The Chess Mind

3:30 Post-Press Conference Update:

Anand: "I must have done something wrong in the opening." He realized this after 16.f4 Qg7. He thought/expected 18...gxf4 instead of 18...cxd4, but acknowledged that 18...cxd4 19.Qxc4 a5 was also strong. He believed that 20.Kh1 was the only move. Later in the game, he didn't think Kramnik's 33...f5 was precise, though it wasn't clear how Kramnik could have broken through. Once he played 38.Rd7 he was fine, but then 38...a4 threw him off. On move 40 he considered 40.Rd1 b2 41.Kg2 Rc1 42.Rdd7, but with so little time on his clock he didn't want to do this. He saw the bishop and two pawns for rook and pawn ending, and since he had that once before, in a game with van Wely, he went for that. It's a draw - White puts his bishop on the long diagonal and there are too many squares for Black to chase it off. In the game, Kramnik's ...h5-h4 set a nice trap: if White plays 43.Kf2, then 43...Ra8 suddenly creates some danger. After 43.Rc6, however, it's just a draw.

Kramnik: He finally felt he had some chances and played well in general. Anand's Qc2, Rd1 plan fairly new but isn't considered very good on account of ...Nh5, but he decided he was tired of "hour and a half lessons" and time trouble going into Anand's preparation, so he decided to play "something else". [By this he meant anything else, as long as it's reasonable and not the main line of Anand's prep.] Later in the game, he agreed that Anand's 20.Kh1 was the only move, and after that he couldn't find anything better than what he did. Later, he didn't understand why White gave up the "b-pawn". [I think he's referring to 23.a4 and the sequence culminating in 26...Rxb5.]

His explanation of the unfortunate 35...Qc7 was very interesting and all too human. He was told after the game by someone that 35...Rg8 was "just winning", but the move he had been considering instead was the rather unfortunate 35...f4. After thinking about it for a couple of minutes(!), he realized that it allowed 36.Qh7#, and thus 36...Qc7: "at least I won't get mated".

After 37.Bc4, a4 was the last chance. As for 41...h5, it had a couple of small traps, of which he mentioned the one Anand did with 43.Kf2 Ra8, when it is "getting hot" for White. In generaly, he was happy with his play, but was "not lucky enough to win the game."

Q & A:

Among the more interesting questions, Anand was asked if his errors were partly due to the pressure of the situation. Anand said it was "better not to go there". Maybe later, but "definitely today I didn't play very well." Someone asked Kramnik if he's playing better, as the last two games he's succeeded in getting "his" positions. Kramnik replied that it's not about style but the quality of positions. He doesn't think he's necessarily playing better, but is getting better positions. It's easier to play when one isn't in a difficult position with less time. At any rate, he affirmed that he will fight to the end.

And with that, this long post concludes. Later today I should have the "regular" post with game annotations, and tomorrow morning we'll have live-ish coverage of game 10.

2:55

45...Rxc4 Draw agreed

That makes the match score 6-3, Anand, and he now needs just one draw in the last three games to retain his title. Stay tuned for the post-press conference update!

2:50

After half an hour, Kramnik came up with 41...h5, perhaps hoping to improve the situation on the kingside before recouping the piece. Whatever the story, it doesn't avoid a hopelessly drawn finale. Anand played 42.Kg2, getting the king off the back rank, and the continuation has been 42...h4 43.Rc6 hxg3 44.hxg3 Rg8 45.Rxe6. Lots of other approaches drew too - 45.Rxb3 Rgxg3+ 46.Kf2 Rxb3 47.Rxb3 Rxb3 48.Rxe6 would be one extremely comfortable choice - but this is certainly good enough.

Times, not that they really matter at this point, are 44 minutes for Anand, 25 and counting for Kramnik.

2:30

Kramnik is thinking hard, trying to find some way of drawing blood from a stone, but it doesn't seem there's any way to do it. We're still in the same position after 41.Rb2, and as long as White doesn't fall for the trick mentioned in the last update (41...Rc2 42.Rxc2 bxc2 43.Bf1? Rb2!!-+) it should be a routine draw (either by 43.Bb5 Rxb5 44.Rxc2 or 43.Bxe6 Rb1+ 44.Kg2 c1Q 45.Rxc1 Rxc1 46.Bxf5).

