December 1970 & 1995 'On the Cover'

The World Chess Championship was in the news both 50 years ago and 25 years ago. Both cycles featured two of the strongest players of all time.

Left: 'Bobby Fischer. Leading at the Interzonal!'
Right: 'Kasparov crushes Anand for PCA title!; A winning combination at the World Trade Center'

Chess Life & Review (50 Years Ago)

Flash! • The hot news this month is that Bobby Fischer has agreed to play in the Interzonal and is at this writing in the lead with a score of 5-1. He was accompanied by Larry Evans as his official second, who will be reporting on the event and annotating all of Fischer's 23 games for CL&R. USCF's Executive Director Ed Edmondson has also gone to the tournament and has thus, unfortunately, been unable to prepare for publication (intended for this issue): minutes of the USCF meetings at the 1970 U.S. Open, an important story on the rating system, and a report on the Olympiad at Siegen. These stories will appear in coming issues.

The last time we saw Fischer on the cover was July 1970 & 1995 OTC (July 2020): 'Fischer and Larsen at the World Match Banquet'. For more about his latest tournament, see 1970 Interzonal Tournament; Palma de Mallorca, XI-XII, 1970, where Fischer's only loss in the event was to Larsen. The Interzonal was the start of his march to win the title and I expect we'll see more about in the coming months.

Chess Life (25 Years Ago)

It was a winning combination for the city of New York and Mayor Giuliani (left), Garry Kasparov (center), the Professional Chess Association, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Alliance for Downtown New York. George Maikish, representing the World Trade Center, stands at the right. The Intel PCA World Championship match drew the attention of mainstream media for the better part of five weeks.

The last time we saw Kasparov on the cover was May 1970 & 1995 OTC (May 2020): 'The Men Who Would Be King': Kasparov, Anand, Karpov, Kamsky. For more about the WTC match see 1995 Kasparov - Anand PCA Title Match; New York, IX-X, 1995. A contemporary account of the match, 1995 World Chess Championship Overview (chabris.com), informs,

The event was originally to be held in Cologne, Germany, but the PCA backed out of their arrangements there and switched the venue to New York after receiving an invitation from New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. The mayor had been impressed with recent chess events in the city, such as the Chessathon and the Intel Grand Prix in June, and wanted to add another chess extravaganza to the calendar.

The match turned out to be Kasparov's last successful defense of his title. For more about the Chessathon, see Chessathons and SuperNationals (September 2014). Neither Rudy Giuliani (wikipedia.org)...

Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (born May 28, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 107th Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. A Democrat and then Independent in the 1970s, Giuliani has been a Republican since the 1980s.

...nor 7 World Trade Center (ditto)...

7 World Trade Center (7 WTC or WTC-7) refers to two buildings that have existed at the same location within the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The original structure, part of the original World Trade Center, was completed in 1987 and was destroyed in the September 11 attacks in 2001. The current structure opened in May 2006.

...needs an introduction. Both have become iconic symbols in U.S. history. What is Mayor Giuliani up to today? See, for example, Rudy Giuliani's attempt to sow chaos on behalf of Trump and steal the election (cnn.com).

One more piece of the cover is worth a mention. That blurb in the CL 1995 corner says, 'Page 16: Your First Move'. The short article was about how to use Chess Life as a study guide.