And the saga continues…The Kramnik team has just issued a complaint to the head of the World Championship Committee:
To the Head of the WCC 2006 Executive Committee Mr. Valery Bovaev
Dear Mr. Bovaev,
I have received information that the Topalov team might try to involve Mr. Kramnik in another scandal. According to this information they might be planning to create a situation by somehow manufacturing “evidence” to prove that Mr. Kramnik is cheating. One of the possibilities is that a member of the Topalov Team may plant an electronic device or something similar in the restroom or toilet of Mr. Kramnik.
The driving force for such an action would be to an attempt to divert attention from the public relation disaster the Topalov Team is currently experiencing, as a result of their previous attempts. In addition they might be hoping to force Mr. Kramnik to stop playing the match and abandon the event.
In order to avoid any such possible attempts as much as possible I would like to suggest the following:
1. Any member of Topalov’s team who is given access to Mr. Kramnik’s restroom and toilet should be meticulously checked by a specialist appointed by the organisation. Everything they have in their pockets and any bags they might be carrying shall be removed and not allowed with them in the restrooms and toilets.
2. Any team member of Topalov who enters Mr. Kramnik’s room shall be meticulously observed by a specialist during the time he is in the restroom and toilet of Mr. Kramnik.
3. Only one team member of Mr. Topalov shall have access to the restroom and toilet of Mr. Kramnik at any given time.
4. The organisation shall attend every inspection and confirm that everything was carried out correctly.
5. After the inspection of the restroom and toilet of Mr. Kramnik the facilities shall be sealed and only be opened at the time Mr. Kramnik arrives at the playing site. The physical inspection of Mr. Kramnik shall happen in the presence of one Topalov representative. The representative of Mr. Topalov shall have been checked before Mr. Kramnik is inspected (see 1. and 2.). The representative of Mr. Topalov shall have no right to touch or to speak with Mr. Kramnik.
Thank you for attending to this matter. From my point of view these measures might work in order to avoid the next international scandal.
Elista, 3.10.2006
With best regards,
Carsten Hensel
(Manager to Vladimir Kramnik, Classical World Chess Champion)
Oh brother… When will this match be over so the chess world can attend to greater things?
The atmosphere is so negative already that one can expect anything from either side now.
Diplomacy and good manners will no help solve this, nor even to ensure a calm continuation of the match.
One joke after the other… credibilities nullified, paranoia justified, this is no longer a worthy WC match.
Why don’t we all turn off the light and go home? In other words, is FIDE entitled to cancel the whole match, declare it NULL and play it again sometime in the future under new agreement? Of course, new terms will need to be included in evey possible detail to avoid this pathetic comedy to repeat itself.
Even that is not foolproof if the Topolov Team can access the septic tank of Mr Kramnik. Once inside the tank they can insert a roto-router device up through the toilet. If Mr Kramnik’s toilet gets penetrated like this the Topolov Team can embed an electronic device directly above the toilet for the FIDE officials to find the next morning. This is something Mr Danilov can easily do right after comparing all of Mr Kramnik’s moves with FRITZ.
renzo – you have read too much Susan Polgar commentary. Only one side is to blame here. Topalov should be disqualified and Kramnik given the title. Is that what you ment?
Well, as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures. Can’t blame the Kramnik team.
As murr said, this would be outrageous had it not been for the behaviour of one side in this WC(C). Now it sounds fairly reasonable – if not simply necessary – to me.
I just hope that mr. Hensel is not going along with mud throwing. It’s not that far away from fears to allegations and paranoid accusations.
Dear anonymous,
Very sorry, but I drive my own thoughts and give my opinion and I don’t see any need to give any explanation to you or anyone, as my opinion would hardly cause any effect on the course of this match.
If you arbitrarily want to make such assertions about “reading too much Susan’s commentary”, well, you are more than welcome to do so, as it is simply your opinion. I have neither the time nor the interest in debating with anyone here.
My opinion is there and will continue there, whether you like it or not.
Respectfully yet sincerily,
-Renzo
This just in: the Official World Chess Championship Bathroom Verification Committee (OWCCBVC, as those in the know usually call this extremely prestigious international body) has issued its official findings to Ilyumzhinov:
“Executive summary: in general, Topalov is long and yellow, whereas Kramnik is short and clear…just like their playing styles.
Recommendations: Kramnik should reduce coffee intake. Danailov should commence taking sedatives.”
So in essence renzo you are saying that even though your stance of mutual blame is false and ridiculous you are not open to re-adjust that view. Fine.
Even Susan is now re-adjusting hers, even though she hasn’t apologized to Kramnik yet.
And by the way it seems this complaint wasn’t filed “just now” because it is dated 3rd October.
Renzo, apologies for writing what I wrote before. Sometimes I can’t control myself and end up trying to create a mess out of anything. I know there is a psychological problem lying behing this, but I can’t help it. Please, accept my aoplogies and don’t be surprised if a new incoherent, anonymous post of mine appears again. Please, bear with my problematic self.
The makers of fritz 9 should be quite offended at the Bulgarian accusation that Kramnik is using Fritz 9. If Kramnik is using Fritz 9, remind me not to buy it because some of his blunders have been terrible.
