Author: Michael Vox
Date: 17:01:30 01/08/03
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,870406,00.html Kasparov's Jerusalem visit checked Chess genius fears being sued for £1m debt Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow Wednesday January 8, 2003 The Guardian The former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has cancelled a visit to Jerusalem this week, during which he was to have played against a supercomputer, because a bank there is threatening to sue him for a £1m debt. Kasparov, who became the youngest world champion in 1985 when he was 22, was due to play Deep Junior, a computer whose Israeli developers hoped might repeat the 1997 victory of IBM's Deep Blue against the then world champion. He called off the trip on Monday, The legal threat stems from an internet site he helped to start, Kasparov Chess Online Inc, which has failed to repay a $1.6m development loan from the First International Bank of Israel (FIBI). Owen Williams, Mr Kasparov's agent, said: "The bank threatened to serve [a summons on] him, and there is apparently an archaic law in Israel which means that you can ask the passport office to remove someone's passport for a considerable amount of time [while this is done]." The two games in Jerusalem were intended as a warm-up for a $1m match between Kasparov and Deep Junior in New York later this month, Mr Williams said. "Garry's advice from his lawyer was not to travel to Israel, [risk losing his passport] and miss the New York match," he added. "The bank has totally screwed up his preparations for the game." Mr Williams said the loan had not been sought by Kasparov but by his two Israeli partners in the venture, and that he was therefore not liable. But the FIBI has gone to great lengths to reclaim its money, and has asked a US court for permission to use the chess player's likeness and name - presumably for sponsorship or merchandise deals - in order to recoup some of the debt. On December 27, a judge in Delaware ruled against FIBI, agreeing with Kasparov's lawyers that the company directors associated with the chess player were not liable for the company's debt. "At the end of the day, this is about a financial institution trying to squeeze individuals to pay a corporate obligation," said Richard Conn, Kasparov's lawyer. "Through this lawsuit, the bank is attempting to seize permanent control of the world-class asset of Garry Kasparov's name and likeness as compensation for a failed loan to a corporation." The chess player, who lost his world title in 2000 to Vladimir Kramnik, had intended the warm-up matches against Deep Junior in Jerusalem to be a mark of solidarity with the Israeli people. He is of Armenian and Jewish ancestry, and was born in Azerbaijan. Two years ago he wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal highly critical of some western media's coverage of the Palestinian uprising. He also wrote: "Israel's very existence is a nagging, constant reminder to neighbouring Arab despots that they keep their own people in miserable conditions." One of the Israeli developers of Deep Junior, Shay Bushinsky, expressed disappointment that the Jerusalem games could not take place. He said: "We still want to play against him and show him how great an artificial brain can be." Mr Bushinsky and another Israeli, Amir Ban, developed Deep Junior a decade ago. It has won three world championships against other computers.
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