Times: Anand 58 minutes, Kramnik 33 minutes and counting.

2:05

The time control has been made, and it seems the position is slightly more interesting than it seemed at first glance. White grabbed the piece with 39.Rxc7 - probably an inaccuracy, as 39.Ra1! draws without allowing the tricks in the game - and after 39...axb3 40.Rf2 Rb8 the time control was made. Anand had two minutes left at the end, Kramnik one.



Anand just played 41.Rb2, and now there's a trap: 41...Rc2 42.Rxc2 bxc2 43.Bf1, expecting 43...Rb1 44.Rxc2 Rxf1+ 45.Kg2 with a probable draw, is refuted by the brilliant 43...Rb2!! White's pieces are stuck, and Black will play ...e5, bring his king over and up, and win. However, with 43.Bb5! White survives: 43...Rxb5 44.Rxc2 and although Black can push after 44...Kg7, it should still be a draw.

1:55

It's not official, but it might as well be: the position must be a draw now. After 35.Qb7? Kramnik played the incomprehensible 35...Qc7? (?? given the match situation), Anand happily traded queens - 36.Qxc7 Bxc7 and now the position is really a simple draw: opposite-colored bishops, active pieces and the e6 and f5 pawns as targets leave Black without any winning chances. If he were up in the match, the safety-first 35...Qc7 would be fine, but not here - especially since both 35...Bc7 and 35...Rg8 gave Black really dangerous attacking chances.

Anyway, the game has continued 37.Bc4 Re8 38.Rd7 a4 (yes, the bishop on c7 is hanging but no, it doesn't change the outcome of the game), and the game will be drawn unless some sort of nuclear-sized meltdown occurs.

1:45

I think Kramnik's edge is dissipating, a point confirmed by Seirawan, the engines, and especially Kramnik's body language. Here are the moves since last time: 30.Qf3 Rc5 31.Bd3 Rc3 32.g3 Kh8 33.Qb7 f5 34.Qb6. Both players have 10 minutes left, and now 34...Qe5, with the idea of ...Rg8 and blowing up g3 would be nice, if it didn't fail to 35.Bxf5! Uh oh, he has played 34...Qe5, and now we'll see if Anand finds it. If he does, then Kramnik's winning chances are gone, kaput, over.

Nope! Anand played 35.Qb7, and now he might be lost: 35...Bc7 and Black's attacking prospects are terrific. Well, that's time pressure for you: the players are down to 8 minutes each, and I'm going to post this.

1:25:

An important development: Kramnik has cashed in his chips, winning a pawn with 25...Bxb5 26.axb5 Rxb5. The drawback of this idea is that opposite-colored bishops arise, and this at least seems to favor White in two ways. First, of course, opposite-colored bishop endings tend to be pretty drawish. Second, in a middlegame, opposite-colored bishops tend to favor the side with chances for an attack, and it seems at least superficially that Black's king is looser than White's.

Yet after 27.Be4 Bc3! 28.Bc2 Be5 the momentum is very much in Black's favor. White is not active, and after the further moves 29.Qf2 Bb8 it's clear that Black has the attacking chances for the moment, not White. Kramnik is looking much more lively and confident at the board, so this could be a tough day for Anand.

1:15:

The last few moves have been eventful: after a long think - 24 minutes - Kramnik played 20...Rac8! There followed 21.Qxd4 gxf4 22.Bf3 Ba6 23.a4 Rc5 24.Qxf4 Rxe5, and Kramnik's edge seems a solid one. White's queenside majority is completely stymied and Black has the bishop pair, so it's not an easy or pleasant position for White to hold. Anand just now played 25.b3, reasonably getting the pawn away from the Qg7's eyeballing.

Times: Both players have 22 minutes left to complete their 40th moves.

12:50

A new move and new news. The new move was the wholly unexpected 20.Kh1, getting out of the way of any a7-g1 pins after something xd4 Rac8 and ...Bc5. It also has the idea of playing Bf3 and meeting ...Bxf3 with gxf3 and Rg1. Anand now has 27 minutes left for 20 moves in a pretty sharp position, so Kramnik is in his best position of the match.

As for the bombshell mentioned in the last update, Rogers responded to my question (probably asked by plenty of others too) that it was just the speculation of one person in the press room, though he felt that it made sense, as Kramnik has nothing left to achieve in the chess world.

