Prime Time

The Chess Café shop offers us the second and final volume of Tibor Károlyi's Karpov's Strategic Wins (Quality Chess).

Read the blurb (which I assume is from the publisher) and then, using your skill and judgement, answer the following questions.

1. Relating to the following passage:

In this second volume, Károlyi has selected Karpov's most entertaining and instructive strategic wins from 1986-2010 when Karpov was battling with his young rival Garry Kasparov for chess supremacy

a. when did the last of Karpov's world championship matches with Garry Kasparov take place?
b. in what year did Garry Kasparov retire?

2. If you were invited to define Karpov's "Prime Years", how many of the years 1986-2010 would you include? How many of the years preceding it would you include?

3. Can "prime" properly be used as a synonym for "declining"?

4. Is it your opinion that "prime" is being used ironically? Discuss with reference to the photograph on the front cover.

Never felt better

[Karpov/Polgar photo: Chessville]