Alexander Zhukov congratulated Vladimir Kramnik for the victory, emphasizing that this is not just the success of an outstanding chess player, but also a “rescue” for the entire chess world and, certainly, enormous success of Russian chess.
Alexander Roshal broached the idea that Topalov should be admitted to the round robin tournament in Mexico 2007, and then the winner should then play with you a final match.
Vladimir Kramnik: The manager of Topalov, Silvio Danailov, certainly did not show his best side at the WCC 2006, but Topalov as a chess player undoubtedly deserves admittance at the tournament. I consider the old formula with some corrections was most successful in comparison with all the others. They will answer: the match of the Karpov, Spassky, Fischer… and so on… I will defend my position.
Question: Yesterday information appeared about a possible rematch?
Kramnik: I have not thought about it yet. I just found out on the Internet. Today Topalov may challenge me, tomorrow Anand, Leko… Ignoring one of these proposals and playing many matches with one player will not be right.
Mr. Hensel, what is your opinion about Silvio Danailov?
Carsten Hensel: For us it was necessary to fight not only with Danailov, but also with their entire team. All video cassettes during the fourth day were released to Topalov’s team and were reviewed in the presence of the appeals committee. This protest was with the sole purpose to distract Kramnik.
Mr. Zhukov, should Kramnik be given a “Soviet Union style” award?
Alexander Zhukov: We are thinking about an award, but let’s not draw parallels to the Soviet Union methods.
How will you comment that the appeals committee was mainly formed by Topalov’s supporters?
Kramnik: I did not agree with that, but this was the only thing that we could not discuss. We could choose the main arbiter, but not the appeals committee.
During the match you said you were interested in the Champions [soccer] League more than the games themselves?
Kramnik: True, whenever there is Champions League and a Russian team plays, I watch the games. This time was no exception.
Mr. Kramnik, are you thinking of obtaining higher education?
Kramnik: Higher education is not a goal for me. Obtaining a diploma while playing at tournaments is impossible. I have some self-education, which I consider a proper education itself.
In the end of the press conference, came the Vice President of the Russian chess federation, Valerie Zukhov, and said: “We should all be happy. Now it is time for women to take first place in the world also.”
The press conference was reported by 64.ru, RIA Novosti, the site of the Russian Chess Federation, and Topalov Fan Site.
Susan,
How will you comment the presence of the chief arbiter???
And Kramnik certainly does not know the rules. Point 6.2 says he can choose the appeals committee.
I hate to say it, but it looks the whole Russian machine is behind him. Oh, and they want to get women chess too…..
Dear Susan,
Thank you for the wonderful job you are doing with this blog. I just wanted to point out that there are some small problems with the translation.
“I consider the old formula with some corrections was most successful in comparison with all the others. They will answer: the match of the Karpov-Spassky, Fischer… and so on…”
There is a sentence missing and the names in the matches are wrong (comparing with the russian site 64.ru). In russian it is:
И шахматы сохраняют высокое положение именно благодаря матчам на первенство мира. Спроси любого на улице, что он знает про шахматы. Ответят: матч Карпов-Каспаров, Спасский-Фишер… и так далее…
Translation:
Chess preserves its highly regarded postion, because of the world championship matches.
Ask anybody on a street, what do they know about chess. They will answer the match of Karpov-Kasparov, Spassky-Fisher… and so on…
Without this sentense it does not make a lot of sense.
Well I had to slap myself when I read how someone asked VK about Higher Education. People who study “anything”, physics, philosophy, language and understand it the way Kramnik understands Chess, should be sought after and granted honorary degrees and be begged to teach their craft. Who would not flock to a Chess Class taught by Kramnik, Polgar, Kasparov… Too bad that there are not many available.
Umm…higher education generally means college, or higher than high school or intermediate school or elementary school. It does not mean higher than chess. As for people begging Kramnik for lessons, Kramnik could make a comfortable living teaching. Kramnik could probably make more giving private lessons than lessons to a class at a university however. As a professor he’d get health benefits but not much of a salary. If chess is more properly under sports then he might get paid more being the coach of a chess team at Kirsan’s hometown, where chess as a spectator sport might make enough money for the university to justify the money Kramnik will receive for being a coach.
Whether people beg Kramnik for lessons depends on how much he charges! In fact, if people are begging Kramnik for lessons, then Kramnik is not charging enough! Kramnik should charge a very high amount that for someone it’s a toss up as to whether to take a wonderful chess lesson or take out a mortgage on the house!
The translation is completely misleading in many points, one could even argue intentionally. One minor point was mentioned, but far more important in my opinion is this question (source wwww.64.ru):
“Во время матча вы интересовались футболом…”
translation would be (sorry, I’m not native speaker):
“During the match you were intrested in soccer …”
However in the translation posted here and on Topalov.net we can read:
“During the match you said you were interested in the Champions League more than the games themselves?”
This should have provoked another answer that the one Kramnik gave.
Aditionally many answers were shortened, for instance Hensel’s answer regarding Danailov and interesting stuff is completely missing like Gijssens answers regaring the match and game 5. (veselintopalov.net says: “Gir Ginsen (the arbiter of the Wcc 2006 match)”
What is the source of the english translation? There should be a better one.
“And Kramnik certainly does not know the rules. Point 6.2 says he can choose the appeals committee”
Point 6.2? Is this a joke?