The Chess Mind

1. FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov has spoken to Kramnik and Danailov (Topalov's manager), but without success as of this report. Iljumzhinov is allegedly neutral, but one bit from the interview suggests otherwise:

Ilyumzhinov: There is only one lever, which I mentioned to both Kramnik and Topalov – millions of chess fans all over the world, who are looking forward to beautiful games and not for legal disputes. This is the most important issue! I told them: break away from your disputes, look around, you are not playing only for yourselves, you are playing for the entire chess world. You are the ones who say that chess is in lack of investors, and now you are doing everything in order to even decrease their number. Yesterday and today I keep receiving telephone calls from the representatives of those companies, which I attract for sponsoring of the chess competitions. They are asking me: “How come, the two most intelligent chess players cannot share a toilet with each other? So no sense for us to interfere, with our millions….” [My emphasis.]

Of course, the bolded passage reflects an anti-Kramnik stance, and reflects a point of view that's in the minority among my readers and the other commentators I've seen around the web. We'll see.

2. GM John Nunn is one of those commentators; you can read his articulate statement of the mainstream view here.

3. I was watching the end of Leno's show to see if Bill O'Reilly's appearance would resemble last year's shootout with Letterman (it didn't), and then stuck around a few more minutes to watch Conan O'Brien's monologue. To my surprise, the world championship came up! The following is my attempt to reconstruct what he said; Conan uberfans who TiVoed the program are welcome to correct any errors.

The world chess championship is underway in Moscow...you're all glued to your sets. [pause] One of the players has filed a complaint. [pause] His opponent once spoke to a girl.

This old chestnut received mild yuks, but I was surprised. Couldn't a comedian of O'Brien's stature (Harvard grad and writer for the Lampoon, one of the top The Simpsons writers in the early 90s, and a top late-night talk show host), to say nothing of his team, come up with a joke based on the actual complaint?

Then I was intrigued. Maybe a bathroom joke would take too long in the setup stage? Would it presuppose too much from his audience? Did he think it would be excessively lowbrow? Would it ruin the overall flow (no pun intended - by which I mean it was a happy accident) of his routine? Would he himself seem too geeky if he seemed to really know the background? Was this an "audible" based on the thought that a bathroom joke wouldn't work for some reason? And perhaps least likely, but interesting: does he care enough about the game to not want to mention the real, incredibly stupid problem? I wonder.

(That should be said aloud or heard in the mind's ear with a certain English accent.)

There's no game today, but it's not because Kramnik is sitting this one out as well, but because FIDE President Iljumzhinov has simply decreed it. The next game will take place tomorrow, according to this report; what remains to be seen is whether it's game 5 or game 6.

Stay tuned!

Kramnik manager Carsten Hensel argues that the Topalov protest and the Appeals Committee's decision violated two aspects of the pre-match agreement:

Clause 3.17.1., Schedule 2 of the contract: “All protests must be submitted in writing to the Appeals Committee not more than 2 hours after the relevant playing session.”

Clause 3.18.3., Schedule 2 of the contract: “After the World Chess Championship Committee agrees with the Organizers on the arrangements in respect of the tournament hall, facilities etc. etc. etc……., no objections from the participants shall be acceptable as long as the conditions are in accordance with the rights of the players granted in their agreements.”

Re the first clause, not only was notification not given within the two hour window; it came the next day! As for the second clause, the Appeals Committee simply contravened it in its decision. Accordingly, says Hansel, the decision of the Chief Arbiter (Geurt Gijssen) to forfeit Kramnik should be nullified.

Further, Hensel insists on four points:

1. That the bathrooms adjoining the rest areas be reopened. He (speaking for Kramnik) is willing to allow inspections of the bathrooms before and after each game, and for those rooms to be sealed up to the start of the game and resealed immediately afterwards.

2. That the members of the Appeals Committee (at least two of the three are friends of Topalov's) be exchanged immediately.

3. Only the arbiters are to have access to the video recordings: Kramnik "did not sign a contract for acting in a reality show."

4. An apology from Topalov's manager, Silvio Danailov, in writing, for statements like this: "Veselin Topalov is disturbed by the suspicious behavior of his opponent Mr. Vladimir Kramnik who takes his most significant decisions in the bathroom."

