Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • Page 34

Television Deaths Want ads Comics 2C 15-20C 21C DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE. ROCHESTER WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. 1981 mews Showdown at the chessboard IT I I -v 11 1 lis I I 1 i sir -J 2 sJ. Associated pros Dick Gregory starting his 100-mile walk Monday He wouldn' do it again Barely 28 hours out of a 70-day fast, civil rights activist Dick Gregory yesterday ended a 100-mile walking and jogging endurance test that baffled his medical supervisors. Gregory, who dropped 50 pounds down to 104 pounds during the mineral water-only fast, arrived at the Baton Rouge, city limits sign at 2:40 p.m.

CDT, grabbed it and swung around it twice to celebrate the completion of his journey from New Orleans. Wearing his medical monitors and obviously fatigued, Gregory said he felt all right but would not fast to that extent again. "I wouldn't advise nobody to do it It's very hard and very difficult and I wouldn't do it again," said Gregory, described by his doctor as a "professional MkMi The last time Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov met was in 1978 in the Philippines. By HAROLD C. SCHONBERG Anatoly Karpov, the 30-year-old chess champion of the world, is a short (5 feet 7 inches), thin (120 pounds), polite man, always the complete diplomat in his dealings, a member of the Communist Party, rather secretive and highly intelligent the very model of the Soviet New Man.

He goes around the world saying the right things and generally everyone is charmed in the process. But there is one person in the world he actively dislikes, and that is the 50-year-old Viktor Korchnoi. They meet in Merano, Italy, tomorrow to play for the world championship, and if it is a repeat of their 1978 match in the Philippines, it will be much more than mere chess. In Soviet eyes, Karpov, the Hero or the Siegfried of Chess, will be playing against a man who to the Russians is a deformed, diseased, morally sick renegade who in 1976 defected from the Soviet Union to the Netherlands for a mess of pottage. When they played for the championship in 1978, it was called a grudge match.

When the two antagonists face off in Merano, it will be a grudge match cubed, and the fight will be as much personal as political. Already the Soviet propaganda wheels have been turning. And Karpov himself recently called Korchnoi "an immoral character" who had abandoned his wife and family. (When Korchnoi defected in Amsterdam, he left his wife and son behind.) Korchnoi, a burly, temperamental figure, has been giving back as much as he receives. Since he left his country, he has lost no opportunity of attacking the Soviet system.

He has demanded repeatedly that the Russians release his family. That would involve release from jail of Korchnoi's son, who was put away in 1979 as a "draft dodger." The sentence still has six months to run. Korchnoi has accused Soviet chess players of cheating, of ganging up on Westerners in tournaments and throwing key games when necessary. Korchnoi claims constant harassment and even threats on his life. The trouble between the two men goes way back.

As a young man, Korchnoi, bom in Leningrad on July 23, 1931, was one of the world's strongest chess players. He had won the Soviet national championship four times and was a national hero in a country proud of its supremacy in chess. Soviet chess players of any talent never have to worry about making a living. The state nourishes and develops them from childhood, carefully grooms them for the international arena, and handsomely awards them when they produce. But brilliant as he was, Korchnoi never became part of the establishment as Karpov has.

He was nekulturny, a hothead, paranoid, Jewish. In 1974, he was one of the candidates for the world championship one of six survivors of a stern, three-year international elimination process. The 1974 elimination rounds got down to Korchnoi and Karpov, and there the animosity of the two men became widely known for the first time. KARPOV WAS BORN on May 23, 1951, in the Southern Urals. Early in his life, his family moved to Leningrad.

Karpov started chess at 4 all great chess players start early, like great mathematicians, scientists, pianists and violinists. Karpov moved fast He was an international grandmaster at 15, rivaling the n. Anatoly Karpov model of Soviet New Man in 1978. If the shenanigans of Spassky-Fischer in 1972 captured the world's headlines, Karpov-Korchnoi should have gone far beyond that. In some respects, the match made Spassky-Fischer pale by comparison.

We all remember the fuss kicked up by Spassky-Fischer in Reykjavik in 1972; how Fischer at first refused to appear when Jim Slater, the British industrialist doubled the purse to $250,000 (of which Fischer eventually won $156,000) and, Turn to Page 14C New band rises from ashes of Little Feat achievement of Bobby Fischer, now 38. Success after success came to Karpov, and it was clear that a great player was on the way. At 18, he was World Youth Champion. In his first major tournament he tied for first The players included 18 grandmasters, four of whom had previously been world champions. Karpov seemed invincible, and in tournament after tournament he took first prize.

