Interview with Yuri Vasiliev, Chesspro
Did you also invite Kramnik (to Mtel)?
Kramnik lives in an unreal world. He refused to play a return match against Topalov in Sofia, although he was guaranteed a million Dollars tax free for it. He belongs where he now is. Everybody saw where he was when he started hiding from Kasparov. He was Mr. Nobody. And he would have remained a Mr. Nobody if we hadn’t agreed to play the match in Elista, which made him the World Champion. There was an incredible amount of interest for chess after the match in Elista. But Kramnik once again went into hiding. This refusal shows once again that the man does not understand the world in which he lives. It was a unique chance that was lost for chess. The interest in a match in Sofia would have far exceeded Elista. It was a golden chance for chess. But he missed it, just as he missed the chance to face Kasparov in a revenge match. Now we will see how he handles his title. In October he will of course lose it in Mexico. And then he will expect the revenge match that the FIDE president has promised him. But the question of getting this revenge match is still open. It is entirely possible that he will not get it. In one year, when Kramnik has lost his title, anything is possible…
Why are you so sure that Kramnik will lose his title in Mexico?
Such a tournament can be won only by player who are used playing in strong tournaments. That could be Anand or Aronian, if the latter succeeds in qualifying. It could be Topalov, who is used to play in strong tournaments, and who won many of them. But it is quite clear to me that Kramnik is not capable of winning such a tournament. He may score plus two or plus three, but that is not enough to win the World Championship.
Do you feel the after-effects of “Toiletgate”?
Kamsky said very well in his interview to the “Trud” newspaper. In America there is no such thing as “bad publicity”. There is just publicity. Unfortunately, in the world in which we live (the chess world) there are too many amateurs. They have never heard about advertising, they don’t know what marketing means, what real professionalism is. Because they are amateurs. During “toiletgate” everybody was talking about chess. The New York Times had an article about in on the front page. That was real publicity. Not “bad” or “good” publicity, just publicity. Everybody was interested in what is happening in the match with the two strongest chess players participating. Everyone was electrified by the events.
I am disliked not because of the scandal. People envy me because I took Topalov to the top, because I created the most professional chess tournament, because I am creating the Grand Slam, because I introduced the Sofia Rules. For fifty years people have been racking their brains on how to combat short draws. And it was so easy: just don’t allow the players to discuss it over the board. People are envious, they are jealous. But these are not my problems. Chess must renew itself or die. There are no other options.
Here is the full article.
Danailov is a grade A moron. he did everything in his power to ruin the Elista match and kramniks image but all he did was ruin Topalovs reputation
Can’t agree more with matthew.
I will take a long time to root out the evil of Kramnik’s supporters. The supporters currently have powerful media leverage, hence we have so many people (like Matthew) who are convinced that Danilov+Topalov are the morons, where-as it is the other way around. *sigh*
Now i have it in cold print: i’m a chess amateur, that’s why i’m clueless about chess professionalism, moreover i’m a stumbling block on the way of the one and only true chess (only chess, really?) entity to apotheosis!
dear god, why for heavens sake did i ever start playing chess without being enlighted by IM Silvio Danailov?
Caissa, or was it God Father himself, sent me – a dumb chess fan – the new and true Messiah, IM Silvio Danailov, was in need to humiliat himself to open my eyes.
I’m definitively sure now, that i deserve to be erased from the entire chess world! Thanks to IM Silvio Danailov for finally opening my eyes! Of course i’ll stop to play chess (or what i thought it to be) immediately!
Good things come to those who wait!
I plead guilty for ignorance, simplemindness, amateurism and last but not least for cynicism…
greetings from a former chess player known as Vohaul, now enlighted by the one and only Messiah of Chess, the immortal IM Silvio Danailov.
danailov seems to think hes much greater than he really is. he didnt get topalov to the top. topalov did it. he thinks he created ground breaking rules give me a break he didnt do anything. hes nothing but a mouth piece that couldt make it as a chess player and is living his chess through topalov. when topalov lost in elista dainalov wanted a quick rematch so his swapping of the titles couldnt really damage topalov. he was trying to save his own ass with the rematch. this guy makes topalov look bad.