I (DM) have two quick comments; one on #1 and another on #2 (no pun intended!). First, unless there's some simple way info could make it into the bathroom (an easily accessible window or overhead panel), Hansel's suggestion ought to suffice. Second, I wonder about this Appeals Committee. Why didn't Kramnik complain about its composition before?

*****************************************************

On now to Seirawan's proposals. In brief, they are:

Firstly, since separate bathrooms were agreed to by all parties, they should be reinstated with immediate effect.

Secondly, to assuage any suspicions of unfair behavior, the bathrooms should have an attendant at hand during play.

Thirdly, Game Five should be rescheduled and played tomorrow, Saturday, September 30, 2006 at the usual time.

Something for everyone there. If the above seems to favor Kramnik by a 2-1 margin, there's his fourth suggestion, which is that the Appeals Committee members be permitted to remain in place, even if their decision ought to be overturned.

These too are reasonable proposals, and I think that if both parties are operating in good faith, they could be accepted. Given Seirawan's track record as a prime mover to the Prague Agreements in 2002 and his general high status in the chess community at large, it's not surprising that some ChessBase readers are encouraging him to be sent as an envoy to Elista to try to broker a deal. Likewise in purpose, if not in status, FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov is apparently headed there as well (and may have already arrived by now) to the same end. (See the last sentence of this story.)

No pun intended, I'm sure.

For those interested in keeping up with the news reports, Google News is a handy source to check. I entered "Kramnik" in the search field and found a nice array of stories, complete with such amusing headlines as "Accusations swirl around chess champ's toilet breaks," "Grandmaster's lavatory defence just won't wash" and "Chess champ plays 'head' games".

It'll be a long time before we in the chess world can put this story behind us, and it would be nice to ask a media specialist, "What's your analysis of the situation and what should we do?" Yes, I know these puns are bad, but...we need some way of relieving ourselves...of the tragedy this represents for the chess world.

And it's over: Kramnik has forfeited game 5, sitting in his rest area waiting for the organizers to rescind their violation of the pre-match contract and allow him access to the adjoining bathroom. Congratulations to the team of Topalov and Danailov for the success of their fantastic strategy! Also winning today are non-chess playing writers, present and future, who can now earn some of their bread with this newest addition to the treasury of chess scandals.

I don't know what will happen next in this tragicomedy, but for the moment, at least, it looks like Kramnik is faced with a lousy choice: swallow his pride and give in, or forfeit the entire match. Maybe he should give in, but it's terrible that he's even being placed in that position.

More news when I get it.

The clocks for game five started around 23 minutes after the game (though this didn't get broadcast for a while), and it looks like Kramnik is refusing to play (or at least hasn't so far, and his clock has ticked away the past 27 minutes).

Oh dear.

He's clearly taking a principled stand, but is it worth it? Should he stand on his principles, or simply register his complaint and then smack the bully down over the chess board?

Terrible.

But we're not giving up hope yet!

As I mentioned in a recent post, the Topalov team protested Kramnik's seemingly excessive use of his private bathroom, implying that these trips might be about cheating rather than the performance of normal bodily functions.

This accusation strikes me as beyond stupid, given that the players and their areas are searched and that there is extensive scanning to detect wireless transmissions. Further, it's insane to think that if Kramnik were cheating, he'd do it on practically every move! That's just not how things work - there aren't usually more than five key moves in a given game, and if disappearing into the bathroom on the opponent's move is somehow suspicious, then even Topalov's bathroom breaks are problematic.

So either Topalov's team is just perplexed by Kramnik's large number of bathroom breaks and just wants to get to the bottom of things [groan], or this is a bit of psychological warfare: in 1972 they x-rayed the chairs, in 1978 there were disputes over yogurt and parapsychologists, and now we have Pottygate.

Okay, back to the story. Topalov's manager, Silvio Danailov, filed a complaint on behalf of his protege, and the committee has responded by saying that

(a) The Topalov team has exaggerated the frequency of Kramnik's bathroom trips, though they're still numerous.

(b) The bathrooms connected to the rest rooms are now off-limits; a different bathroom will be provided.

(c) The players' access to their own rest rooms will not be revoked. (Against the Topalov complaint.)