This match should be ended and declared a no-contest.
FIDE should escrow the monies for the event and allow the ACP to run the event in Switzerland or France.
Have Susan, Judit, and Sofia there as an unbiased observer group with some reknowned International Arbiter such as Stewart Reuben to oversee the entire event.
One more point to kramnik: he is willing to make as much control as possible to fit danailov’s paranoia.
With so much controls, how can one think there ‘s a cheat ?
But a lot of seems to be not enough either for that guy…
If only kramnik and topalov could play on a desert island!
i’m so boring with fide, danalov’s mess …
declared a non-contest?
This blog has brainwashed it’s readers into believers in the mutual blame theory.
Topalov should be declared a non-entity in this match and Kramnik crowned the unified world champion.
In reality it should be 2-0 with Kramnik having 4 whites in the last 6 games.
Actually, I was thinking the same thing before Mr. Hensel said it. My suggestion – Kramnik should put a camera in his bathroom and then if he’s accused of something he can show the tape.
A week ago I would have thought this letter paranoid, but now it seems to make perfect sense. It does seem that Danailov won’t stop at anything. Judging by the last few days, nothing is past him. If this goes on, Topalov will be perceived as Tonya Harding of chess.
Hensel has insulted Topalov!
Hensel MUST APOLOGIZE! He is destroying Kramnik’s repuation. How much longer can Kramnik stand by this psychotic manager?? Is there no trick too dirty for Hensel? Before the match, I was all for Kramnik, but now, after this wild and insane accusation against the Topalov team, I HATE Kramnik, I HATE Hensel, and I hope Topalov wins all the rest of the games! This is an obvious attempt to continue the psychological assault against Topalov. I don’t care by how many points Kramnik may win, the chess world will not accept him as the champion after this. SHAME on Hensel! SHAME on Kramnik!
Any comment on the tiebreak system in case of a draw? Thank you.
They play blitz in the end.
My back neighbour is Hungarian he told me when I asked him about the games “being fair” he said “very fair to Russian standards” The Russians took 10 billion dollars out of Hungary for 50 years and thinking it was a fair standard and then also half the World approved of it
“If Mr Kramnik’s toilet gets penetrated like this the Topolov Team can embed an electronic device directly above the toilet”
Ohhh…..body cavity search!
Anonymous,
According to the official rules, if it’s drawn, the winner is decided by whomever can come up with the most disgraceful, disgusting, and derogatory insults. Extra points for making it to the morning news or Oprah. If the match is still drawn, the managers have a cage fight with Tonya Harding. In the case that both survive, the final is decided by entering both players into “American Idol” and seeing who gets the farthest.
It is absolutely obvious to absolutely everyone that Team Topalov will do ANYTHING. Except no doubt to FIDE, who will probably find some way to award him a point in the next game from the initial position, perhaps because the other team sent an unusual number of letters in the time available.
I have just reread this letter a bit more carefully. The phrasing of the first line –
“I have received information that the Topalov team might try to involve Mr. Kramnik in another scandal”
– can only imply that someone from Team Topalov is so disgusted with what the Bulgarians are up to they have decided to rat on them to Kramnik’s manager. I applaud their sense of justice; on the other hand, they would have done even better to inform the police, so these criminals in the making could be arrested. A good time for their arrest would be the next game, which if FIDE is consistent would be awarded as a loss on time to Kramnik.
“Hensel has insulted Topalov!”
Anonymous, you must be out of your mind. All the psycoogical pressure that could be on Topalov is due to Danailov’s mad acusations. After practically the whole chess world has manifested disgust towards his statements he still goes on and on. And if he is willing to play this low, planting a device on Kramnik’s rest room is just an inch bellow. Also, you must notice that Topalov is never directly accused, as Kramnik has so unethicaly been. And still you must notice that none of their demands harm Topalov in any way, as did the damands to close Kramnik’s rest room. Finally, one can hardly call Kramnik (or his manager) paranoid after all the dirty games Danaiov has been playing.
The most stupid accusation was made by some Russians, linked with Kramnik’s team, who accused Topalov of having a chip implant put in his head after surgery, to win the WCC in San Luis…
Probably is Danailov just fighting back…
This is fine. All basis of trust is long gone in this match, if it ever existed to begin with. So of course when the bathroom is inspected there should be safeguards to prevent just what Mr. Carsten is talking about.
I don’t expect Kramnik to trust Topalov, any more than I expect Topalov to trust Kramnik. I see nothing wrong in this request by Kramnik’s team.
Given the total lackness of ethic of Danailov and the open support of the heads of FIDE to his misfacts it has been a good move to alert the chess community in advance.
Perfectly justified. I would be worried too. Danailov is capable of anything…
Someone said: This match should be ended and declared a no-contest.
It will as soon as Kramnik’s victory has become so sure that even by winning all the remaining games Topalov couldn’t win.
It does not make any sense that Kramnik would cheat now after being accused over and over. So the only chance for Danailov is to find some hard evidence that Kramnik had cheated in the early games, though unlikely. However, Kramnik’s previous behavior about the bathroom is really strange. I less Kramnik visit the bathroom much less frequently now.