Vohaul,
One thing you said is true – being guilty of cynicism… probably not much less than Danailov is himself, at a different level of course…
Stop writing such narrow-minded, pathetic, little comments. It would definitely do you better than quitting chess…
Although I am not the greatest fan of Vlad in terms of his playing style and the fact that he appeared to duck a rematch with GK, Kramnik is the 14th World Champion and has been since 2000, regardless of all the “FIDE” Champions since (can’t even remember all their names and I’m sure posterity won’t either).
Danailov obviously can’t stand this. Although I would agree with him that Kramnik will find it harder to win a tournament than a match.
I still think its unfair that Topalov is excluded from Mexico and think the fairest thing would be to have Mexico as the final qualiying event for a crack at the WC in a match replacing Kramnik with Topa. Yeh! I know the sponsors in Mexico would go mad, but this nonsense/rubbish/BS of having the World Championship decided by a tournament was and is a disgrace.
Danailov is still living in denial. To attribute Topalov’s negative popularity to envy is to ignore the fact that his worldwide popularity took a huge nosedive on one specific day. Coincidentally, the very same day he and his team broke the Ethics Rules against making public accusations against players or sponsors. If it were envy, his popularity would have sunk right after San Luis (when his popularity was at its height).
Danailov admitted himself that behavior such as his was wrong, when he found himself on the receiving end of it at Corus, so that pretty much makes it unanimous. Pretending not to understand the point after all this time is more tragic than anything else, and means that Topalov has more unexploded mines in his future, thanks to bad management from his own team.
To complain about not getting a rematch in an unprecedented 3 month span is silly enough by itself. But doubly silly when you consider that it was flatly illegal under rules they (foolishly? overconfidently?) agreed to before the first match. And triply silly when we recall how long Team Topalov spent running from the first match. On the Chessninja boards, Topalov has been known as “The Dodger” ever since late 2005, due to his efforts to avoid playing the match, one week to the day after saying he wanted to. If Kirsan hadn’t needed the match for his campaign, it probably never would have happened.
If Topalov hadn’t avoided the first match for so long (and remember Kramnik’s sponsors had been offering a lot more money than they ended up playing for), there would have been plenty of time for a rematch.
Personally, I supported Topalov at San Luis because I thought someone as ambitious as him wouldn’t be satisfied until he’d beaten Kramnik, united the titles, and become undisputed world champion. The first interview after San Luis, suggested he would do exactly that:
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2684
This picture was shattered one week to the day later, when he did a complete 180 degree turn:
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2693
and began running from a match we’d all been waiting for since 2002 (and at the same time, insulted about half of the Top 10, saying they were too low-rated to be in his league). A lot of the lustre went out of Topalov at that point. All the rest of it deserted him after his behavior in Elista.
It’s probably possible for him to recover, but not until he learns to stop defending the indefensible. The cheating issue is only going to get bigger and bigger and people who try to circumvent the process by taking their suspicions to the public are going to be every bit as damaging to the game as people who actually cheat. As someone who’d been on the receiving end of such charges, Topalov should have known better. But he didn’t, and apparently still doesn’t.
This guy is just full of himself. “I did this, I did that, blah blah blah…” I get the feeling that his ego far exceeds his intellect.
-Justin Daniel
I am Bulgarian and I think Danailov is really giving chess a bad name. The difference between Topalov’s and Danailov’s personality is enormous. Topalov suffers from Danailov’s bad image and reputation.
do you know why FIDE came in being in the first place? To world chess champions like kramnik from sitting on there perch and not playing the strongest contenders for the title. Danailov may not be a people person. HE is quite blunt but at least he is trying to take chess to a new era of professionalism. MArketing chess, stopping short draws, getting sponsors can only benefit the wider community. I think kramnik is a disgrace like Alekine who avoided playing worthy champions for the title. kramnik will lose his title. IT will be interesting to see if he will be a spaortsman like Lasker who said he got beaten by a better player Capablanca in the world chess championship. What will kramnik’s excuseb be this time.?