This was just reported by ChessBase
FIDE to hold public hearing on Topalov/Danailov actions
17.07.2007 – FIDE Ethics Commission is to hold a hearing (on July 28 in Athens) on the activities of Veselin Topalov and his manager Silvio Danailov during and after the 2006 World Championship match in Elista, in particular the accusations that his opponent may have been cheating and that the Topalov team was under pressure by the organisers and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Statement and summary.
Summary
The FIDE Ethics Commission is to hold a public hearing on July 28, 2007, in Athens, Greece, to rule on the accusations leveled by Veselin Topalov and his manager Silvio Danailov against Vladimir Kramnik during the 2006 World Championship match in Elista, Kalmykia, and against the organisers of the World Championship and against the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in an interview with the Spanish news service ABC.
In particular Topalov accused Kramnik of cheating, and presented this accusation not just to FIDE but also to the media, giving interviews and press conferences, personally or through his manager Silvio Danailov, although he was well aware that the accusation was not supported by evidence. The action was aimed at affecting Kramnik’s psychological state, in order to obtain an illegitimate advantage.
Further Topalov is charged with giving an interview which defamed Kramnik, the organisers and President Ilyumzhinov. In it he said that there had been threats to his delegation; that the airport in Elista had been closed, so that they did not know how to get out of the country; that Kramnik received help during the games from fans or the KGB; that Ilyumzhinov was a businessman who needed a Russian world champion, and that he was acting on orders from higher up; that he believed Kramnik cheated even after the scandal broke; that Kramnik was using a new foolproof method to get computer assistance during the games; and that this kind of Russian technology could make Kramnik invincible in a match.
Full information are available on http://www.chessbase.com/
They won’t do anything to Topalov. This is all just a mirage to please the Kramnik camp.
I agree that it’s just a formality. Nothing will happen.
The burden of evidence must be layed on the accuser’s side. What evidence or system of logic tells us that Kramnik is guilty?…Considering that not too long ago Topalov was a Kirsan supporter and that he agreed to the match conditions in Elista, it seems the height of hypocrisy to now claim that Kirsan and the Russians now have it in for him. So perhaps you gentleman are right that nothing will happen. That is sad for the integrity of chess.
“Nothing will happen”
How do you know?
I hope it is an honest and impartial hearing in which those to vote the outcome will listen carefully to all evidence and weigh the evidence without prejudice and come to a fair and just decision.
My guess is that there is a big chance for prejudging the issues and making deals ahead of time and then the hearing is a formality when the outcome is predetermined.
I hope he is punished. The whole episode was shameful to chess
– Vinay
if topalov’s accusations are found to be without evidence he should be punished.
if it is proved that kramnik actually cheated, he should be punished.
But me have a feeling that one sin is heavier than the other.
The match was a disgrace to chess. What began as a great “unification match” turned into to a cauldron of childish name-calling antics of the worst kind. The contemporary chess elite are spoiled.
The super chess elite could learn a lot from the World Champion and super elite of another centuries old game: Checkers.
If folks want to see real sportsmanship in action, you should see how the world checker champion and the super elite in that game treat each other! They are probably the best example of “sportsmanship” among any top competitors around. Alex Moiseyev has been the World Checker Champion for 5 years and it’s amazing how the GM’s of that game are actually friendly to each other.
The match is history. But, like a toddler that has a toy taken away, must cry to calm himself down, so, too, must this “hearing” go forward. It will settle nothing. All the fans already chose their side by the end of the match.
I, for one, lost all respect for the WCC match. I don’t care who wins or loses. I care much more for who will be the next state champ or U.S. Champion than the WCC.
What a sad state of affairs.
If FIDE anticipated that Topalov would be on the losing side of this investigation I doubt if they would have ridden roughshod over the terms of their earlier contracts with both Kramnik and Topalov in order to give the Bulgarian a guaranteed fasttrack into the final of yet another challenge for the WC in 2008.
If they turn around and convict him of serious misconduct (and on the basis of the contracts and agreements in force at the time I can’t see how they can avoid doing so) they will look extremely silly.
Oh, they already do. Nothing new here, move along folks…
>>
“Nothing will happen”
How do you know?
>>
Extremely wishful thinking, which is how some of the people here live their whole lives. In fact, it’s almost certain that something will happen.
Reason: There’s a Mexico championship tournament coming up, and the organizers are undoubtedly VERY leary of another loose cannon losing a couple of games and then running to the press that the tournament is fixed. Organizers HATE that kind of publicity. They want to be assured that it won’t happen again. Not on their nickel. FIDE will have to do something or other to send a message to the 8 players there that such behavior won’t be tolerated.
Not to mention the whole idea of accusing the FIDE President of aiding and abetting computer cheating. Ricardo Calvo was banned for life for far less.
They probably won’t throw the book at Topalov, but they’ll certainly have to do something to deter future behavior like his that’s injurious to the game. Scaring potential sponsors away is the very last thing they can do right now.
>>Trevor said…
If FIDE anticipated that Topalov would be on the losing side of this investigation I doubt if they would have ridden roughshod over the terms of their earlier contracts
>>
Maybe, although if Topalov were only fined, or suspended for 6 months or so, he’d still be back in plenty of time for next year.
Another possibility nobody is considering. The complaint is against both Topalov AND Danailov. They might throw the book at Danailov (as the instigator of it all), and let Topalov off fairly lightly. Wouldn’t that be sweet?
Not obvious from this report who is being investigated.
