Transcript of incident from video analysis (7:50-11:39) of the Polgar-Kasparov game during the time pressure incident:
"But what actually happens here is Kasparov touched his knight, and made a move with his knight to c5. And then he saw if he moves there there would be Bc6 skewing the queen and rook, which result would most likely be a loss for Kasparov. So he changed his move ... he moved his knight to f8.
"But the problem was when he moved, he let go of the piece. Judit Polgar saw this, and she was stunned. She looked at the arbiter and there was no response from him. She made a mistake and didn't disupte this, didn't claim that Kasparov had let go of the piece. That move should have been final, and the most probable result would most likely been a Kasparov loss.
"Afraid her claim would have lost, and she would have been penalized time on the clock, and they were in time pressure. She should have established a claim and won that game. The actual event was recorded on camera, and saw that Kasparov let go of the Knight on c5, for less than a second.
"After that, she never shook hands with Kasparov for a few years, whenever they met."
What Judit says:
"Kasparov touched a knight in our 1994 Linares game and didn't
move with this piece afterwards. Unfortunately there were no witnesses
and also the arbiter was not there. There was a video tape which they
didn't show me. We didn't talk for a long time after that."
- From an August, 1996 interview with Martin Raubal (Scroll down to bottom of interview)
The Washington Post/Kavalek:
"In 1994 in Linares, Spain, Kasparov played a knight move against
Judit Polgar and removed his fingers from that piece. But after he saw
that he might lose material, he took the knight back and made a different
move. His act was caught on camera by a Spanish television crew."
- Excerpted from Washington
Post Chess (Kavalek) July 3, 2000; Page C13 (removed from Archive.org)
The Campbell Report:
"An interesting example of taking back moves at the highest level of OTB chess occurred recently at the elite 1994 Linares super tournament (see p. 20 of the April 4, 1994 issue of Inside Chess for a fuller report). It's claimed that there is video tape showing that PCA World Champion Garry Kasparov, while playing Judit Polgar, moved a knight to a square which would have cost him the exchange.
"Apparently, even though he had released the piece, he picked it up again and moved it to another square and went on to win the game. So even players at the top can be tempted.
"My favorite quote picked up by Yasser Seirawan was by FIDE President Florencio Campomanes who is reported to have said, "What do you expect from an unrated player?" For those who missed it, FIDE removed both Kasparov and Nigel Short from their rating list when they played their world championship match under the PCA instead of FIDE."
- Excerpted from The
Campbell Report - May/June 1994 (scroll down to bottom of report)
Chess author and NM Macon Shibut:
"For the sake of argument, let's stipulate that Kasparov cheated, plain and simple. It was something that happened in the blink of an eye under pressure of the competitive situation. That does not excuse what he did in any way, but in light of the circumstances it's possible that he has convinced himself that the infraction didn't occur. Still, in his heart of hearts, I think he knows.
"But the real scandal is not Kasparov's disgrace, any more than we consider it an outrage if a football player throws an illegal block when the referee is not looking. The real scandal is the action of the tournament controller, who apparently had videotape evidence and did not forfeit Kasparov."
- Kasparov-Polgar Linares `94 touch move controversy discussed at All Experts.com
The Hindu/Arvind Aaron:
"(Judit) was close to beating (Kasparov) in Linares 1994 (when) Kasparov blundered, (then) took back the move at lightning speed and swiftly made another to win."
- Excerpted from The Hindu "An icon of women's chess "- June 3, 2000
"At Harvard in 1990, some remember Kasparov saying something such as "A computer will beat me before a woman will." (Ed Note: Max Euwe was the first world champion to lose to a woman.)
"Well, he was proven correct -- but not, I think, in quite the way he wanted. He eventually did lose a match to a computer, and it's one of the last things he may be remembered for. And he avoided losing a game to woman Judit Polgar only by cheating on camera.
"Kasparov is a genius among geniuses in chess. Did he cheat against Polgar? Yes, he cheated."
Losing Move?
Some say it was determined later that Kasparove could draw with the original Knight manoeuver, and so it was not a "losing" move he took back.
Full (print) report on the incident:
April 4, 1994 print issue of Inside Chess, page 20.
