'Topalov has not signed' – Challenger Match in doubt?

by ChessBase
7/25/2008 – Just when we thought everything was settled for a World Championship Challengers' Match between Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov in Lvov, Ukraine – November 26 to December 14 – Topalov's manager Silvio Danialov says his his client has not yet signed anything. Turns out neither has Kamsky, since according to FIDE "the contract has not been finalized with the organisers". Details.

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"Topalov has not signed contracts for the match with Kamsky and the World Mind Sports Games". This is the title of a short article on Chessdom, a news site with good ties to the Topalov camp. The editor received a telephone call from Veselin Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov, who said that his client had not yet signed contracts for the match with Kamsky, nor for the World Mind Sports Games scheduled to take place this year in Beijing.

"Topalov has not signed yet the contracts for the match with Kamsky," Danailov is quoted as saying. "The only sure participations for Veselin Topalov are in Villarrobledo and in the Grand Slam Final." The Villarrobledo event starts next Thursday and ends on August 3rd, the Grand Slam Final Masters takes place from September 2 to 13 in Bilbao, Spain.


Veselin Topalov (right) with manager Silvio Danialov (left) and second Ivan Cheparinov

The comment of Chessdom: "With the FIDE President Kirsan Ilymzhinov guaranteeing the money and Lvov starting preparations for the match everything seemed calm. However, the call from Danailov brings up more questions about the status of the match. Topalov's manager did not want to reveal more information in the short telephone call and confirmed he will say more after Villarrobledo is over."

FIDE

We have been informed by FIDE that neither player (Topalov or Kamsky) has signed a contract regarding the Challengers’ Match. "The only reason is that the contract has not yet been finalized with the organisers," says FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos, "although we are hopeful that this will be done within the next two weeks."


This was the FIDE press announcement almost eight weeks ago:

President guarantees Topalov–Kamsky match

President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has announced that the World Championship Challenger Match between Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Gata Kamsky (USA) will take place in Lvov, Ukraine in November 2008.

The organiser offered a prize fund of 750,000 USD and to hold the match on the “neutral” territory of Ukraine, as the players wanted to avoid Bulgaria or the USA. President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov guarantees the organiser’s offer by backing the event from his personal finances.

FIDE Presidential Board acknowledged the offer as well as the guarantee and assigned Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos to conclude the final contracts and to check the availability of the finances. The Match will be held in dates between November 26th and December 14th 2008.

Athens, 1 June 2008

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