Author: Walter Faxon
Date: 01:04:03 05/06/05
A super-condensed history of the Professional Chess Association (PCA): - Feb 1993 The PCA is founded by Garry Kasparov and his FIDE-selected challenger Nigel Short, from the ruins of the Grandmasters Association (itself originally founded by Kasparov in 1987). The Kasparov-Short PCA championship match is held in September; a parallel world championship system is initiated with a PCA interzonal in December. - Feb 1994 Intel announces sponsorship of the PCA. Numerous international tournaments are held through mid-1996, while FIDE-run events also continue. In September 1995 the Kasparov-Anand PCA championship match is held. - Jan 1996 Kasparov announces that Intel will not renew their sponsorship contract with the PCA, because: "I've had enough of being a slave to Intel for the benefit of the other players. I am going to play against [IBM's] Deep Blue in February in Philadelphia." Only two more previously-scheduled PCA tournaments are held, through August. Tournaments scheduled for New York, London and Paris are cancelled. Kasparov's next world championship match in 2000 does not involve the defunct PCA. Comment: Intel, reasonably, did not want to continue sponsoring an organization whose "star" was promoting another computer company. Just days before the contract was up for renewal, Kasparov killed it. His rash behavior probably discouraged alternative sponsors, few of which were anywhere nearly as big as Intel. So Kasparov was indeed no longer a "slave", and prize/appearance/travel funds available to professional chess players were cut roughly in half. As of 2005 they still haven't recovered.
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