The match on this page, sponsored by Bessel Kok and his company SWIFT and organized by the GMA (Grandmasters Association) under the jurisdiction of FIDE, was one of four matches played at the SAS Royal Hotel in Brussels, Belgium, from 11 to 21, 22 & 24 August 1991. The other three were the Timman - Korchnoi Candidates Quarterfinal (1991), Yusupov - Ivanchuk Candidates Quarterfinal (1991) and Short - Gelfand Candidates Quarterfinal (1991). The draw for pairings had been made on 22 February in connection with the opening of the Linares (1991) tournament. The matches were held in order to have a challenger for world champion Garry Kasparov.
Photo: https://web.archive.org/web/2024030...
The event was opened by Bessel Kok. Karpov was seeded into the match as loser of the Kasparov - Karpov World Championship Match (1990). Anand had qualified from the Anand - Dreev Candidates Eighthfinal (1991). Karpov was seconded by Mikhail Podgaets and Vladimir Epishin, while Anand was seconded by Mikhail Gurevich, who had been Kasparov's second in the last WC match. The match was best of eight games, or the first to achieve 4½ points. If 4-4, two playoff games would be played, and if still equal, two more playoff games. If 6-6, the drawing of lots. Time control in the playoff games was 45 minutes for the first 60 moves + 15 more minutes for every 20 moves thereafter. Arbiters Geurt Gijssen and Svetozar Gligoric were assisted by John van Emmelo. The jury consisted of John Nunn, Yasser Seirawan and Gennadi Sosonko.
Brussels, Belgium, 11-22 August 1991
Age Elo 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Karpov 40 2730 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 4½
Anand 21 2650 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 3½
Karpov went on to the Short - Karpov Candidates Semifinal (1992)."Karpov finally found his best form after having grovelled around for so much of the match and at long last did to Anand what I thought he would do from the start. So, once again, Karpov is in the semi-finals." (Keene)
"Against Karpov, Anand proved a tough opponent. It was not until the fourth game that Karpov won, and Anand won the sixth. Karpov took the match by winning the eighth game." (Byrne)
Sources
Mark Weeks' website (https://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/91...)
FIDE rating list July 1991 (https://web.archive.org/web/2022100...)
Tidskrift för Schack, 7/1991, pp. 294-301 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1991...)
Tidskrift för Schack, 8/1991, pp. 364-368 (https://tfsarkiv.schack.se/pdf/1991...)
Sakkélet, 10 November 1991, pp. 290-296 (https://adt.arcanum.com/en/view/Sak...)
Hans Ree in NRC Handelsblad, 19 August 1991, p. 18 (https://www.delpher.nl/nl/kranten/v...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 10 August 1991, p. 44 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...)
Raymond Keene in The Spectator, 31 August 1991, p. 36 (http://archive.spectator.co.uk/arti...)
Gina L Finegold in Chess Life, December 1991, pp. 49-55 (https://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/C...)
Leontxo Garcia in Jaque 313, September 1991, pp. 602-623 (https://www.olimpbase.org/leagueES/...)
Robert Byrne in The New York Times, 1 September 1991 (https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/01/...)
Original collections: Game Collection: WCC Index (Karpov-Anand 1991) by User: Hesam7 and Game Collection: Karpov - Anand Candidates Quarterfinal (1991) by User: Tabanus. Game dates (August 11, 12, 14,15, 17, 18, 20, 22) are from the Dutch newspapers at https://www.delpher.nl/.
Kibitzing
