February 15, 1985, marked the day of my first open rebellion against the Soviet chess authorities. The FIDE president "terminated" my first world championship match with Karpov without a winner and I couldn't remain silent. washingtonpost.com/archive/politi…
I knew my chances at coming back to win were long, despite having won two games in a row. But the entire charade of the termination was too much to stomach. I was just 21 and pressed my luck in Gorbachev's perestroika by speaking out.
I couldn't be sure I would be allowed to challenge Karpov again. Publicly warring with the Soviet sports authorities could have meant being banned from international play, or worse. But it hoped my profile was high enough and the risk was necessary.
In hindsight, I'm almost sympathetic to the authorities. Nobody had talked like this without being punished, but the USSR was supposed to be opening up, so there was doubt at the top what to do with me. They decided to wait on the result of the 2nd match.
So winning the 2nd match that started in September 85 was even more vital. Had I lost, I had no doubt they'd have settled the score for my disobedience. But I won the final game to take the title and it was hard for them to do much other than plot for the next three matches!
Then it was easier to talk further "revolutionary" steps, like Soviet sports stars keeping some of the prize money. In 1984 Karpov & I split around $85,000 dollars. Just two years later in Seville, the prize fund was two million, but the Sports Committee got most of it.
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