World Chess Championship 1990
The World Chess Championship 1990 was played between Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. It was the fifth and final Kasparov–Karpov championship match, and saw Kasparov win by a single point. The first twelve games were played in New York City from 8 October to 7 November and the other half was played in Lyon from 26 November to 30 December.
The players for the candidates tournament were selected as the top three winners of three interzonals, which were held in Subotica, Serbia, Szirák, Hungary and Zagreb, Croatia, respectively. The remaining players were the four runners up to the previous candidates tournament, a wild card, and Karpov, who qualified automatically by dint of having been the challenger for the previous world championship.
Background
1987 Interzonal tournaments
Three Interzonals were held in the summer of 1987, with 16 to 18 players playing in each and the top three scorers from each qualifying for the candidates tournament, in turn the winner of which would challenge the world championship.1988–90 Candidates Tournament
In addition to nine players from the Interzonals, the top four of the previous Candidates Tournament qualified directly for this tournament. The Canadian organizers of the preliminary matches nominated one player,. Finally, Karpov, the challenger in the previous cycle, was seeded into the quarterfinals.Karpov won, once again facing Kasparov for the fifth and final time in seven years. Karpov later alleged that a Dutch sponsor had offered to pay him to lose the match against Timman.
1990 Championship match
The first twelve games were played in New York City, the other twelve taking place in Lyon, France. Kasparov was considered the favourite to win the match, having defeated Karpov in the previous three world championships, and had reached a record rating of 2800.As in previous matches, the champion had "draw odds" - if the match was tied 12-12, the champion would retain the title. Pointing to the closeness of their previous matches, Karpov proposed that instead, they play on if there was a tie, with the winner being the first to win another game. Kasparov declined this alteration.