Interview with Mamedyarov by ChessDom:
English translation:
Q: What do you think about the Mtel Masters tournament?
It is, of course, a good tournament, a super tournament. It is considered one of the strongest in the world and I am very happy that I was invited this year.
Q: How do feel about the so-called “Sofia Rule”?
Oh, I feel very positively inclined. I, personally, continuously play by such “own” rules. My style is such that I always play until the end, even if I have to risk something more. In my opinion, the “Sofia Rule” is very good and I welcome its usage.
Q: What do you think about Veselin Topalov?
I think that he is one of the most elite chess players in the world, but maybe this isn’t the best description. He is the strongest. He plays very wall and with him it’s always interesting because he plays “clean” and real chess.
Q: Do you think that he is going to be your strongest opponent?
In the current tournament take part six players and they are all very dangerous. Maybe the broad audience does not value N and S as favorites, however I know them well enough and think that they can be fighting for first place. Of course, the main favorite is Topalov, but we would try our best to win the tournament as well. All is yet to come, we will see what happens.
Q: What do you thing about the fact that FIDE practically “forbid” Topalov from being able to fight for the world title?
I consider that it would be right for him to play in the final eight. What do the others opinion, I do not know, but Topalov was number one in chess for a year, year and a half and practically won all the tournaments. Along these lines, he has the right to be part of the final eight, but as it is already known, the decisions are not taken by us, the chess players, rather by FIDE. Therefore, we will see what will happen in the future. I think that Topalov deserves to be world champion and is one of the strongest in the world.
Click here to see the video.
Topalov deserves to be World Champion?! That doesn’t make any sense. He lost his match against Kramnik, and he lost his #1 spot to Anand. I wonder if it is an error in translation…maybe he said something like “Topalov deserves a shot at becoming world champion”, or “Topalov deserves a spot in the WC tournament.”
In any case, I appreciate Karpov’s perspective that even though Topalov deserves a spot based on his strength of play, he deserves to sit out because of his behavior and decisions.
Even the strongest player can be eliminated in OTB play. Topalov has been, according to rules he agreed to himself. He’s got no possible gripe. He should count himself lucky that he hasn’t been banned from all play for his unethical behavior during the match.
he plays very wall. I thought it is Kramnik who plays like a wall.
It is at last apparent that all the Krmanik fans are illogical people who in the past have created whatever logic to make sure he always got a chance to be WC. Now, that we have a real illogical situation, with Topalvo unable to challenge the championship, these so called “saviours of the WC and its reputation” are esposed as nothing but one-sided politicians and not really “saviors of chess”. We need to eliminate these politicians from chess. This includes most people associated with Kasparov, PCA, ChessBase, the site TheWeekInChess etc. Quite a long list of such “one-sided” politicians. **sigh**