After
several days of rumors and declarations made through the media, the first formal
document regarding FIDE champion Ruslan Ponomariov's protests about the
player contract for his upcoming title match with Garry Kasparov has emerged.
The bottom line: FIDE will make a declaration on the match on Thursday, Aug.
28 at noon. This effectively extends the Aug. 25 deadline to come to an agreement
with Ponomariov.
Curiously the first document comes from FIDE and not from Ponomariov, who has
been talking to the Ukrainian organizers and the sports media. This public campaign
appears to have annoyed FIDE and confused the matter considerably. It may also
illustrate a conflict of interest if the organizers of the match are seen to
be favoring one of the players.
The first volley from the Ukrainian side was a report from Komarov with many
quotes from Ponomariov's manager, Silvio Danailov. (Translation)
This included several strong comments to the effect that FIDE was somehow favoring
Kasparov in the match, but did not go into details.
Not
to be outdone, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov replied in an interview
(Russian) with another Russian paper yesterday. (English
translation of the Ilyumzhinov interview in the ChessNinja message boards
by Siberian. Other links and translations by Penguin, Fluffybunnyfeet,
jackiechan, and other members are elsewhere in the same thread. Our thanks
to all.)
Earlier, a report at Sport.rbc.ru said Ponomariov was ready to go to Ukrainian
Prime Minister Kuchma and ask that he refuse to host the match. (Russian
original, English
from J.Marfia)
The document below clears things up as to where things stand now, at least
from FIDE's side. It does not mention several other points of contention Ponomariov
brought up in the papers, either because he has dropped them or because FIDE
has ignored them. One was that Ponomariov wanted to keep his FIDE title until
an eventual unification (with the winner of Kramnik-Leko) even if he lost this
match with Kasparov.
According to FIDE the only remaining issues right now are: 1) Ponomariov
wants the player contract amended to remove any mention of the right of FIDE
to replace a player who is in breach of contract or match regulations. FIDE
rejects this. 2) A free day was added to the original schedule to take
place between the end of the 12 schedule games and a potential play-off day.
Ponomariov wants this free day removed.
Below are the entire FIDE press release and a short statement from the Ukrainian
Chess Federation, both presented today, August 26. Like FIDE, we have not received
any statement from Ponomariov or his representatives.
Fide Response to the Statement by the Organising Committee of the Ponomariov-Kasparov
World Chess Championship Match
Our attention has been drawn to the statements purportedly credited to the
Organising Committee of the Ponomariov-Kasparov World Chess Championship match
regarding the conditions which the World Champion wants FIDE to accept before
he will agree to sign the players' agreement for the match.
The Organising Committee claimed in its statement that the four proposals of
World Champion Ponomariov were officially sent to the FIDE President on 23 August
2003 without a written reply. For the avoidance of doubt, FIDE maintains that
no official letter addressed to the FIDE President has been received in the
Secretariat neither has one been sent from the Organisers to the FIDE President's
office in Moscow. We can confirm that unofficially, the information from the
Organisers was received in the office of the President of Kalmykia in Elista,
but without any signatures on the document, which was not on the official letterhead
of the Organising Committee, in which the four proposals of World Champion R.
Ponomariov were enumerated.
In spite of this unofficial approach, FIDE communicated with the Manager of
Mr. Ponomariov Mr. Silvio Danailov and the Organising Committee and informed
them of FIDE's response to these four proposals, which is again highlighted
below in this document. Meanwhile, World Champion R. Ponomariov has not communicated
his requests officially to FIDE, neither has he signed his players' contract
within the deadline stipulated by the Presidential Board.
FIDE believes as a matter of principle, that the Organising Committee for any
of its matches for the World Chess Championship should not be seen to take sides
on behalf of any of the players involved in the Championship. Therefore, it
is unfortunate that the Yalta 2003 Organising Committee is seen to be taking
sides with World Champion R. Ponomariov in a matter that is strictly between
the player and FIDE.
