Kramnik’s demand to have his bathroom unlocked was not met and he forfeited game 5. The score is now 3-2. No one knows if the match will continue after this.
I am very disappointed in the behavior and reaction by all sides. This could have been avoided.
This is another serious black eye for chess!
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Kramnik will win any lawsuit. FIDE had no right to close his bathroom. The oringinal contract stipulated that both players would have bathrooms.
You would think that the FIDE president would be able to secure 2 bathrooms in his own home country.
This is what is called a crack in the system. Ground rules were stipulated. Both parties agreed the location was ok and the rules were ok.
Then Topalov started losing games while Kramnik was going to the bathroom. And all hell broke loose.
Is going to the bath 50 times a game against the rules? No. Is it normal? No. Is it suspicios? Yes. So, what to do?
Topalov’s team presented a complaint, and FIDE split the difference: one toilet, two relaxation rooms. Salomonic decision, I would say.
Topalov puffed and barked, but sit on the board. Kramnik remained clinging to his claim of having that very specific bathroom opened or else he would not play.
And he lost the game on time. Who’s to blame? FIDE is to blame for the window, and not having foreseen that a player might want to go to the bathroom so often, bothering the opponent. Topalov failed for not accepting completely the veredict of FIDE after the complaint was partially accepted. Kramnik failed for not sitting on the board and showing the world he’s better than Topalov.
We all lost.
Topolov can be declared anything he wants.
Until he finds a way to defeat Kramnik AT A CHESSBOARD he will not be a champion.
Especially now that he lost this match at the chessboard, he is a (toilet) PAPER CHAMPION
they should not be given half millions each now..or is it already given to them???
The original FIDE document that is being quoted doesn’t say that they need separate bathrooms, only that the players will be provided with a toilette doesn’t it?
what a sad series of events!
Face it, Topalov is crying because he can’t crack Kramnik’s armour and Kramnik can’t play without his Nicotine (cigarettes).
Its hard to consider either of them champions after something like this. Theyve both clearly lost sight of having gratitude for the situation they are in and respect for the game.
The two guys are just fighting over what they strongly believe in. They missed the bigger picture. But then again, being human, I’m guilty of missing the bigger picture too!
after 13 years; it still a stalemate!!!
this match was drawing record crowds and chess seemed to be on the rise again with the first organized world title match for a long long time. What a sad day for chess! i dont give a rat’s ass about topalov or kramnik as far as im concerned they should have to work labor jobs for a living from here on out with their ridiculous behavior. they make a living playing chess !! i wish they had to work hard for a living like some of us. “We loyal chess fans” dont deserve what “professional” chess has become. Professional doesnt even seem like a term in chess anymore. I had a gut feeling though that cheating accusations would show its face in a match of this caliber sooner or later………I use to argue this point all the time on ICC. I even myself quit playing on ICC because of all the nonsense that occurs. What a sad day for the chess world. Now we are back to a state of utter confusion.
with sorrow
~Jimmie Beatty
Brilliant psycological warfare by Danailov, from a real difficult match situation. It payed of big time! Round victory on time, and perhaps match victory.
Real silly decision by the Kramnik team, being 3-1 up. Do not understand it. Does Kramnik have some needed medicine in the bathroom or what??
I am so disappointed.
if anyone out there has any of those people’s (anyone associated with topalov, kramnik, fide) email’s or phone numbers please send them to jbeatty79@yahoo.com. Im gonna gather about 5-10,000 chessplayers “virtual signatures” to show the disappointment of chess fans.
Danilov is a neanderthal. Nothing brilliant about this embarassing and illegal turn of events. he was just terrified that Topolov would never win another game and overplayed his hand
Kramnik needs to drink plenty of water. I never liked him before today.
Kramnik toilet
http://pictureserver.funnyjunk.com/pics2/pctoilet.jpg
FIDE BREACHES CONTRACT YET AGAIN! FORCING KRAMNIK TO ACCEPT BREACH IN 2 HOURS OR FORFEIT!
I no longer have any respect for Topalov in fact I despise him and his buddies on FIDE!
