Veselin Topalov vs Vladimir
Kramnik
Twelve games, played from September 23 to October 12 in Elista, Kalmikia.
The games start at 15:00h (3:00 p.m.) local Elista time, which translates
to 11:00h GMT, 13:00h CEST, 12:00h London, 7 a.m. New York. |
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FIDE site and on Playchess.com
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1:00h Elista time – A FIDE release has announced that the match will
indeed be continued, at a score of 3:2. The statements says the announcement
was made last night (Sunday, Oct. 1st) at around 23.30h local Elista time,
i.e. a half an hour before the deadline of the ultimatum given to the players.
Ilyumzhinov stated that all issues that prevented the continuation of the World
Championship match Topalov-Kramnik had been resolved.
Ilyumzhinov (with Danailov, left, and Topalov) making the announcement
The Organising Committee, says the official release, has complied with two
out of three demands of Vladimir Kramnik: the members of the Appeals Committee
have been replaced and after an unbelievably scrupulous inspection of the restrooms
by the Bulgarian side – agreed for the use of the personal bathrooms
by the participants. There was no compromise regarding the sole issue –
the score, with which the opponents would continue the match. From a purely
legal point of view, as the IOC lawyers confirmed, the arbiter in accordance
with the regulations started Kramnik’s clock, and the game was forfeited
due to the time loss. Kramnik, from his side, was insisting that the clock
was started due to the wrong (and nearly ill-intentioned) decision of the Appeals
Committee, and therefore it should be considered invalid. Of course, it means
that the score should remain 3:1, and the 5th game has to be replayed, rather
than the 6th game played.
The FIDE President, who did not see any legal way out of the conflict, shifted
the settling of the issue to the participants themselves, calling one of them
to reconsider his point of view. Ilyumzhinov said, “The one who will
yield, will forever be a chess hero!” However, none of them was willing
to become a hero, which made a successful finalization of the campaign doubtful.
In the existing deadlock, Ilyumzhinov had to make a decision. The FIDE President
chose the language of the sport law. The three-party dialogue, however, did
not happen during the final stage. At 23.05 the office of the FIDE President
in the City Hall was entered by Veselin Topalov and Silvio Danailov –
neither Vladimir Kramnik, nor Carsten Hensel was present. After some time,
the manager of the Bulgarian Grandmaster left the office, and in about 20 minutes
Ilyumzhinov and Topalov appeared.
As you are aware, during the whole of today I have been negotiating with V.
Kramnik and his managers as well as with the managers of V. Topalov. After
numerous consultations we came to the following conclusions:
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First of all, it turned out that the team of Kramnik did not submit any
appeals to the Appeals Committee either in respect of the use of the bathrooms,
or in respect of the result of the fifth game. According to the regulations,
the team has a right to submit an appeal during two hours after the end
of the respective game.
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Second, today we managed to agree on the Appeals Committee (the previous
membership resigned and new members were appointed) as well as regarding
the use of the restrooms (a separate room has been assigned to each of
the match participants). No claims regarding these issues have not been
received either from Topalov’s or Kramnik’s sides..
Finally, the key issue – which score we should continue the match with.
After negotiations with Kramnik (they took place about an hour ago; unfortunately,
Vladimir could not appear here – he is not feeling well) and Topalov
(a few minutes ago) it was decided to continue the match from the sixth game,
tomorrow, 2nd of October, from the score 3:2. At 15.00 hrs the match Chief
Arbiter Geurt Gijssen will start Topalov’s clock.
Question from journalists: Did Kramnik agree to this decision and will
he continue the duel?
Ilyumzhinov: When talking to these both great chess players, I saw their
wish to continue the fight, and also passed both to Vladimir and to Veselin
numerous telegrams from the chess players from the whole world with the words
of support and hope for the match continuation. I think that Kramnik and Topalov
should put their ambitions aside and sit down to the chess board, in order
to prove who is stronger, and who is more worthy to bear the title of the Absolute
World Chess Champion!
Silvio Danailov and Veselin Topalov
Question to Topalov: Veselin, with what feeling will you come to play
tomorrow?
With great enthusiasm. I am tired of rest! For me it is a great relief that
the match will continue and the chess world will be enjoying this great show.
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