(d) The videotapes of Kramnik in his rest room will not be released to the mass media, as that would constitute a violation of the players' privacy.

Now both players are unhappy! (Or at least their managers pretend to be.) Danailov is unhappy that Kramnik may continue using bathrooms whenever he wants to and "without being subject to further control", and says that Topalov will refrain from the pre-game handshake and will no longer take part in joint postgame press conferences (he'll speak to the media separately).

Kramnik's manager, Carsten Hensel, is also unhappy. The committee decision violates the pre-match rules, is unmotivated given the security measures already in place and ignores the reasonable explanations Kramnik has given for the bathroom trips. This, according to Hensel, shows the appeal committee's bias, and now Kramnik is threatening to stop playing until he is permitted to use the bathroom of his rest room whenever he so desires.

Game 5 is scheduled to start within an hour. Will it?

You just can't buy publicity like this...

You may recall the post in which I presented both players' teams, and wondered about the function of several of Topalov's assistants. Well now we know: their job is to count the number of times Kramnik goes to the bathroom!

As is common in such events, the players each have their own rest area offstage, which connects to a private bathroom. And therein lies the cause of the Topalov team's terror. There is video surveillance of the rest area, but not (thankfully!) of the bathroom.

Kramnik apparently makes exceptionally regular trips to the rest area, and therewith to and from the bathroom. What is he doing there? If it's to do the usual things, he has either got the world's smallest bladder or other medical worries, and we haven't heard about them. Ergo, he's probably up to no good. How else to explain Kramnik's being, er, flush with success against a player who so outclasses him?

Topalov's team is serious about this, even threatening to (maybe) quit the match if the situation isn't resolved by tomorrow's game five!

Since surveillance against electronic devices was part of the pre-match agreement, then as long as they search the bathrooms before each game and make sure the players aren't smuggling in pocket sets, then what's the problem? Does Topalov's team think Kramnik's boys have re-engineered the toilet to allow them to send him analysis? Is Kramnik drawing chess pieces on strips of toilet paper and analyzing on the bathroom tiles?

I suppose it's reasonable for them to ask Kramnik to explain his frequent trips, but it is easy to think of normal, innocuous answers: he wants to be off-camera for a few moments for reasons of emotional or physical privacy, or to analyze out loud, to psych himself up, etc.

You can read the Topalov team's complaint and threat-letter here, and decide for yourself if there's anything to this, or if it's the start of a dirty-tricks campaign by one whose reign may be going down the drain.

He's a brick wall, I tells ya!

Topalov produced a nice novelty against Kramnik's Slav and obtained both an initiative and a structural superiority, yet was unable to convert it into something concrete against the latter's outstanding defense.

Update: The game (with my comments) is here.

The players have tomorrow off and resume with game 5 on Friday.

Another exciting game, and for the third time in a row, the player with the advantage failed to bring home the point. For the first time in the match, Kramnik achieved a very nice position in the opening and maintained serious winning chances almost until the very end. Unfortunately for him, he seemed a little too concerned with trying to keep everything under control, and this ultimately allowed Topalov to escape with a well-earned draw.

The next game takes place tomorrow at the customary time; here, with my comments, is today's game.

A terrible day for Topalov, who managed to squander a brilliant attack and a completely won position. Once he threw away the first and easiest win, his play deteriorated rapidly. After missing or rejecting two further clear wins and (I think!) several other improvements, he had to scramble for the draw, but further errors cost him the full point.

Kramnik is in charge on the scoreboard, but even so, I still think Topalov isn't in too much trouble. For one thing, Kramnik's presumably specially prepared opening, the Slav, didn't fare especially well in its maiden effort. Topalov enjoyed the initiative from the get-go in his "kind" of position. It's not good when one's surprise weapon misfires from the beginning, so we'll see what happens - the opening of game four should be very interesting.

Further, Topalov's middlegame play has been more successful than his opponent's, and these two long, brutal games are probably taking a bigger physical toll on the less fit Kramnik.

What Kramnik is doing well is defending, keeping alert and displaying tremendous resilience and fighting spirit. Still, unless Topalov is going to keep blundering and over-pressing, Kramnik is likely to wear down and get caught if Topalov gets to dictate the play in every game.