Aren’t we all so proud to be chess players today? This game hasn’t had such great publicity since the punch up at the olympiad…
“Accusations swirl around chess champ’s toilet breaks” – Chicago Tribune
“Grandmaster’s lavatory defence just won’t wash” – Daily Telegraph
“Chess King Wages War Over ‘Throne'” – New York Post
Now the world chess champion with 3120 of elo if ………………….
the TOILET
It’s well known now that kramnik suffers a form of arthritis . This disease causes painful inflammation in the joints.
so he must have some stretching in order not to suffer much from inactivity.
Man can hardly imagine how painful it is to have his desease.
Comings and goings between his rest room and the bathroom are some way he found to have body exercises.
Kramnik have done the same thing against Kasparov in 2000. Kasparov obtained then that a referee follow kramnik each time he went to the bathroom, with the door open.
Kramnik did the same thing against Leko, with less complaint from Leko.
Why? Kramnik is famous for his kindy behaviour, and his fair play. Every top GM can speack in that way for him.
The Topalov ‘s team knows that perfectly, they acted in order to make kramnik suffering not on the chessboard . It’s pittyfull.
Kramnik had played the most human moves we can thinking of in all the games. Accordingly to his style.
The suspicious is almost on Topalov ‘s camp. His overwelming perfs are not beyong any doubts, nore suspicious.
What can we add for all that? Topalov have a manager: Danailov who ruined the chess carrier of Ponomariov,not so long ago.
Danailov will be paied for all the match that topalov will play as a worldchampion. And there is a match planed against Radjabov. One of the members in the Appeal Commitee, Azmaiparashvili is a friend of danailov, and alos, one of the organisators of the match with radjabov. Will they let Topalov looses his match against Kramnik?
I think that we just had had the answer:NO! even if they break all the rules made before the match with Kramnik.
I’m sad today. I was hoping of a great topalov, and was confident in his strenght to equalize the score and win the match in the last game.
now, hopelessness is all that ‘s left…
As far as I know, their contracts didn’t specify a ‘max # of visits’ to the restrooms or toilets! FIDE is therefore completely wrong to change the rules in the middle of the match. Kramnik was naturally insulted by the Topalov team’s insinuations of cheating…and FIDE should not have tolerated this. By adjusting the rules, they have added credibilty to Topalovs ridiculous accusations!
Maybe Kramnik is too afraid of losing this game, which will show that he was really cheating in his own toilet:)
Yea! Both players have nice suits because chess is game of Gentlemen, though they cannot achieve mutual understanding about toilets;) This is pathetic!
oooopppss!!i didnt see its coming…
aha! i got an idea, lets develop a computer program to predict all of the variations in the players psy-war strategy in a chess match!
topalov is so evil and danalov is criminal,they destroyed chess.kramnik also foolish to forfeit the game
Kramnik and Topolov both made a ton of money today.
The publicity they will garner is priceless.
David Letterman will have a field day with this tonight.
“Top ten reasons to have a private bathroom”
10. The coffee in Kirsan’s country is causitc
NOT FIFTY TRIPS. The arbiters said Danailov exaggerated, but didn’t say how much. They also didn’t permit reporters to view the tapes.
FIDE has been disgraceful in the past, but this is the last straw in the dictatorship of official chess. Hundreds of GMs have been betrayed, although some say they accepted unclean (Kalmykian) money first.
HUMAN CHESS IS DEAD.
This match began with promise and there were four interesting games.
Months ago, it was an election promise of Iljumzhinov. Is he now planning on pocketing the $1M?
Anonymous Frank
Anonymous Frank
COme on kramnick!
COntinue and repair this injustice like an unfair penalty at soccer
hmmm…he drinks a lot of water, and he visits the to bathroom frequently…hmmm…from this we can deduce that K must have his own bathroom because he–like my collie–frequently laps up the toilet water and…there is just no way that K is going to lap up toilet bowl water from a public toilet.
Bobby Fischer is sitting somewhere getting a HUGE laugh out of this.
I think both sides are to blame here. Firstly, Topalov’s team showed disrespect for Kramnik by bringing a parapsychologist to the match. I doubted that Kramnik is laiable to such cheap tricks.