Analysis time. The most natural move for Kramnik is 20...gxf4, and after 21.Bf3 to play 21...Bxf3 22.Rxf3 Qxe5 with a practically won game. The bad news for Kramnik in that line is 22.gxf3, when tactics let White keep the balance after 22...Qxe5 23.Nxd4 Rac8 24.Nc6. Trying to sidestep this with 21...Rac8 doesn't give an advantage either: White equalizes with 22.Qxd4 (22...Ba6 23.Qb6 Bxb5 24.Qxb5 Rc5 25.Qa4 Rxe5=).

It does look like Black can maintain an edge with the immediate 20...Rac8, however: 21.Qxd4 Bc5 22.Qa4 gxf4 23.Bf3 Bxf3 24.Rxf3 (here 24.gxf3 makes less sense, as g1 is covered) 24...Qxe5 25.Qxf4 Qxf4 26.Rxf4 Rfd8 and White has an unpleasant defensive chore ahead of him.

Times: Anand 27, Kramnik 44 and counting.

12:30

No new moves, but GM Ian Rogers, speaking with GM Seirawan in the Foidos English commentary room, dropped a bombshell. There's a rumor that Kramnik might retire from chess if he loses this match. I'd love to know more about this, if he's just picking up some individual's wholly unsubstantiated conjecture, if there's anything more to it than this. I'll try to find out.

Times: Anand 31 minutes and counting, Kramnik 57.

12:15

As noted at the end of the last update, Kramnik played 17...c5. Anand played the predicted 18.Nxb5, but instead of 18...gxf4 Kramnik played the better 18...cxd4. Here Anand had at least three moves to choose from - 19.Bf3, 19.Bxc4 and 19.Qxc4, and as you can get guess from the bold typeface, he chose the latter. Kramnik responded with the accurate 19...a5, and seems to have the advantage here - both on the board and on the clock: Anand has 46 minutes and counting, Kramnik 57. The position is closer to equal than winning for Black, but at least he has a little something to hope for.

12:00

The game is at another critical moment. Anand played 17.e5 after 17 minutes' thought, and now Kramnik has thought for even longer - 20 minutes so far. There's a lot to think about: 17...f5, 17...c5, 17...Bxc3 and 17...Qh7 are all candidates. Here are some lines:

(1) 17...f5 18.exf6 Qxf6 (I found a scary-looking draw after 18...Rxf6: 19.fxg5 Qxg5 20.Ne4 Rxf1+ 21.Rxf1 Qg7 22.Nf6+ Kh8 23.Nh5! Qxd4+ 24.Kh1 Rf8 25.Qg6 Rxf1+ 26.Bxf1 Bc5 27.Qe8+ Kh8 28.Qf7+ Kh8 29.Qe8+ with perpetual) 19.fxg5 Qxg5 and now 20.Qe4 or 20.Bf3 is roughly balanced.

(2) 17...c5 18.Nxb5 gxf4 19.Bf3 Bxf3 20.Rxf3 a6 21.Nd6 cxd4 22.Nxc4 and I think White has a slight edge.

(3) 17...Bxc3 18.Qxc3 (or 18.bxc3 c5 19.Bf3 Bxf3 20.Rxf3 cxd4 21.Rxd4 Rfd8 22.Qd2 Rxd4 23.Qxd4 g4 24.Rg3 with full compensation) 18...f5 19.exf6 Qxf6 20.fxg5 Qxg5 21.Bf3=.

(4) 17...Qh7 18.Ne4 Kh8 19.f5 Be7, and although White is going forward like Tolush, his advance troops may find themselves dying like Frenchmen in Russia: 20.Nc5 Bxc5 21.dxc5 Rae8 22.Bh5 exf5 23.Qc3 Kg8 24.Rd7 Bc8 25.Rxa7 Qg7 -/+ and White's position is collapsing.