Thus, when Korchnoi and Karpov met'for their match in 1974, it was agreed that the two best challengers in the world were playing to see who would take on the incumbent champion, Bobby Fischer. Would it be Korchnoi, the battle-scarred veteran, or Karpov, the golden boy of Soviet chess? Korchnoi lost by one point, after a long, hard fight. Then he erupted. He claimed harassment and mistreatment He suggested that his Jewish blood made him unacceptable to the Soviets. For good measure, the raging Korchnoi threw in a few disparaging remarks about Karpov's chess style.

Adding insult to injury, Korchnoi said that Karpov wouldn't stand a chance against Fischer. (Korchnoi's fulminations were a lovely example of a basic principle of grandmaster chess: No player really is ever outplayed. When he loses, it is because his concentration had been broken, or he had been sick. Admit to being outplayed! Never! The ego will not allow it) Korchnoi and Karpov were not mutual admirers after that episode, and Korchnoi was forced to apologize. When Korchnoi defected, Karpov, as a good party member, willingly joined in the abuse hurled at him.

Korchnoi was also immediately subjected to a boycott If he was announced to play in a tournament, none of the Soviet stars would appear. That Cover from one of the first issues of "Rhapsody Romances," scheduled to come out Oct. 6. tiired on the back cover. There even will be a full-color page that says "The just like on TV." Two Rhapsody Romances will be released Oct 6.

Initially, a half-million of each will be circulated to supermarkets, convenience stores and drugstores, across he country. One of the first issues, called Sands of Desire, is billed as "a turbulent and tender saga of romance set in exotic Hawaii, cascading through the islands like molten lava." The other is titled Dream Weaver, by Jane Rochester, a pseudonym. It's "the faster." Gregory broke the fast and started his walk Monday morning with 6 ounces of his own nutritional drink, a green concoction with a seaweed base he calls "Dick Gregory's 4-X fattening formula." He said proper nutrition is more important to starving people than food. He hoped the fast and walk would prove the worth of his formula, and would provide research to help feed the world's hungry. Gardens: a growing success A record number of Americans 47 percent of all households planted vegetable gardens in 1981 as people tried to combat rising food prices and cultivate a hobby, a study said yesterday.

"This is an unprecedented increase," said David Schaefer, a spokesman for Gardens for All of Burlington, Vt. "The primary reason (for gardening) is to offset inflation; the second is for the fun of it," Schaefer said. Gardens for All, a research group with 50,000 members, commissioned the annual survey conducted by the Gallup organization of Princeton, J. Figures showed 38 million of the nation's 80.5 million households or 47 percent planted food gardens, up from 43 percent in 1980. Twenty-five million households had gardens in 1971, the first year of the survey.

The average garden size was 547 -square feet, and the average investment was $20. A fancy garage sale What did Henry Kissinger bring back from all those shuttle diplomacy trips? Cigar boxes, beer mugs, Gucci handbags, coffee sets and four plaster busts of Henry Kissinger. It all goes up for auction tomorrow in what may be the fanciest garage sale ever seen. The General Services Administration, the government's housekeeping agency, is selling off a roomful of gifts to American officials from foreign governments that have been accumulating since the Nixon administration. The items are being sold because it is against the law for U.S.

officials to keep gifts worth more than $50 from foreign governments. Among the 182 items: two suits former Rep. Herman Badillo got from Korea; 25 cigars turned in by Vice President George Bush; three ties former Vice President Walter Mondale got from Yugoslavia and a sterling silver rose Mexico gave former Treasury Secretary William Simon. Vikki poses to make a point 9 Vikki LaMotta, the former wife of boxing eat Jake LaMotta and mother of four children, said yesterday that she posed nude for Playboy magazine at the age of 51 to show life doesn't end at 30- The Bronx-bom Mrs. LaMotta said she has received only "favorable" reaction to her nine-page nude pictorial in the November issue.

"I'm getting reaction from women (in addition to men) that is so favorable it's just fantastic," said the woman who was married to the former world middleweight champ for 11 years. Both were portrayed in the film Raging Bull, about LaMotta's life and boxing career. Bess may go home soon Despite a slight rise in temperature, former first lady Bess Truman continued to recover smoothly yesterday from a mild stroke and a hospital spokesman predicted she would return home soon. "She's recovering so smoothly, I expect she'll be going home soon," said Research Medical Center spokesman Tom Peck in Kansas City, Mo. Peck declined to specify when the 96-year-old former first lady would leave the hospital, saying any number of complications could require a longer hospital stay.