While FIDE appreciates that this unfortunate situation may have a reason due
to misunderstanding, it also has the feeling that this situation has created
confusion for World Champion R. Ponomariov, therefore in a last effort to save
the match the FIDE President has decided to grant a further extension until
1200 noon Thursday 28 August 2003 to World Champion R. Ponomariov to sign and
fax his player's agreement to the FIDE Secretariat.
The FIDE Presidential Board at its recent meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, 17 August
2003 emphasised that its duty, in line with the Prague Agreement, is to protect
the overall authority of FIDE with regard to the World Chess Championship title.
Therefore, for principle reasons, FIDE is giving for the last time, the following
answers to the proposals of World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov, a process which
it has fully documented since December 2002:
-
With regard to the request of World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov for the
exclusion from his contract of any reference to the possibility for FIDE
to replace the players of the match, FIDE rejects this proposal. This is
based on the grounds that should such a proposal be accepted FIDE would
run the risk that the World Champion or indeed any of the players can hold
it to ransom on any frivolous reason. FIDE maintains that it should be able
to act whenever necessary and as a matter of principle, when any of the
players is in fundamental breach of the contract or regulations for the
match.
-
FIDE welcomes the request of World Champion R. Ponomariov for the regulations
for the World Chess Championship match as approved by the Presidential Board
to be complied with. The only change is in the schedule for the match, where
an extra free day is introduced in the event of the tie. This change, the
basis of which has been communicated to World Champion R. Ponomariov and
the Yalta Organising Committee, has been approved by the Presidential Board
and is in line with the Regulations for the 2003 Ponomariov-Kasparov World
Chess Championship match.
-
With regard to the issue of the appointment of a Russian-speaking Arbiter,
FIDE has already accepted that one of the Arbiters that the President will
appoint shall be from the list of three nominees submitted by World Champion
R. Ponomariov.
- FIDE understands and has already accepted that it is in the interest of
fair play that the accredited laboratory for the anti-doping tests should
be in a neutral country, not in Russia or the Ukraine.
In all of its negotiations with the players, FIDE has tried to maintain a fair
balance between the two players. Contrary to the impression, which the recent
statements have tried to portray, the FIDE leadership has accepted a lot of
proposals of World Champion R. Ponomariov. At the same time, it has rejected
nearly all of the proposals of Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, who incidentally
has signed his players' agreement without any conditions. We hope that if he
really wants to play this match, World Champion R. Ponomariov will now proceed
and sign his player's agreement without any further reservations.
For the avoidance of doubt, FIDE will insist that the hosting of any of its
events shall be done with a strict sense of neutrality and fairness by the Organisers.
Accordingly, FIDE shall demand that the hosting of the Ponomariov-Kasparov World
Chess Championship match, starting 18 September 2003 in Yalta is done without
any compromise of its principles of fairness to both players.
After the deadline of 12 noon Thursday 28 August 2003 the FIDE President shall
issue a statement regarding the future of the Ponomariov-Kasparov World Chess
Championship match.
Lausanne, 26 August 2003.
Declaration of the Ukrainian Chess Federation
We are deeply concerned by the situation surrounding the match R. Ponomariov-G.Kasparov.
We are confident that FIDE on one hand, and R. Ponomariov, on the other hand,
have not emptied all the possibilities to reach a fruitful compromise, moreover
as the apple of the conflict are now the issues, which are certainly not of
primary interest. We are sure that the parties can and should find here mutual
understanding. In case the problems are used only as an excuse to cancel the
match, the organisation of which is initiated by the President of the Ukraine,
we demand to inform the chess community of real reasons. We offer to be mediator
for the parties and we hope that this unproductive conflict shall be solved
for the sake of chess development.
Gens Una Sumus.
V. Petrov
President
Ukrainian Chess Federation
Photo of Ponomariov by John Henderson, all rights reserved.
