Ex sub mediocre club player here. The king and pawn ending looked obviously losing. I know it’s only one tempo, but the evaluation of such tempo lines is often obvious even if you’d want to check, which just took a few seconds. I saw Kb4 quickly and didn’t see anything better. I don’t have an engine, but if I did, I think I’d be able to hold with white. With black I’d expect to lose almost all the time.
This is a first for me - I've never heard anyone make that claim before. The claims alluded to in the post gain plausibility because of the fraught politics of the Soviet Union, but nothing of the sort is happening in 2000. Putin had only just taken over from Yeltsin; this was well before Kasparov started his fight against the Putin administration.
It's true that Kasparov didn't show his best form in the match, but there doesn't seem to be anything that looks "throw-ish" about the games. In fact, Kasparov was fortunate not to be down three points after six games. Additionally, whatever else Kasparov is, he's not the sort of person to take a dive. There was plenty of pressure on him in the Karpov matches, especially the first one, but he didn't break and didn't go down quietly when Campomanes terminated the first match. Later, off the chess board, he fought against Putin at significant risk to his own life. It's hard to believe that he's willing to fight FIDE, Karpov and his highly ranked political cronies beforehand and Putin afterwards, but in between and at the height of his powers gets weak-kneed against...Kramnik, and during a period where Russian politicians aren't worrying about chess champions.
If not playing one's best is proof or even probable cause that one is throwing games, then Nepo, Ding, and Gukesh were all throwing their matches to each other - simultaneously!
I was able to see pretty quickly that taking twice on a5 doesn't work. I also independently found Kb4 as my candidate move. (Ka4 never crossed my mind and is totally counterintuitive to me). I was still worried about White's h-pawn running with all my pieces offside, I would not like my chances to hold against Stockfish/Karpov, but I'm not able to test that right now.
Ex sub mediocre club player here. The king and pawn ending looked obviously losing. I know it’s only one tempo, but the evaluation of such tempo lines is often obvious even if you’d want to check, which just took a few seconds. I saw Kb4 quickly and didn’t see anything better. I don’t have an engine, but if I did, I think I’d be able to hold with white. With black I’d expect to lose almost all the time.
You should take a look at Kasparov v Kramnik WCH match too; Kasparov's loss looked suspicious.
This is a first for me - I've never heard anyone make that claim before. The claims alluded to in the post gain plausibility because of the fraught politics of the Soviet Union, but nothing of the sort is happening in 2000. Putin had only just taken over from Yeltsin; this was well before Kasparov started his fight against the Putin administration.
It's true that Kasparov didn't show his best form in the match, but there doesn't seem to be anything that looks "throw-ish" about the games. In fact, Kasparov was fortunate not to be down three points after six games. Additionally, whatever else Kasparov is, he's not the sort of person to take a dive. There was plenty of pressure on him in the Karpov matches, especially the first one, but he didn't break and didn't go down quietly when Campomanes terminated the first match. Later, off the chess board, he fought against Putin at significant risk to his own life. It's hard to believe that he's willing to fight FIDE, Karpov and his highly ranked political cronies beforehand and Putin afterwards, but in between and at the height of his powers gets weak-kneed against...Kramnik, and during a period where Russian politicians aren't worrying about chess champions.
If not playing one's best is proof or even probable cause that one is throwing games, then Nepo, Ding, and Gukesh were all throwing their matches to each other - simultaneously!
Mediocre club player reporting in!
I was able to see pretty quickly that taking twice on a5 doesn't work. I also independently found Kb4 as my candidate move. (Ka4 never crossed my mind and is totally counterintuitive to me). I was still worried about White's h-pawn running with all my pieces offside, I would not like my chances to hold against Stockfish/Karpov, but I'm not able to test that right now.