Source: Official Website

We missed chess so much! The days of unexpected rest and political battles have extremely exhausted everybody – I don’t think it was half as tiring as the longest and most tense games. It is a miracle that the players even sat at the board…

It turned out that the most debated issue, i.e., the match score, was not resolved prior to the game. Yesterday late in the evening it looked like Kirsan Ilyumzhinov together with Veselin Topalov left no doubts about it in front of cameras – 3-2 in favor of the classical champion. However, early next day the Appeals Committee received another letter, from Kramnik this time, complaining about this decision. Vladimir made up his mind about playing the 6th game only in the morning.

In the protest he complains about the Appeals Committee decision, but agrees to continue playing on the following terms: ‘further participation will be subject to the condition to clarify my rights regarding game five at later stage’. A question remains how to define this ‘later stage’? Will it be the AC decision that will or will not favor Kramnik, or the Russian intends standing for his rights in a court? To be honest, it was not too important for the observers – the prospect of match recommencement was by far more critical.

Everything onstage was highly respectable:

Kramnik and Topalov shook hands, and even smiled – they were hungry for chess. However, the press conference revealed oppressing tension; Vladimir even sat some distance away from the opponent and peacemaking Kirsan Nikolayevich. It cannot be helped: the players unintentionally entered the war path, and this makes watching the remaining six games even more exciting. Everything is at stake; not only the title of the world champion, but also something incomparably more significant, which exceeds the bounds of a chess board. Posted by Picasa

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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