Maybe some will remember me from three years ago. Up until that time i was very active on this forum but had to put an end to it because of severe family circumstances. After this episode i have taken up chess (probably in imitation of Robertie), and am doing quite well in it at the moment. Though two times a week i play a backgammon match against GNU.

Just now I am watching a youtube video about an interview with Karpov. At a certain moment he mentions he was playing backgammon with another befriended chess grandmaster. I am kind of flabbergasted, because his great rival Kasparov looks down upon the game, like also the accomplished chess players at the club i am attending. Curious I googled Karpov and backgammon, and to my surprise there is an article from 1979 from the hand of Paul Magriel about a board position from a game between the two (at least, we presume).

I am not able to present the board position, because without a mouse (right click for the other color) it just does not work. But here is the link, and it would be nice if someone could post it.

http://www.bkgm.com/articles/Magriel...column102.html

Paul and Anatoly were both in Puerto Rico in August 1979, Paul for a backgammon tournament, Anatoly for a chess tournament. Anatoly came to visit the backgammon tournament on an off day, met Paul, talked for a while about the similarities and differences between the games, and then played a few games on the side. It was fun to listen to the two of them chat through the session. Anatoly was a very strong player, just a little short of what was considered world-class at the time. This position came up and Paul put it in his NY Times column a few months later.

Anatoly made the 'brilliant' play Bar/20 10/6 and Paul agreed in his column that it was correct, trying to squeeze White off the anchor and gammon him while White's board was weak. I saw the idea but I wasn't convinced it was clearly right. Hitting picks up 30 pips in the race immediately plus the chance that White can dance for some time.

In those days I loved rolling out endgame positions by hand to get some idea what was really happening, so I rolled it out when I got home and those rollouts made it pretty clear that simply hitting had to be correct. Interestingly, hitting wins almost as many gammons as the squeeze play (19% versus 26%).

Footnote: Years later Karpov had a brief scene in a German film ('Fool's Mate') with both chess and backgammon subplots. Karpov played a chess bum living under a bridge who hustles the down-on-his-luck hero in a few games. The hero, out of money, offers to settle his debt with his watch. Karpov looks at the watch for a moment and hands it back, saying "Keep it. You need your time." Immortal stuff, well worth watching if you can find it.

Here is the movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcglwmbEBZk

I've seen the movie. It's sodom and gomorrha. This is what it tells me: only play high stakes backgammon when you are part of a gang or in a casino; don't copulate with another than you wife; don't sniff cocaine; one son death is another man's bread; instead of paying you bills it is far better to convert this into jail time; anatoli karpov is an angel. I suspect the script was written by a sociopath.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Anatoly Karpov being an angel.

gary kasparov is another superman. Last monday there was a dutch documentary about artificial intelligence, and listen to his words from 10:00 (also that will not be a coincidence): https://tvblik.nl/2doc/more-human-than-human