The legendary Viktor Korchnoi gave the world his opinion:
Q: Victor Lvovich, share with us your impressions about the Kramnik-Topalov match.
VK: The match creates a strange impression. I have watched how Topalov generally plays. In every event, at the start he falls behind, almost as if he’s pretending to be playing badly, and then at the end, he wins every single game. For that reason, I am fearful about the end of this match.
Q: What do you think about the off-board controversy?
VK: The underlying cause of all this is the articles, which have appeared in the press, about how Topalov allegedly has been and is using computer assistance during games. And then, the moment Illumzhinov had left his fiefdom, Topalov’s team took the initiative and accused Kramnik of cheating.
Q: It is no secret that you signed a letter in support of Kramnik. How do you think Kramnik should handle this difficult situation, what steps should he take?
VK: It is a rare case when I am in total solidarity with Anatoly Karpov. In Kramnik’s place, I would just have walked out.
Q: Do you think Topalov has been involved in all these shenanigans, or is it just the people around him?
VK: I do not believe the others can do anything without his approval.
Q: What is going to happen to world title matches in the future?
VK: All this talk of how someone or other is cheating leaves its mark on chess, on its integrity and honesty, and is very bad. But I hope that means will be found to prevent information being passed, and so to preserve chess as it is.
Q: But is it so bad? After all, thanks to the scandals in Elista, chess has made the front pages of the newspapers. Perhaps the game can take advantage of this increase in popularity?
VK: I find it hard to believe that all this talk about toilets is going to lead to an increase in sponsors – after all, it is pretty dirty publicity.
Q: What would you like to say to Vladimir Kramnik?
VK: That he should walk out!
The original interview, conducted by A Kentler appeared on the e3e5 web site.
Translation by Steve Giddins, published by ChessBase.
Unlike most, I think it’s good that the Toilet scandal happened. Before the match, I thought Topalov was a nice guy. But now he’s shown his true colors, and the entire world knows what kind of person he is. I’m glad I now know what Topalov is really like.
Veselin Topalov can be compared only with Bobby Fischer!
All this publicity is really good for the game. Bodily functions are the main material of jokes in prime-time TV programs, stand up comic routines, etc. It is in accord to the spirit of the age to make such jokes (we live in the age of vulgarity). So this is the perfect publicity for this day and age. Thank you Dainalov for giving us a 100,000,000 dollars worth of publicity!
Korchnoi has certainly had his share of bizarre controversies! It’s funny to see so many people with chequered pasts pontificating on ethics. Topalov’s behavior is no less ethical than Kramnik’s. Why is Kramnik losing when he is forced to stay at the board and away from his precious toilet??
All the Russians are “standing by their man.” That’s so touching. Who now believes Kramnik has any hope of winning this match? Everybody knows Topalov is the stronger player. Deal with it.
I’m suprised that Korchnoi is speaking out. After all, it was his team that complained about the color of Karpov’s yoghurt during their match (thinking the color code would signal some strategy cooked up by Karpov’s seconds).
“Walk out”?
I am deeply sorry to hear this advice. Chess players are showing themselfs selfishs, caring just about their own pride.
Easy solution, ahn? So, I didnt liked the decision of the judge, then I will quit.
That is professional… (?) People supporting this idea should be conciouss that this is not the way to achieve professionalism in chess.
I even think more than that: chessplayers should not be allowed to make any requests about the “arena”. The lighting condition, the restroom, whatever. This is not a meeting of fashion stars. If they want to be considered sportsman, they should put their dirty hands in the board, and everything else is decision of the chess comite.
Can you imagine a football team refusing to play because the grass is to much green? Give me a break.
Thanks,
Beco.
It is beyond me why “walking out” would be the better way to promote chess and attract sponsors.
beco i dont agree totally with you, the actors of the stage are intitled to check conditions of the scenario, can u imaging playing a soccer match with poor light conditions, the same in chess, if hte lghts arnt right, or the space isnt comfortable, etc i would complain; of course what isnt right is that they should behave like spoil children, anyway , by the way y spell conciouss like CONSCIOUS.
