One of the All-Time U2 Mysteries…
Bono and Gary Kasparov … did they ever face-off in that chess match?
Back in July, 1993, Paul McGuinness bid £15,000 at a charity auction in London and won a match against world chess champion Gary Kasparov. It was written about in newspapers. Bono gave quotes saying he thought he could win, and promised to give £10,000 to charity if he lost.
The papers said the match would happen in August/September of 1993.
But did it? Anyone have proof yes or no?
I’ve seen this posting on here now since a few days and i’m very surprised no one is able to answer this question. Unfortunally i don’t have this answer, but i can’t believe that there is no reading this that can’t answer this. How about Bono or Kasparov themselve? If i was Bono i would visit this website as reguralary as possible! How about friens of Bono or Kasparov? How about people that know people that could know or find out?
Sure there must be someone out there that knows the real answer!
Good luck Matt, i keep track of this site, and i will definitely buy a final copy of your book!
This is one of those things that — to my knowledge — none of us has ever been able to confirm. The fact that there are media mentions BEFORE it happened, but no mention that it ever did happen, makes me assume they never played the chess match.
You’re right that Bono would know, but he has a lot more important things to do than chart my progress and answer questions for the book. 🙂
I’ve seen comments on chess sites about celebrities loving chess. Bono shows up on many of these lists, but no match with Garry Kasparov is ever mentioned. Some of these same articles do mention Sting playing against Kasparov, so my guess is either it never happened or it was done away from the public.