The players have Monday off; hostilities resume Tuesday at the usual time - 7 a.m. ET.

Here's the game.

Wow!

The match got off to a great start, with both players having their moments to shine. Kramnik came out of the opening with a safe edge and the chance to milk the position seemingly at his leisure. Topalov defended actively, and a lax move by Kramnik allowed him to sac a pawn in exchange for an immediate draw...if he wanted it.

He didn't - rightly - and although the position may still have been objectively drawn, Kramnik had to suffer a lot. Both players were extremely resourceful in their respective roles, until Topalov hallucinated. He sacked a second pawn, thinking he would achieve a winning attack or the win of a piece, but overlooked a rather simple resource and had to resign soon afterwards.

Although his strategy backfired in this game, Topalov was right to press hard: he's in good physical condition and always plays to the end, while Kramnik may still have some rust, has his medical worries and has never had magnificent stamina in any case. So while it's a very good result for Kramnik fans, Topalov fans have no real reason to fret either. Game two tomorrow, at the same start time (7 a.m. ET).

Here's the game with light notes; I may add more later, time permitting.

First, of course, there's the official site. The Topalov fan site I mentioned the other day ought to have some decent materials, and hopefully Kramnik's official site will too, though it hasn't been much for analysis over the years.

Usual suspects ChessBase and TWIC will undoubtedly have lots of special reports, and the former is bound to have excellent live coverage on its playchess.com server.

Two other sites I'll mention for now are Chess Pro (great if you know Russian, and even if you don't you might still find enough to understand in the analysis) and Lubosh Kavalek's weekly chess column in the Washington Post - as far as I'm aware, it's the best newspaper chess column there is in English, period.

An update, thanks to Chess Today:

The following sites are Russian, but some include English as well: e3e5.com (Russian and English), Ruschess.com (Russian and English), 64.ru (just Russian, but with Grischuk doing the analyses it's worth trying to see how much we can figure out!) and the Russian Chess Federation (Russian only).

Click here - I've even included a downloadable pgn file.

As most if not all of you know, I both hope and think that Kramnik will win - at least if his health is okay and he's not too rusty (and his recent performances suggest he's in good if not great shape with both). But what do you think? It's a 12-game match (not counting tie-breaks): please comment your guesses before the first game starts, and offer a score too, if you dare!

Yesterday's Chess Today listed the players' teams for the upcoming World Championship match. They are:

Kramnik's Team

1. Carsten Hensel, Germany, manager
2. Miguel Illescas, Spain, coach
3. Alexander Motylev, Russia, coach
4. Sergei Rublevsky, Russia, coach
5. Valeri Krylov, Russia, physiotherapist
6. Victor Bobylev, Russia, cook

Topalov's Team

1. Silvio Danailov, Bulgaria, manager
2. Ivan Cheparinov, Bulgaria, coach
3. Alexander Onischuk, USA, coach
4. Francisco Vallejo Pons, Spain, coach
5. Vladimir Haralampiev Rapondzhiev, Bulgaria, team member
6. Raicho Ivanov Gospodinov, Bulgaria, team member
7. Dragomir Georgiev, Bulgaria, team member
8. Zhivko Ginchev, Bulgaria, team member
9. Dancho Djongov, Bulgaria, team member

Some comments. First, I'm curious about these team members in Topalov's group with undescribed functions. Are they computer specialists, physical trainers, cooks - what? If anyone knows, please pass along the information.

Second, I'm surprised that Kramnik didn't attempt to reconstitute his team from the 2000 match against Kasparov, consisting of Bareev, Lautier, Illescas and Illescas' father as cook. Motylev and Rublevsky are outstanding players, but this seems to me a downgrade relative to Bareev and Lautier.

Third, Rublevsky seems an odd choice for yet another reason: his repertoire, especially with White, is rather idiosyncratic and has little in common with Kramnik's even with Black. Against 1.d4, Rublevsky plays the QGA; against 1.e4, 1...c5 followed by 2...e6. He's a terrific player who has enjoyed a great year (except during the Olympiad), but I don't understand why he, rather than Bareev, Svidler or Gelfand (all friends of Kramnik who have helped him in the past) is on the team.