Note: Kramnik has just played 17...c5, after 25 minutes' thought. Times remaining: Anand 1:04 and counting, Kramnik 1:00. Here's the current position:




11:15

A little unexpectedly, Kramnik has followed up 13...Nxe5 14.Bxe5 O-O. With the bishop on b4 rather than g7, this looks a little scary, but he does have a few things in his favor. First, now that White has castled, h4 isn't the worry it would have been. (It might get played anyway, but it's not as dangerous as it would have been.) Second, the thematic 15.f4 is well met by 15...Nd7, taking advantage of the Be5. Third, White's heavy pieces aren't able to get to the kingside very easily. Something like b3 would be nice, to free up d3 for a rook lift, but 15.b3 does involve a pawn sac (15...Bxc3 16.Qxc3 Nxe4) or surrendering the strong bishop for Black's knight (15...Bxc3 16.Bxf6). Another idea, in addition to 15.h4 and 15.b3, is 15.Bg3 with the ideas of h4 or f4. Maybe then Black can play 15...Rad8 and meet 16.f4 with 16...Bxc3 17.bxc3 c5. Anand has spent 16 minutes on this move (and counting - he's at 1:23 now), so it's clearly an important moment.

Here we go - literally just as I was mousing towards "finish", Anand played 15.Bxf6, and after 15...Qxf6 followed up with 16.f4. I had briefly thought about taking and playing 16.e5, with the idea of 17.Ne4, but thought that after 16...Qf5 White wouldn't have anything special. That's probably right, but the 16.f4 follow-up had eluded my attention. Black's options here include 16...gxf4 (not so much winning a pawn but reducing White's central pawn horde so he has enough room to breathe) and 16...Qg6 (preventing e5 for the moment and getting the queen off the f-file).

Instead, again just instants before I posted, Kramnik played 16...Qg7, allowing 17.e5 or 17.fxg5 followed by 18.e5. It looks interesting, but I'm going to post now before someone moves again.

Times: Anand 1:20 and counting, Kramnik 1:25.

[Note: Regarding a reader's question, there are no offstage monitors - the players must check back on the stage to know when it's their move.]


10:45

Watching this game on Foidos, I note that Anand spends almost every minute at the board, while Kramnik is often bounces up like a jackrabbit at every opportunity, and it often costs him a minute or more after Anand makes his move. Considering that this happens 15-20 times a game, that's a pretty considerable loss of time in every game!

On to the moves: 11...Bb4 12.Ne5 Qe7 13.O-O. Kramnik's 11th move was also somewhat rare and unusual in these Anti-Moscow Gambit lines, and his 12th move was a novelty that revealed the purpose behind his 11th move. Previously 12...Rg8 and 12...Nxe5 had been played in games with reasonably high-rated players.

The queen looks a little funny on e7. It protects the f-pawn so Black can castle long, but aside from that detail Black's queen would be happier on b6. On b6 it takes aim at White's d-pawn, which will also come under fire from one or two rooks on the d-file. More importantly, the queen on b6 shores up Black's queenside pawns, which are liable to come under assault from moves like b3, a4 and d5.

Here's the current position:



Times: Anand 1:40, Kramnik 1:37 and counting. (Incidentally, it took Kramnik four minutes to return to the board after 13.O-O, which I note not because of toiletgate style idiocy, but to point out again just how much time Kramnik is wasting with pacing.)


10:10

It turns out that due to the switch in Germany to daylight savings time, today's game started an hour later than usual, relative to those of us who haven't yet made the same switch. (Too bad for those of us didn't know in advance - the extra hour's sleep would have been nice!) The score is 5.5-2.5, and my expectation is that whatever slim hopes Kramnik may have had left after yesterday's game, and it's entirely possible that today and tomorrow the players will have a couple of short draws just to get it over with. We'll see!

Here are the opening moves: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.Rd1.

The first thing I have to say is this: Kramnik is going out swinging! Choosing the Semi-Slav will at least make it difficult for White to dry things up, but obviously Black is taking serious risks in this opening as well - especially when it's Anand's main opening with Black. Anand has chosen a sideline with 10.Qc2 and 11.Rd1, and while the plan isn't completely new, it is comparatively rare and Kramnik is starting to think here.

I'm glad Kramnik is making a fight, but have a feeling the match will end today.

In this recent post I presented the highlights of FIDE's new plans for conducting the world championship cycles. Overall, the plan looks pretty good, except for a few oddities about the first cycle or so, and the Association of Chess Professionals has picked up on this as well. Their response is largely positive, and you can read their constructive suggestions here.

...can be found here. Here's a summary:

The championships in Mexico will continue as planned this year, with Kramnik's participation. If he wins, he plays Topalov again in 2008(!!); if he loses, he gets to play the winner of the Mexico event that year.