She remained in fair condition yesterday. Mrs. Truman developed a slight fever yesterday but her physician said antibiotics would help combat the problem. From staff and wires Viktor Korchnoi a 'renegade' to Soviets hurt Korchnoi financially. Karpov, after winning the title by default (because Fischer declined to defend the title), seemed determined to prove that he was a great champion.

He went from tournament to tournament, compiling a spectacular record, easily beating the world's best. There was no doubt in anybody's mind that he was No. 1. Nor was there any doubt that Korchnoi was No. 2.

He had no gTeat trouble going through the three-year cycle, conquering all before him and winning the right to play Karpov for the championship in Baguio City, the Philippines, story of Halley Beaumont, a weaver of breathtaking fabrics but the glittering world of New York fashion threatens to tear apart the romantic dream she weaves with designer Gabriel Barring." Kuncl's partner in the venture is another former Enquirer executive, Mike Walker. He was the tabloid's chief witness at the recent Carol Burnett libel trial. The two men plan eventually to make the tabloid a weekly. Kuncl says he thinks the publications will be immensely successful because he prides himself on knowing Turn to Page 2C 'Rhapsody Romances' New tabloid will be packed with unrelenting passion By MARLYN SCHWARTZ Th Dallas Morning Htwi A new tabloid hitting supermarkets next month won't give its readers just a taste of intimate morsels and gossipy tidbits. Instead, it promises a full course of torrid romance and unrelenting passion.

It's from some of those same wonderful people who brought you the National Enquirer. Tom KuncL former executive editor of the Enquirer, says he has had enough of the exposes that "tell all the intimate secrets of the stars." He thinks the American public has, too. The man who masterminded the Enquirer's cover picture of Elvis Presley in his coffin explains: "Those sensational kinds of tabloids have about reached their saturation point. How many new secrets can you keep coming up with? It's getting a little distasteful even to me." Kuncl, talking by telephone from Palm Beach Gardens, says he has a new concept for a supermarket tabloid. This one, he says, will have more meaning and class than the others.

This is a publication, he insists, that women will be proud to put on top of their shopping carts. He has named it Rhapsody Romances a hybrid that reads like a book, but looks like a Sunday newspaper" magazine, that will go on sale for 99 cents and that may or may not have full page ads, depending on whether the publishers decide they destroy the romantic mood. "This is geared at women who watch TV and don't read very much," Kuncl explains. "This novel will have all the visual wallop of a TV program. There'll be lots of action-packed color pictures and big easy print There will be pictures of our characters acting out the story in exotic locations with the latest fashions and hairstyles." The stories will be "sweet romances with wholesome plots and virginal heroines.

Color photographs of the cast will be fea- By JACK GARNER Popular Arts Editor Some rock bands are too good to die. Such a band is Little Feat. Five of the surviving members of a band that was perhaps the most original of the '70s groups have reformed under a new name, and are currently touring small halls around the country, testing the waters for another try at rock stardom. They call themselves Pico de Oro, which is Spanish for Beaks of Gold and was borrowed from a cock-fighting ranch in Bogota, Columbia. But whatever they're called, they know they're really extending and developing the concept of Little Feat.

That band combined unusual and witty lyrics with the most sophisticated, multi-layered rhythms in rock, spiced with bits of brilliant slide guitar, layers of keyboards, and influences ranging from country blues to New Orleans "The only thing that's changed is our name," said bassist Kenny Gradney. "Nothing else has changed. We're in a new cycle, that's all." Little Feat was famous for periodically splitting up and reforming just in time for the next album. Though they were a beloved band for many fans, they never achieved the platinum super-status that would keep them constantly together and working. The big difference with this reformation is that founder and central spirit, Lowell George, died from a heart attack two years.

(George founded Little Feat in Los Angeles 11 years ago. The band members teased George about his tiny feet that's where the band's name came from.) In addition, keyboard player Bill Payne is absent. He's busy with session work and as a regular member of Jackson Browne's band. Compounding the resurgence is a "new" Little Feat double album of previously unre-leased material, called Hoy-Hoy. Last week it broke into the Billboard Top Forty.

Paul Barrere, who alternated lead guitar, song-writing and singing with Lowell George, is leader of the reformed band. A slightly balding redhead who looks like actor Lee Van Cleef, Barrere is matter-of-fact about why the Turn to Page 8C.