Karpov, Polgar agree to ‘battle of the sexes’ chess match

Angie Wagner

Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998 | 3:59 a.m.

LAS VEGAS -- Chess champs Anatoly Karpov and Susan Polgar have agreed to a December "battle of the sexes" match in Las Vegas, a promoter said Thursday.

The event will not be a straight chess match, but one following the rules of Bobby Fischer's Shuffle Chess, which involves the random placement of chess pieces from their traditional starting points.

Shiloh Quinn of Montreal, Karpov's agent, said his client and Polgar, the world's best women's player, have agreed to a Dec. 1-8 match.

Quinn said a sponsor has not been named, but he has gotten several bids for the $300,000 tournament. He also said a site has not been determined, but he expects that to be decided next week.

"We can play it anywhere at any hotel," he said.

Quinn said he organized the match between Karpov and Polgar of Hungary as an apology to Las Vegas for the delay of the World Chess Championship, which was originally scheduled for Nov. 29-Dec. 27 at Bellagio and was moved back until early 1999.

Karpov had threatened to boycott the prestigious chess event, citing the fact that he won the title in January 1998 and the championships are normally held every two years.

"We don't want them (Las Vegans) to have a bad taste about chess. We're doing this to create the biggest promotion in the history of the world," Quinn said.

Former tennis champion Billie Jean King has agreed to be the umpire for the match, Quinn said. King's own battle of the sexes with Bobby Riggs took place in 1973 at the Houston Astrodome. Quinn created and promoted the King-Riggs match and now he wants to outdo that battle, which gained global publicity.

He has also been negotiating with Fischer, the former American chess champion, to be a commentator in the battle of the sexes.

Quinn said Karpov will be in Las Vegas next week to meet Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn and Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones and apologize for the scheduling problems. Mirage Resorts owns Bellagio.

"He just wants to make everybody happy," Quinn said.

He said the meeting has not been confirmed yet through Mirage Resorts.

Karpov sent Wynn a letter of apology earlier this month.