgar but shared last with the latter.

>

It is from the same interview in 1993 where he meant that Fischer was the World Champion and Kasparov "FIDE Champion":

<"He was angry at himself and he took it out on the clock. The clock made a jump and I don't get angry. I really, really don't. I have a high tolerance, but that hurt. And I looked at him with a look that said, "Do that one more time, sucker, and a right is going to drop you on your ass!" I was so angry. And he totally disarmed me. And psychologically it reversed the game. I didn't say a word, but right then he said, "Yasser, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. Forgive me.">

<he has a claim on the title of world champion. I think it is totally legitimate. [---] for me he is world champion.”>

On Kamsky:

<I do not like him. [---] He is more or less an automaton. He has no personality>

On Fischer's theory that all the K-K matches were prearranged:

<he's putting together a very compelling case>

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....

<His behaviour at the board was so appalling that he affected not only my concentration but that of both teams. I lost an equal ending, which only seems to have justified his antics. It is a lifetime regret that I didn’t cold cock him across the jaw. It would have been an international incident. FIDE would have barred me but my colleagues would have carried me out upon their shoulders>

<Kasparov started making these growling noises at the board, and rocking back and forth, <<<<>>>tyring to distract Seriwan...>>

<In his defence I’ve seen him behave badly against Deep Blue where such antics have no effect. Perhaps all the energy and passion that he puts into his games bubbles to the surface and he is unaware of the effect this has on his opponents. Is he not embarrassed when he seems himself on video?>

Regardless of his emotional frame at any given point, there are things you don't do during a chess game, especially at the professional level. Interestingly, in this video age, where many games are stored on digitized video, if a player is misbehaving at the board, to a material degree, it may be possible for the victimized person to summon the referee/arbiter and request a cessation of activities, or, after the game, request that the problem player forfeit the point.

For example, back at Wijk aan Zee, when Polger played Kasparov, and Kaspy may have touched a piece but not moved it, with video, Polgar could have had kasparov forfeited.

If an opponent's good move causes a contender to wince and slam his hands to his temples, we know something happened. That's the spirit in which Kasparov plays these games.

Its all out in the open with him. From watching <Capabal>'s Utoob link, I don't believe any subterfuge is intended, at all. He cold-cocks himself when he loses.

It was at Linares, and he moved the piece but to a different square. Since Spanish TV "accidentally" filmed the sequence while covering the event it was later said that Kasparov's hand had left the piece for a fragment of a second, four frames if I recall correctly, but Polgar never complained about it during the game.

I mean, come on. He was paid $1 million for 6 exhibition games of chess, and couldn't smile or congratulate the programmers or chess players who helped develop the project? He even accused them of cheating, claiming that there was a side room, where a strong human player was examining the computer's candidate moves, checking for a 'computer mistke' before the final move was relayed to the board Kasparov was playing on. This is more detailed in a short film on the event, inclucing interviews with a number of the participants.

On the possibility of holding a K-K match in Moscow the Vice President of the Moscow Chess Federation Sergey Smagin means that the enthusiasm evaporates when considering that Karpov has withdrawn in the last minute from important events in Moscow before, citing "made up reasons"... He mentions the Botvinnik Memorial 2001 (also at the 2004 Superfinal did Karpov get "other business commitments" a couple of days before the event started).

http://www.rg.ru/2009/09/28/kasparo...

and when Kasparov say he was happy with his game, I bet he did rather well. :)

"I went to Oslo, we had a session with Magnus. It was not about my match, it was getting back into the normal chess atmosphere. We worked, and we played a few blitz games."