There will also be a World Cup event this year, and the winner will play a match in 2009 with the survivor of the 2008 Kramnik-Topalov/Mexico match.

After that, things are normalized: the winner of the 2009 World Cup plays the champ in 2010; the winner of the 2011 World Cup plays the champ in 2012; the winner of the 2013 World Cup plays the champ in 2014, etc.

Not bad in theory; we'll see how it works in practice. Anyone want to predict the winners? And how funny is it that Topalov has to root for a Kramnik victory in Mexico this year?

No real surprise here; I think the only reason the 2700 + $$$ = permission to challenge for the world championship rule was devised was to find a justification for the Kramnik-Topalov unification match. The only question, I think, is how long before FIDE gets that rule off the books.

Even before the ink on his Elista check was dry, the Topalov & Danailov duo offered a rematch. That wasn't part of the match contract, but was covered by an odd FIDE decision that any 2700+ player who could raise the money was entitled to a match, and T & D jumped at the chance.

I think the rule is a terrible one as long as a workable cycle is in place, and I think FIDE regrets it too. Still, that's the current rule, and it will be interesting to see what FIDE does with Topalov's latest challenge, now that it has been backed by a FIDE-approved bank.

More here and via its own links.

Vladimir Kramnik won the unified title back in October; what has happened in world championship news since then? Here's a quick summary:

1. Topalov & Danailov (T & D) have continued making allegations, to which I respond as follows, until and unless something resembling real evidence arises: YAWN.

2. T & D have offered a rematch to be held in their home country of Bulgaria. (I had already reported on this back in October, all that has happened since is that the steps to make it official, or as official as it's going to be, have been followed.) According to the rules for the Mexico City world championship event, any other world championship event would have to finish 6 months earlier. In addition to the obvious and understandable disinclination Kramnik must have to facing T & D (especially in Bulgaria!), doing so would require him to break contracts for other events he's scheduled to play in. I think hell is likely to freeze over before Kramnik agrees to such a match.

3. Kramnik has agreed to play in Mexico City. T & D didn't seem to think that would happen, and Kasparov (in New in Chess magazine 2006/8, page 104) agrees, continuing in his tiresome-post 2000 way to critique Kramnik at every opportunity.

4. FIDE has proposed a world championship cycle that combines traditional and more recent elements. The champ gets to wait for a final match every two years, meeting a challenger who survives a gauntlet of qualifying tournaments and candidates matches. (More details here.) As a chess fan, I like it: the title becomes more regal (better for publicity, I think) and it's more enjoyable to see the title determined in a match. If I were a challenger, however, I'd be a little less thrilled - clearly it's a lot harder to become champion now than it is when the champion has to fight with the commoners in a k.o. or San Luis-style event.

5. FIDE has gone off the deep end, proposing to incorporate chess engines in the world championship. (From Chess Today-2244 (12/30/2006), citing this article. It's not all settled, but the thought is that computers will have their own Candidates event in Elista in May of 2007, and will eventually play the human champ for the absolute championship. (Will the manager of Hydra, Rybka or Fritz accuse its opponent of going to the bathroom to consult Topalov (who won't be in the next cycle)?)

As I understand it, there are four bits of information to pass along:

1. The Topalov-Radjabov world championship match scheduled for 2007 is off: as far as I'm aware, this match is now off for both parties.

2. Rematch? Have a look here. According to Danailov, "FIDE regulations allow every world champion that has lost the title to challenge the title holder." Danailov proposes a start date of March 3, 2007 in Sofia, Bulgaria. It will be very interesting to see what comes of this.

3. Candidates Matches: These are on for Elista in April of 2007. Pairings for the first round of matches (assuming they don't switch to a tournament format) are Levon Aronian-Magnus Carlsen, Peter Leko-Mikhail Gurevich, Ruslan Ponomariov-Sergey Rublevsky, Boris Gelfand-Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Etienne Bacrot-Gata Kamsky, Alexander Grischuk-Vladimir Malakhov, Judit Polgar-Evgeny Bareev, and Alexei Shirov-Michael Adams. The final four from this event make it on to...

