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ChessChick's Guide To Girl Stuff
The
Pillowfight: Packing Bricks
At the same
time the World Chess Championship was going on in Las Vegas last year (1999), on the other side of the world Xie Jun defeated
Alisa Gallimova in a match which may (or may not) be for the title
of Women's World Champion. If you think the (predominately male)
World Chess Championship was a mess, then wait 'til you hear how
the Women's World Chess Championship is going.
Let's start
at the beginning, a couple of years ago, with Zsuzsa (Susan)
Polgar as reigning Women's World Champion. Alisa Gallimova and
Xie Jun were suppose to play a match to determine who would be
her challenger. The match was set for China. Even though FIDE
rules state that no one can be forced to play in their opponent's
country in a title match, FIDE defaulted Gallimova when she
refused to play in China. FIDE then declared that Xie Jun would
be Polgar's challenger.
FIDE dragged
it's feet setting up the title match. A year, at least, passed
and Polgar, who had been delaying starting a family until after
the title match, went ahead with family plans. She gave birth to
a healthy boy. She needed 3 months to recuperate between giving
birth and playing for the title according to her doctor.
(Nevermind trying to prepare while caring for a
newborn...the time set by the doctor only took into account the
physical strain of a title match!)
Again, the
match was set for China and Polgar protested. FIDE insisted that
although it could afford to spend a staggering sum on the Las
Vegas KO World Championship it didn't have the money to fund the
Women's event, so the women had to go begging. That's why China
kept getting the nod. China offered the prize fund. (FIDE may
have been telling the truth about not having the funds--a number
of checks to players and at least one arbiter of the Las Vegas
event bounced and it was some months before even the winner got all his
money!)
The date set
for the match--August, 1999--was a month sooner than the medical
postponement Polgar requested. FIDE also set the date for the next
women's championship--a Knock Out event--to be played in September 1999,
the same month Polgar would be ready to defend her title and only
a month after the date set for the Xie Jun match!
What
were they thinking?? The winner of the August match
would be Women's World Champion for only a month before facing a title defense!!
They
cancelled the September KO event a couple of weeks before it was supposed to
start, somehow managing to imply this mess is
all Susan Polgar's fault, even though she was ready and willing
to play in September!
Where was I?
Oh, yes...Polgar sent a number of letters to FIDE stating she was
ready and willing to play just as soon as her doctor released her
which would be in September '99. FIDE defaulted Polgar, taking
away her title, and set up a match in August '99 between
Gallimova and Xie Jun for the title! Gallimova, this time, played
in China as only half the match was played there. Xie Jun won and
was declared Women's World Champion.
But is she?
Right now, nobody knows! Even as the match was happening FIDE was
equivocating in the face of protests and threatened legal action
by Polgar. Perhaps this match would only be a "candidates
match". According to FIDE, the FIDE General Assembly will
have to rule on the legitimacy of the title match and on Polgar's
claims.
FIDE couldn't have done a
better job of making a complete mess of the Women's World Championship. I understand
organizing a title match is difficult, but it isn't brain
surgery---though FIDE acts as if it has (collectively) had a
lobotomy. If the Lord High Rulers of FIDE had half a brain
between them they wouldn't be in this mess. (Why am I suddenly
reminded of the playground adage, "Boys don't like girls who
are smarter than they are"?)
FIDE's
actions--capriciously defaulting players who are well within
their rights, insisting on a venue which violates their own
rules, and penny-pinching on the prize fund--give the impression that
their primary motivation is simply obstructionist and their
primary goal is to tear down women's chess at the highest level.
Frankly, it
would be a relief if FIDE just came clean and said, "We
don't give a damn about women's titles or women's
tournaments"--and turned the handling of women's events over
to someone who does care. Of course, the people who care
the most are the female players who are being kicked around right
now.
I applaud
Susan Polgar for kicking back. Furthermore, if her appeal and
lawsuit are successful I hope Xie Jun and Alisa Gallimova turn
around and sue FIDE, also.
FIDE has
jerked around all three of these women. First Alisa Gallimova,
when she was defaulted for (correctly) refusing to play in her
opponent's country, then Zsuzsa (Susan) Polgar recently stripped
of her title and now Gallimova and Xie Jun together.
Can you
imagine playing for the Women's World Championship and having the
organizer announce while you were fighting it out that the whole
match might not be for the title after all?? If Polgar's case is
upheld in the FIDE General Assembly (as I believe it should be)
then Xie Jun, having "won the title" suddenly isn't Champion--but yet again a challenger
who will have to
play another title match!
Kasparov and
Short walked for less than this!
I gotta
wonder...Is FIDE using a "divide and conquer" strategy?
Natural rivalries have certainly been cranked up a notch by
recent events. What Xie Jun and Susan Polgar must not lose sight
of is that FIDE is the enemy. These gals have a common
goal which FIDE is obstructing. They both want the title of
Women's World Champion and they want that title free of any
ambiguities.
If FIDE
thinks this is just a pillowfight, they'd better wake up and
smell the coffee; Susan Polgar is packing bricks into her
pillowcase. She's filed a lawsuit against them in international
court. If I were Xie Jun or Alisa Gallimova, I too would be
packing bricks and taking aim.
Note:
On March 21, 2001 the International Court of Sports Arbitration in
Switzerland ruled against FIDE and for Susan Polgar, awarding her $25,000 in
damages for FIDE stripping her of her title. The court had previously
awarded Anatoly Karpov $50,000 in damages when FIDE stripped him of his
title. Though FIDE is paying heavily for its clumsy handling of
championship matches, the inequities in the damages is worth noting. The
international court apparently feels that the title of Women's World
Champion is worth exactly half as much as the men's title.
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