Statement from Peter Svidler (a friend of Kramnik who has just arrived in Elista to give him support):
“…I believe that the actions of Silvio Danailov could – and still can, as is evident from his latest outpouring on the subject of percentages – do untold harm to the chess world.
What’s more, I suspect that Veselin Topalov is slowly coming around to that point of view – I was present at the press-conference after Game 6, and it seemed from his demeanor and his answers (he looked extremely embarrassed, and said he was ‘not too proud’ of what has been done in his name) that he is aware just how damaged his reputation could be by his manager’s actions.”
Source: ChessPro
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Does anyone know what was said in the press conference after this game ?
– Vinay
Here you go vinay: http://www.worldchess2006.com/main.asp?id=1046
In view of the discussion of how statistically reliable Danailov’s suspicions might be about the correlation between Kramnik’s moves and Fritz’s first choices, I set up a control experiment in which I analyzed the choices made by Danailov himself in the last tournament game I could find by him in my database, a short draw in 2000. Since Danailov is only an international master, I compared his performance with HIARCS 9.60, giving the program 30 seconds per move. I thought that a comparison with Fritz 9 might embarrass him.
From move eight (after his opponent played the unusual 7…Nd7-e5 in a standard King’s-Indian Attack position), Danailov chose four of HIARCS’s first choice moves for the remaining 15 moves of the 22-move game, for an average of only whatever 4/15 is as a percentage. I think this conclusively raises the suspicion that Danailov does not use computer help.
His opponent, however, found seven of the program’s first-choice moves, NEARLY TWICE AS MANY, for a percentage of nearly 50%! It is not clear whether the disparity between the two correlations is grounds for suspicion that Danailov’s opponent was using computer help or a reflection that his rating at the time was 237 Elo points higher than Danailov’s own. Perhaps Danailov should look into this. He may have been denied a half point by foul means.
The game, by the way, was Danailov, S. – V. Topalov(!), XVIII Rapidplay Open, Villarobledo, 19/8/2000.
So, colin potts, less than 50% of Topalov’s moves were “computer-like”… Whereas (if what Danailov said is right) Kramnik percentage is over 75%.
All this should be investigated: Topalov’s and Kramnik’s moves, with Fritz, Shredder, Rybka… and compared with Kasparov’s, Karpov’s, Fisher’s percentages…
I understand nothing about these percentages. My head should be examined.
Hi xmas,
Thanks for the link. I was hoping there was a new one up somewhere. I will look at the same site later on.
– Vinay
Oh boy.
There are three lies: white lies, black lies, and statistics.
It makes sense that today’s chess players play more like computers than players of previous generations. They do a large part of their training with computers, and must get something out of it, otherwise they would not be doing it. Given the memories of the top players, it also makes sense to memorize and use series of moves made by Frits, Rybka or whatever else. This isn’t cheating, just technology taking over. But forgetting a line, and running to check Frits during a game is cheating. Given all the security measures, cheating is unlikely in Elista. I am afraid that Topalov and Kramnik must bear full responsibility for all their moves.
“I have randomly selected three of Bobby Fischer’s games from 1970-1972m selection of Bobby Fischer’s games, comparing how often his moves agreed with Fritz8’s suggestions:
Parma – Fischer, 1970: 30/42 moves after 15. Nd5 by Parma
Fischer – Petrosian, (Game 1) 1971: 24/29 moves after 11…d5 by Petrosian.
Fischer – Larsen, (Game 1) 1971: 25/28 (!) moves after 13…fxe5 by Larsen.
The total agreement percentage in these games is 79.8%, very similar to the 78% shown in Kramnik’s games.
The implication is clear: Fischer’s dramatic performances in the early 70’s were due to aid from Fritz8!”
Posted by matalkko on ChessGames.com
Very funny joke posted in Mig’s blog:!!
“!!!Breaking news!!!
Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov has now presented another demand for change in the playing conditions. The Bulgarian team manager argues that he cannot accept that Topalov has to play games of chess on a chessboard, especially when he will be forced to do so with the black pieces the next game. He stresses, that after 3 whites, it means an illegal alteration of playing conditions. He therefore demands Kramnik to be locked in his private bathroom by a neutral FIDE attendant after the clock of game 8 is started.
The FIDE president has promised to take this demand seriously.
Chess fans all over the world are eager to find out how the issue will be resolved. The outcome remains unclear.”
Susan Polgar comments:
This is very sad. Both sides are to blame. I hope everyone would just stop with this nonsense and that they would play chess! Win with dignity! Lose with Grace!
Colin, you sound like an expert for chess engines! And even have free time for experimenting! Please send your results to all chess wbsites which published Danailov’s statements!
OK, this will sound a bit strange, because it is. If you click on this blog’s banner in the Firefox browser (9 Beta to be exact), then you are taken to the May 2006 archives of:
http://mirandaskye.blogspot.com/
The latter blog belongs to transvestite and features lots of photos of him/her. Yet the URL, still in Firefox 9 Beta, reads:
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/
It sounds like something out of Danailov’s brain, but I’m serious. So if Susan needs a better bloghost, I can recommend http://www.blogsome.com…
Correction to my post above: the Firefox version in question is 1.5.0.7. (I was confusing it with Opera.)
I hope Svidler is right about Topalov. I respected Topo a great deal before this mess. If he fired Danailov very quickly, he will regain that respect. I suspect I’m not alone on this.
Does anyone know what was said in the press conference after Game 7? xmas’s answer to this question earlier was the transcript of yesterday’s press conference. (Thanks anyway xmas!) Today’s press conference is the first since Danailov’s new Fritz allegation, and I expect Topalov and Kramnik were asked about it.
Topalov calls Kramnik a Cheat.
Kramnik calls Topalov a Thief.
Thus is FIDE destroyed.
Matalkko, what Fischer did was even worse, since not only did he make use of the computer, but he also had to use a time-warp to get to when the computer would be invented. Such shameless cheating!
A news from chessbase:
Kramnik’s team demands fide to reinforce the checking of kramnik restroom and bathroom, and of kramnik himself in order not to let anything suppose a cheat or someone to fix up some electronic stuff in it.
The reinforcement would also valuable for all the checkers , include the member of topalov’s team dedicated to checking the rooms.
If after that, danailov opens his dirty mouth again, someone can shout him: shut up!
Peter Svidler to me is one of the most reasonable, decent, interesting and perceptive of chess writers out there. If his opinion of Topalov is not totally condemning, then maybe Topalov is not the total rat everyone currently believes him to be. But Topalov’s actions speak louder than anyone’s words, so we will see.
I just don’t see why the inspection is still important now. Even if Kramnik had cheated in the first games, he would not do it any more.
I just don’t see why the inspection is still important now.
It’s more important now than ever before in order to prevent Danailov from planting any “evidence” of cheating in Kramnik’s rest room.
The best thing Toppy can do now to preserve his reputation is to FIRE HIS MANAGER, and do it now.
Who care what fatso thinks?
GMs Bareev and Svidler flying to Elista to “provide moral support” is very suspicious to me. Two more analysts. lol