If we’re “investigating Topalov’s claims” then we’re seeing if Kramnik has done something wrong.
But the middle paragraph seems to assert that Topalov is the one who was trying to cheat by upsettling Kramnik.
So let’s have an honest look and if nothing can be proven, then nothing can be done to Kramnik. But that doesn’t mean that Topalov’s accusations are wrong.(by this I’m not saying he’s right, only that failing to prove something is the case is not the same as proving that it ISN’T). He can only be censured for his way of delivering them. Which should be low-key but warnings for future conduct.
Just try to get past it then the playing conditions for future matches can have the “punishments” for unsupported (whether or not unfounded) accusations.
Banjanx
anonymous wrote(7:23am):
{
If folks want to see real sportsmanship in action, you should see how the world checker champion and the super elite in that game treat each other! They are probably the best example of “sportsmanship” among any top competitors around. Alex Moiseyev has been the World Checker Champion for 5 years and it’s amazing how the GM’s of that game are actually friendly to each other.
}
Moiseyev obtained the World Checkers title only after Ron Suki King refused to defend his ownership of the title — in a way that loosely reminds of Bobby Fischer.
So this claim of exemplary “sportsmanship” among the Checkers greats is debateable.
However, long time Checkers champ Marion Tinsley was an exemplary champion, both in skill and in his fine character.
BTWay, we are talking about the “fischer random” version of Checkers — which is closely analogous to chess960. We could call it Checkers156.
The original “Checkers1” is still played, but it is less prestigeous than Checkers156.
GeneM
>>He can only be censured for his way of delivering them. Which should be low-key but warnings for future conduct.>>
Take a look at the ethics rules available on fide.com. The penalties actually go as high as a 3 year suspension from rated play.
They might just let him off with a warning, but the problem is still that they need something that will be a sufficient deterrent to keep the 8 players in Mexico from doing the same thing. Accusing Kirsan of cheating too, without producing a shred of evidence to back it up was probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. That was just incredibly dumb.
In response to GeneM:
You are correct that Moiseyev gained the world checker title from Ron King because because he would not defend it…rather reminiscent of Fischer in that respect. However, King did not have conspiracy theories in his mind and never publicly, in any publication or interview, defame the new champ. In fact, they have played frequently and will again in the big checker tournament beginning July 22 in Vegas.
The point is that in that sport, despite how many chess fans arrogantly dismiss checkers as insignificant (it is not…in fact, many consider it intellectually on par with chess especially the elite few that have earned Master rank in both areas of competition).
Yet, by observing how the current world champ actually promotes the game, acts like a “normal person” in that he speaks to the public regularly to promote the game (he actually considers it his duty as the world champion) to talk to the “common folks” and average player to help gain fans and continue interest.
Also, the Super-Grandmasters of checkers, along with their International Masters, get along quite well as compared to chess. There have been no public accusations of cheating that I have come across, the American Checker Federation has no convicted felons on their Board of Directors, and I dare say, they are a good group of people that the USCF and the elite in chess could learn from.
Sure, the current world champ won by default but UNLIKE Fischer….he subsequently went on to defeat Ron King several times.
And, I completely agree, that Dr. Marion Tinsley is perhaps the greatest example of what a world champion should act like. He not only held (and still does) the amazing record of losing less than 8 games in a career of 40 years (far superior record to Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, or any other World Chess Champion)…he was an Expert chess player in his own right and
was both a true gentleman and scholar (Ph.D. Mathematics).
The chess world has a lot to be embarrassed about. From a FIDE president that claims to have been abducted by aliens, to cheating accusations between the World Champion and the FIDE Champ, to the embarrassing and pitiful state the USCF is in.
You simply do not see this type of behavior amongst world class checker players. Their game is, believe it or not, as intellectually stimulating as chess. I know this might be a hard pill for some to swallow but it is true as it is quite substantiated by theory and practice.
My point behind bringing up checkers is that in the long, long history of the game, there has never been such unsportmanlike conduct as what the chess world experienced in Elista.
Chess will always be my first passion but I will never follow another WCC match. Kramnik, Topalov…who cares??? There is so so so much more to “Chess” than the childish antics of two spoiled rich players.
It was disgusting and I doubt the chess world really knows how negative of an impact that match had on the our sport.
It is sad. Hence, my belief that the elite GMs should get their head out of the clouds and remember that without fans they would be nobodies.
Plus, on several websites of other sports (including top notch checker GMs) chess GMs were being laughed at.
Is this what the chess world needs? No. But, if you act like a child when you are not one, then you deserved to be ridiculed and laughed at.
How bittersweet and blissfully ignorant the super chess elite are to how their image (if they even have one outside of chess) has been damaged from Elista.
Thankfully…as far as “brain games…” go, we still have an honest world of checker GMs….and an honest federation of folks to back them up.
Topalov will survive! His personal friend and FIDE vice-president, Mr. Makropoulos, will arrange everything in Athens. It is a pitty because we, Greeks, dislike dishonest people like our compatriot Mr. Makropoulos.
Topalov must be sued!
Or a serious apologize from the Topalov/Danailov camp could solve the problems.
If no apology, Topalov should be banned from chess for some years.
This is only justice. The kind of (really) bad behaviour they displayed should not be welcomed in the chessworld! (or any other pro sport at top level)
What about this:
Topalov fires Danailov and openly apologizes to Kramnik and the whole chess world!
Only then will i forgive Topalov. Now he is non-existant in my book.