4. The World Championships in Mexico City. The four surviving candidates meet the top 4 from San Luis: Kramnik (replacing Topalov), Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich. At this point, Topalov (or Kramnik, should the match occur when Danailov wants it to and Topalov wins) is out. This is scheduled to occur to begin September 12, 2007.

Here's a video of a Russian news report. (Why can't we get such coverage in the U.S.?) Lots of neat footage: the end of the match, Carsten Hensel letting out a yell, a partial tour of the rest area and the bathroom, and some audio clips from Kramnik (in Russian).

A strange chapter has closed in chess: at last we've returned to a single champion, but it wasn't easy! Reunification talk had been in the air off and on for nearly a decade, but only after the unfortunate retirement of Garry Kasparov did it actually take place.

But not without plenty of acrimony and controversy - and
The match can be divided up into four segments: games 1-4, games 5-9, games 10-12 and the tiebreaks.

Yes!!!

Kramnik rose to the challenge and overcame his defeat in the previous game, winning game 16 and the match. He played a beautiful technical game, but there were still technical difficulties to overcome when Topalov blundered, thinking he had achieved an instant draw.

A fantastic conclusion to a dramatic tiebreaker. What a match!

The final game, with my comments, is here.

A wrap-up post or two will follow later; for now, I close with the final score: Kramnik wins 8.5-7.5 (8.5-6.5 counting only games that were played), 2.5-1.5 on tiebreaks.

If Topalov's anything, he is resilient! Needing to win with the White pieces, he pulled it off. Kramnik was in decent shape after the opening, but the position that arose featured a precariously unequal equality. Objectively, the position was probably equal; practically, it was in Topalov's favor, for two reasons. First, his position was easier to play; second, the cost of a mistake by him was fairly minimal, while a Kramnik error would be catastrophic. And so it was: Kramnik's 34...Ke7 may have been well-motivated, but it turned his king into roadkill.

All tied up, with one rapid game to go! If it's still tied after that, they move on to the blitz games.

Game and notes here.

Kramnik won a very nice game, outplaying Topalov in a Semi-Slav. Remember, it's not over yet: there are still (up to) two games to play.

Game, with comments, here.

Kramnik came out of the box with an edge with the Black pieces, but some strange-looking rook moves on the c-file left White with the advantage. Fortunately, just when he looked like he was getting into some trouble, he found the very nice tactical resource 36...Nc4!! 37.Bxc4 b6, with the idea that the otherwise very strong 38.Bb3 is met by 38...axb3! 39.Rxa7 Rxa7 with a big plus.

Game and notes here.

From the official rules (copied from the ChessBase site):

3.7 Tie-breaks

3.7.1 If the scores are level after the regular twelve (12) games, after a new drawing of colours, four (4) tie-break games shall be played. The games shall be played using the electronic clock starting with 25 minutes on the clock for each player with an addition of 10 seconds after each move.

3.7.2 If the scores are level after the games in paragraph 3. 7.1, then, after a new drawing of colours, two (2) five-minute games shall be played with the addition of 10 seconds after each move.

3.7.3 If the score is still level, the players shall play a single decisive sudden death game. The player, who wins the drawing of lots, may choose the colour. White shall receive 6 minutes, black shall receive 5 minutes, without any addition. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared as winner.

Game 12 of the match was perhaps its best-played game, and left the match tied at Kramnik 6, Topalov 5. Tiebreaks tomorrow, unless hell freezes over, pigs fly and the Bulgarians allow game five to be played.

Meanwhile, the tense, exciting and accurately played game 12 can be replayed here, with my annotations.

When I posted my write-up for game 11, I initially claimed that game 12 would occur tomorrow. A while later, I took a gander at the ChessBase site, saw "Thursday" and changed my post. On the other hand, the official site says they play tomorrow, and on the other other hand, the original schedule left a free day between games 11 and 12.

Anyone got a clue?

In an open letter to the FIDE President and the head of the "2006 Executive Committee", Kramnik's manager Carsten Hensel threatens/promises a lawsuit on his client's behalf. That my sympathies are with Kramnik should be obvious to anyone reading this blog the past couple of weeks, but I think this letter is a mistake for several reasons.

First, it's not going to change anything. Iljumzhinov isn't going to order them to replay game 5, and barring a religious conversion neither Danailov nor Topalov is going to turn it over.