Then it was Kramnik’s turn to annoy his adversary: this time with constant trips to the toilet.
The main problem is, as stated before, that those provocations weren’t predicted in the rules and thus cannot be sanctioned. It shows that both parties do not choose the means to provoke the other.
But, on the other hand, I think that exactly this attitude shows a real fighting spirit. I mean, in match Kramnik-Leko, both players acted friendly and respectfuly, and the games were drawish and rather dull – perhaps because of the very lack of bitter hatred between the players that is present in the current duel.
Who benefits from Vladimir Kramik becoming a world champion: 1) Russian government, 2)DGT Projects from Netherlands- Kramik is a spokesperson for DGT, 3)Chessbase- charges Ducats for real-time commentaries of Kramnik’s games and money from Russsian organizing committee to promote the match on News.
Geurt Gijssen, Chief Arbiter from Netherlands benefits from DGT sales. Chessbase receives games in real-time via DGT boards. Let’s say that Chessbase has a strong chess engine running on a supercomputer in their offices and sends help to Kramik via radio signals. The only way to send a remote help is when Kramik goes to the bathroom. The organizing committee in Russia together with a Chief Arbiter would need to arrange conditions such that bathrooms are not under video surveillance, and that there are no escorts. Topalov has many disadvantages: he plays all matches in Russia- which is a home country of Kramik, Geurt Gijssen (chief arbiter) is bias towards his opponent, Kramik could be getting remote help. Why video tapes are hidden from public? Topalov should insist on 50% of matches in Bulgaria, an independent chief arbiter, and his qualified technician needs to check potential areas for cheating. FIDE is creating scandals to promote chess.
@anonymous
I think there’s only choice from a few options:
– you really are stupid enough to believe what you write;
– you are a Topalov fanatic, and think in war everything is permitted;
– you are a FIDE rat!
Why anonymous? Show yourself, coward!
Susan, I have a question to you. Would you play with somebody who publicly insulted you, then agreed to play with you but declared you were such filth they wouldn’t shake hands with you? This is not a rhetorical question, I would like to know what most chess players would do in this situation. FIDE did not agree to release videos of Kramnik’s private rooms to the journalists, but otherwise mostly accepted the demands of Danailov. How is it possible to make such demands? What have journalists to do with all this? I would expect Danailov/Topalov team to be reprimanded, not applauded. By the way, I am no particular Kramnik fan, but I believe that if/when there are problems they need to be solved between the interested parties, not made available to the press before all else.
It’s easy to talk about the prestige of chess and keeping things in perspective, but when accusations get out of control, one tends to defend one’s reputation and rights. We know how Kramnik reacted. I’d like to understand how others would actually act, not how they think one should act in an ideal world.
It’s all a bit whiffy!
@Aljoša:
“Then it was Kramnik’s turn to annoy his adversary: this time with constant trips to the toilet.”
Kramnik’s (as well as Topalov’s) toilet is (was?) adjacent to their respective private rest rooms. Most of these 50 toilet trips were from rest room to toilet to rest room to toilet to rest room … They could have hardly annoyed Topalov, because he didn’t see it. He and Danilov only learned about these trips from the rest room video tapes. How did they get them? Only the arbiter and certain officials should have had access to these tapes.
What happens if a player fahrts? Do the rules cover this?
Probably the toilet champion should have used this as a defence rather than his walking in the toilet argument. The (de)fault-finding champion would have allowed the mandatory 40visits /40 moves or even would have inserted that mandatory visit clause himself.
What happens if a player fahrts? Do the rules cover this?
Probably the toilet champion should have used this as a defence rather than his walking in the toilet argument. The (de)fault-finding champion would have allowed the mandatory 40visits /40 moves or even would have asked for that clause himself.
This is pathetic. Parapsychologists? Chips in the brain? Arguing over bathroom trips? Refusing to shake hands and forfeiting a game over just the loss of a private bathroom? This is almost as silly as Karpov-Korchnoi and the “secret messages in the yogurt” flap, though not as scandalous as Campomanes’ obvious favoritism toward Karpov in the K-K matches.
