Crisis
in the World Championship
The first press release from the World Chamionship office today was partially
ambiguous. On the one hand we learned that there would be no game on Saturday,
September 30, which was scheduled for game six. But the heading of the statement
was: "FIDE President's decision to postpone Game of 30 September of the
Match", and in his statement Ilyumzhinov said that he had "accepted
the proposal of the Chief Arbiter of the World Chess Championship Match Topalov-Kramnik,
Mr. Geurt Gijssen, to postpone the Game of today." That left a vital question
open: would it be game five, with Kramnik having white, or game six, as the
headline seems to suggest. In the latter case FIDE would have defaulted Kramnik
on game five.
Ilyumzhinov invited the players for "a meeting in cottage 15 of City
Chess at 12.00h to discuss the actual [current] situation and solve the problems.
I am very confident, that with the cooperation of all parties involved, it
is possible to continue the match."
“You are playing for the entire chess world”
After the first round of negotiations with the teams of Kramnik and Topalov,
the FIDE President answered the questions of journalists provided the chess
community with his comments on the current events.
Q: The first round of negotiations has just
finished. What is the outcome?
Ilyumzhinov: The process of the negotiations started last
night at midnight, immediately after I arrived in Elista. The first meeting
was held with Vladimir Kramnik (our conversation lasted for about an hour),
and today I spoke with Silvio Danailov. The first point, which we agreed on,
is the postponement of today’s game, in order not to be under time pressure.
Second and the most important point – both parties are ready to continue
the match, they are ready to play. The stumbling block is the score, from which
the match will be continued, 3:2 or 3:1. Also, the issue regarding the toilets
has not yet been solved.
Q: In his letter, apart from other things, Kramnik
is demanding official apologies from Danailov and the change of the members
of the Appeals Committee.
Ilyumzhinov: The priorities in our discussions are the following:
first – the score, second – the toilets and then all the other
things.
Q: What arguments are brought forward by the
parties?
Ilyumzhinov: Each of the parties is bringing forward their
own reasons and is trying to prove that they are the ones who are right. The
team of Topalov keeps insisting that the too frequent visits of Kramnik to
the toilet are suspicious; Kramnik is referring to the clauses in the contract,
describing the rights of the participants, in particular, the issue regarding
the toilets. And it is a private issue, whoever goes wherever how many times.
Q: Danailov is his accusations is not giving
any concrete examples, such as a series of strong moves, following the visits
of Kramnik to the said room.
Ilyumzhinov: Danailov said that he could present a report,
which decisions were taken during respective moments. I responded with pointing
out the exact mistakes, especially in the first two games, made by both Kramnik
and Topalov. Thus, for example, both participants missed the simplest mate
in the second game, which I told both of them immediately after the game. As
a chess fan I did not restrain myself from coming to the stage and asking,
“Volodia, didn’t you see the mate?” “Which mate?”
– he did not understand. It became clear during the press conference
that also Topalov did not see the mate. If they had used the computer prompts,
they would have never missed such a possibility.
Q: Please, comment the legal status of the 5th
game: the clock was started, the delay was registered, Topalov signed the score
sheet…. By the way, did Kramnik sign the score sheet?
Ilyumzhinov: Kramnik did not sign the score sheet. If a
political decision from both sides is going to be taken, then the technical
loss of Kramnik can be cancelled.
Q: What is the technical procedure in reaching
this?
Ilyumzhinov: If there is a principal possibility of solving
the issue, we will find a legal form for this. The issue has become political.
Q: Are there any levers of influencing Kramnik
and Topalov in the current situation?
Ilyumzhinov: There is only one lever, which I mentioned
to both Kramnik and Topalov – millions of chess fans all over the world,
who are looking forward to beautiful games and not for legal disputes. This
is the most important issue! I told them: break away from your disputes, look
around, you are not playing only for yourselves, you are playing for the entire
chess world. You are the ones who say that chess is in lack of investors, and
now you are doing everything in order to even decrease their number. Yesterday
and today I keep receiving telephone calls from the representatives of those
companies, which I attract for sponsoring of the chess competitions. They are
asking me: “How come, the two most intelligent chess players cannot share
a toilet with each other? So no sense for us to interfere, with our millions….”
Q: Is there any deadline for taking final decisions?
Ilyumzhinov: Today. In the worst case, tomorrow before noon.
Q: What will happen in the hypothetical case
if the parties do not find any compromise?
Ilyumzhinov: There will be no continuation of the match.
Q: The match will be stopped… And what
will happen then?
Ilyumzhinov: Mr. Campomanes called me yesterday (laughing),
he is ready to come here!
Q: Could you express your personal opinion,
from which score should the match continue?
Ilyumzhinov: I want the parties to come to a compromise.
Let’s wait…
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