Korchnoi, Karpov and many of ours would walk out if we felt unfairly treated and maybe also because some are more touchy or unsensitive , and in a WCC, if all this fuss gets to u, or u get angry, depending you cant play chess, real chess, in an appriopiate manner; loosers will always find excuses to loose but i wonder how the match would of gone on before the unsportmanship behaviour; I´ve never met Kramnik in my life and i dont want to limit my choices in life, but being realistic i have few chances of meeting him in flesh and bone, but y should all be grateful he continued the match, Im an intuitive guy and i know that if it was for him alone, he would of never continued the match, he did it for the chess community and fans, we shouldn´t critizise him at all, unless he wanted the argent, but i dont think so.
enough is enough. will there be another draw on the remaining three games to go_??
on the specific 8th game, im not sure susy if Kramnik deserves to be called anymore the Ministry of Defence; i know g7 was tuff to find a suitable defense against that threatining web mate of T. near the end of the game, but cornering therook to a1 (to avoid probably a fork) was maybe to hopeless, the best way to defend sometimes is attack, specially when position is crumbling around u, my personal view and humble opinion is that he should of gone to attack with a5’6’eyc, it was the last shot he had, or a little earlier trade a rook for Knight; I dont know how he got unto that mess on the first place, but todays gme, T played very cleverly and when K did e6 and allowed the trading of the knight for his bhp he was asking for a lot of truouble and he found it.
About that move c5, please forgive me but that would allow d5 and unleash Tpv´fury, but his misktake like u correctly say NF8 was probably worst; just viewing it on a quick basis, what about RE7, and Rf8, defends and avoids d5; If T.doubles rooks on f file, he still holds position, because if T. takes he´BxN then y take with rook instead of pawn tto avoid the rook and tgame loose, just an opinion.
goooday.
I looove Korchnoi but talking about “walking” is just pathetic. Imagine how Kramnik would look if he followed such advice? (like a coward of course!)
What the heck is grandpa talking about? He was much better in the Munsters. Just stick with your actor career please sir!
Topalov is no Fischer. Fischer only wanted to improve playing conditions. He beat you over the board. He never personally attacked any one chess player he was playing. A gentleman at the board. You should take note in that practically all of the world’s grandmasters are in agreement against Topalov & company’s behavior in match. Kramnik has won over a lot of fans by his gentlemanly behavior while Topalov has caused damage to chess dignity. Corporate sponsorship for chess will now be a lot more difficult to achieve due to Topalov’s despicable behavoir. I hope tournament organizers boycott Topalov for one year to teach him and any other malcontents out there to behave and bring back the class to chess. Fischer was revered the whole wide world after his match with Spassky, Topalov will not be.
Topalov thanks to Dainalov has brought back attention to chess. The world has ignored chess since the Kasparov-Deeper Yellow match. Now we have again a hundred million dollars worth of chess publicity (first page WSJ for example). Other sports rely on doping scandals for their publicity. Topalov should be praised for not only being the most awesome player OTB (just look how fast he moves) but also for having the “Carl Rover” of chess: Dainalov.
Korchnoi is getting senile so please, world, excuse his statements. Only anti-FIDE sites like chessbase and anti-FIDE persons like Seirawan would promote Korchnoi and Karpov views and twist arguments in favour of Kramnik.
Just imagine if Brazil had pull out of the football World Cup final against France just because their preferred toilet was closed.
Krmanik did not turn up as scheduled for Game 5. So he forfeited and Topalov was awarded the point fair and square. You don’t wait for your preferred toilet to open to start the game. You play the game as scheduled and then appeal to overturn the sporting result if there had been any decision or condition that was unfair and affecting the sporting result.
And no resonable court will ever agree that a different toilet should have any effect on the sporting result. After all, Topalov was to use the same toilet as Kramnik (but at different times I must add).