What is it about top-drawer chess that produces so many prima-donna players?
Anna certainly has a point. What would have been wrong with Topalov first asking Kramnik what his behaviour was about, before running to the committee of appeal?
Thet don’t call him Krapnik for nothing.
@Irish spy (funny name; the Irish only make war among themselves, so what reason on earth do they have to spy upon others?!)
I really don’t think this is a matter of prima donna behaviour.
By his appeal and the inherent accusation of cheating Topalov has insulted Kramnik. Adding injury to insult, he announces, before any investigation has taken place, that, even (!) if the match goes on, he won’t shake hands with Kramnik anymore. He does not state wether this is, because he deems himself unworthy of this courtesy or the other way around, but the latter seems the more likely.
Thus we are left with one of those situations, wherein the discrepancies between theory and praxis are most awkwardly revealed.
Speaking from the point of view of reason and human dignity, Kramnik has every right to refuse playing until a reasonable decision has been taken, and his adversary has offered excuses and shown sincere repentance of his past behaviour. He (Kramnik) has not done anything wrong (at least, nothing has been proven against him, nor does the Committee of Appeal state so in their decision) so why should he accept a verdict that detracts from his rights as stated in the rules, or even if they were not explicitly stated, as were in fact granted from the beginning of the match?
Unfortunately, from the juridical standpoint, Topalov is 100% in the right. He has trodden the official path, his appeal has been (partly) granted, no counter-appeal has been lodged, so, he was fully justified to take the point in the fifth game when his opponent didn’t show up.
How to go on from here?
That would be very easy to decide, but for $ 1.000.000 at stake. Money corrupts.
Obviously the right thing to do here for Kramnik is to withdraw himself from the snakepit he has landed in, unless the current decision of the court of appeal is destroyed, and let his attourny do the rest of the talking.
Very likely, this way he would never see one dollarcent of his money.
So, very likely, that will not be the way things are going to proceed.
That would be a pity. The FIDE maffia has ruled long enough! Vladimir, please hold up your dignity!
We, chessplayers of all nations are the chessworld! Not a maffiose dictator in some obscure corner of the former Soviet Union!
If no right is done, we should do it ourselves. And we easily can. To raise $ 500.000 to recompense Kramnik would be a childs play. I for me would gladly donate $ 100 for the good cause. Only 4.999 more enthousiasts and we’re there.
And banning Topalov from highranking tournaments shouldn’t be that difficult either ….
Upon further analysis Kramnik behavior looks more and more suspicious.
He is suspected of using a small portable chess set when in the bathroom. With the new models he can set up any position he wants in mere seconds. Just a glance at it gives any player a 300 advantage with respect to a player who has to look at the begining position (this is the equivalent of playing blinfolded vs a person who is playing watching the board).
Since there are no cameras inside the bathroom and neither player is searched physically for non electronic equipment this possibility is more than possible, especially in light of Krmanik’s refusal to play the game without his tens of bathroom breaks.
This is just ridiculous. First the rumors that Topalov has a chip in his brain!? Who was responsible for that? Next, the accusation that Kramnik is somehow cheating!?
These are world champion chess players and I very seriously doubt that either is a cheater. You could turn just about anything into “suspicious behavior” if you really put the time into it.
My “suspicion” is that Kramnik simply wanted to “escape” by pacing in the bathroom. As absurd as that may sound to some, especially extroverted personality types, it sounds quite reasonable and understandable to the more introverted personality types.
My hope is that Seirwan’s reasonable proposal will be listened to and followed. I would love to watch the rest of this match played out in full.
It is very sad. Everyone is aware that a unification match became a reality after lot of struggle. So it is the responsibility of each and everybody involved in the event to make it a success. The only solution to this problem is to scrupulously follow the agreements that were made at the begininng of the Match. It is unfair to comment on any of the players as both have ‘some’ valid points. And both are playing AMAZING CHESS.
KRAMNIK IS GOING TO SUE to get his way if FIDE and Topalov don’t give him the rights outlined in the contract. End of story.
does anyone really think that if Kramnik was cheating he would have played B*f8 in game 2??