Second, Hensel's letter strikes me as pre-emptive sour grapes in case of a Kramnik loss.

Third, the parties involved already knew/expected Kramnik to file suit afterwards, so why mention it again now? It's not going to distract Topalov; if team Topalov is as bad as the suit implicitly suggests, then this won't bother them at all. (And if it is designed to disturb them, then it's a step in an unsportsmanlike direction.)

Fourth, it's absurd to claim that "toiletgate" has harmed Kramnik's reputation; if anything, it has enhanced it! He has shown himself willing to stand on principle, to behave with dignity and competitive courage. It is Topalov's reputation that has been badly harmed, not Kramnik's. (At least within the chess community; I'm not aware of how the "civilian" world has seen the controversy, if at all.)

Fifth, it's the vain pursuit of an empty hope. As long as Kramnik keeps hope alive that he may yet get the lost point back, it may keep him from being fully focused on the match situation as it really is.

So my advice to Kramnik is to drop all the extracurricular activity until the match is over. Yes, the situation is unfair, but nothing has changed since you decided to keep playing with game 6. Just play. If you win, the lawsuits are unnecessary; if you lose, even winning the lawsuit will be empty.

As usual, Topalov produced the game's first new move, but Kramnik achieved a more or less equal position without too much trouble. Topalov did enjoy a very small edge in complex ending, but his impatient 29.f5 compromised his pawn structure, deadened his light-squared bishop and turned the advantage over to Kramnik.

Kramnik played very well after that until move 40, when after a reasonably long think he decided on what appeared to be the second-best move. This led to an opposite-colored bishop ending with only nominal winning chances, and the game was soon agreed drawn.

That leaves us with game 12 on Thursday. If either player wins, that ends the match; if it's drawn, they move on to tiebreak games (unless by some quasi-miracle game five actually occurs).

The game, with my comments, can be replayed here.

Mondays are especially busy for me, but I'll offer a brief post to help tide readers over until tomorrow's game 11: a couple of ChessBase articles that present the world championship contenders in their own very different lights.

Here's a translation of a Topalov interview, in which, among other things, he praises his manager, who "won all legal battles", criticizes Kramnik, who "has never adhered to any principles", criticizes the ChessBase site and offers his own 9/11 conspiracy theory. (Ok, I made the last one up.)

Meanwhile, a far less pugnacious item covers the players' post-game 10 press conference. Kramnik strikes the right tone, psychologically speaking: he comes across as upbeat, confident, and amused by the opponent's shenanigans. Even if it's only an act, it's the right act!

Schmitt is the German tournament organizer responsible for the annual chess festival in Mainz (the event with the rapid and Chess960 world championships), and in an interview on the German-language ChessBase site, he makes three suggestions regarding Topalov. He

1) suggests that "the organizers of Wijk aan Zee, Morelia/Linares, Monaco, Dortmund, Mainz and Corsica" threaten to ban Topalov from their tournaments if he doesn't stop his unfair behavior off the board

2) suggests that "some of Topalov's top ten colleagues" reject invitations to the Sofia tournament

3) suggests that "a team of experts could investigate how it is possible that an experienced player no younger than 30 suddenly doesn't perform at his 2730-2740 Elo level any more but constantly plays 2800+ with remarkable streaks of victories". He goes on to point to Topalov's mediocre performances in the speed chess section of Monaco and his failure to play Anand in this discipline.

[Hat tip: ChessToday, which received the story from a comment here (search for "coreolarus").

I've wondered about Schmitt's third point myself. Topalov went wild in 1996, winning everything in sight, and made it to 2750 - and then never saw that rating again until 2004, I think, when he started an incredible run culminating with his current, imposing 2813 figure. (I'm also mystified by his seeming inability to put together a full tournament: how does he continually score around 50% for half a tournament, and then win practically every game in the other half, as if flipping a switch?)

This doesn't prove he's cheating, but it is surprising and remarkable. It's even encouraging: if one is willing to put in the work, even those "stuck" at a 2700 plateau (I hear an orchestra of tiny violins) can make further progress!

Barring real evidence that Topalov is cheating, I think Schmitt's third point is an overreaction, but barring a sincere and impressive apology from Topalov & Danailov after the Kramnik match (and preferably during it, but I wouldn't hold my breath), it would be nice to see some action on Schmitt's first two proposals.