The crux of the argument should be whether the Appeals Committee was entitled to arrive at the decisions they did based on the facts and representations before them. And based on the details published, I don’t think there are any grounds to reasonably say that the decisions were unreasonale.
Kramnik has absolutely no hope of a decision in his favour if he later appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (the correct avenue)after he loses the match. I am sure Seirawan knows that very well but still insisted on twisting the weak arguments in favour of Kramnik in his wretched piece published in chessbase.
So I can only laugh when the anti-FIDE rants in Mig’s blogsite suggested Seirawan to mediate the crisis in Elista. Seirawan is obviously biased in favour of Kramnik (or more precisely anti almost everything FIDE does at this moment in time). Seirawan would not have been a fair arbitrator in the crisis.
It is good for chess that there are so many talking points.
Can anyone name one GM who has come out in favour of Topalov’s behaviour in this match?
Kramnik played the Turin Olympiad with a rating performance of 2847. To underestimate his chess strength would be foolish.
What has happened in Elista marks a severe downturn in the ethics of the game. Knowing Kramnik was a very private individual, with several medical problems, Danailov decided to attack his weakest point, when he saw his player losing the match. Don’t forget that, all this shameful mess started when Topalov lost two games, not when he was winning.
I personally think that anyone celebrating what has happened here is simply too stupid to realise the long term consequences to the game.
What if your opponent was cheating?
The real black sheep is FIDE
I read many comments who claim that Topalov is bad and he shows his real face.
Don’t you guys think that Topalov knew or at least had some idea about the negative reaction before claiming it? Do you think he was so desperate?
What would you do if you knew or at least had a suspicion that your opponent is cheating? Keep silent? The only fact is that FIDE did not deal with the scandal well.
There is nothing bad in complaining, but there should be procedures that allow both sides to voice their opinion.
Topalov is the black sheep now, but the real black sheep is the poor organization of the tournament and FIDE.
2847 rating performance in Turin and the only human to beat Garry Kasparov in a match. And the second player in history to break the 2800 ELO barrier if I’m not wrong. Complete legend. No doubt.
Having said that, Topalov in the last one and a half years has been the strogest human chess player in the world. And probably was the favourite coming into this match.
However, the antics he pulled of when he was 0-2 down to unsettle his opponent through his manager is despicable and cannot be condoned. Chess is a lot about psychology and the incident was a big psychological blow on Kramnik which he wasn’t able to recover from. Maybe would not have worked against someone like Kasparov. But against Kramnik it did.
Even Topalov has said he doesn’t think Kramnik is cheating, no one thinks Kramnik is cheating.
The Only people who even suggest it are incapable of either seeing or believing the terrible treatment of Kramnik by Topalovs team. Their actions have cheapened the game of chess forever.
AGAIN: Kramnik’s trips to the bathroom have nothing to do with his medial condition. He did the same during his match against Kasparov. He also stayed for a full 82 minutes outside his toilet door in “protest” when he forfeited the game. Please do not use his disease as an excuse for his odd behaviour.
This all old guy would have done what the Kremling would have told him to do..At his time you had no rights of anything yet alone walking off
It smells like old spirit. Old yeller is just cranky. Lately he has been very rude to his fans (why don’t they leave me alone!). Yogurt-man should not talk about ridiculous complaints. Didn”t he used dark glasses to prevent Karpor (or his “psychic”) from hipnotizing him?. Were is Tal were you need him, Master Tal was afable his entire life, he never got old (age is subjective, it depends on how you feel/act). And by the way Chessbase reeks, its the most one sided source of information I have ever seen! (horribly pro-Kramnik).
Well said anonymous epecialy about Chessbase
“Old yeller Grandpa” still kicks ass big time.
Hoddy,
You are completely lost. Korchnoi had defected Soviet Union back in 1976.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korchnoi#Defection
Go read something before bullshitting around.
No one here denies Korchnoi is still an amazing player and give hope to all (so clever at his age). We are just complaining about his uncalled for biased commentaries.