Chess World Championship - We got drama

Cafe Society
1

Who says Chess doesn’t have drama!?

So let’s review:

Vladimir Kramnik - World Champion by defeating Garry Kasparov (disowned by FIDE)
Veselin Topalov - World Champion by winning it under FIDE (International Chess organization)

Game 1: Kramnik wins
Game 2: Kramnik wins
Game 3: Draw
Game 4: Draw

Topalov’s team, at this point, files a complaint about Kramnik’s use of the bathroom excessively. He apparently used the bathroom 50 times. The open letter demands the match organizers investigate and lock his bathroom. The rooms are all monitored on video, except for their bathrooms. So it is possible that Kramnik might somehow be cheating or conversing on wireless with someone getting moves and such, except…

  1. All rooms are inspected and searched before each game
  2. No one is allowed in or out of those rooms except the players
  3. Electronic noise is generated to prevent such wireless communication

Kramnik’s team filed a complaint and reponse to Topalov’s team’s email. Mostly noting their outrage and willingness to walk away from this tournament.

The Appeals Committee overseeing the tournament ruled in favor of Topalov. This is a major cock up in a few ways:

  1. The Appeals Committee is not unbiased. Every member on it is a FIDE officer.
  2. Each player signed a contract prior to the tourney in which they clearly outlined that no changes to the playing environment could be made without the agreement of both players (which they did not have here, Kramnik did not agree.)

Game 5 was supposed to be yesterday, it came with Topalov sitting at the table and ended with him signing the paperwork needed to claim a forfeit win from the absent Kramnik. So the score is now 3-2, and this point was huge since Topalov, a notable chess attacker, would have been on the black pieces and thus been most likely on the defensive.

The FIDE President had cut a visit elsewhere short to fly back to Elista and begin trying to find a middle ground for it all to keep the match going. He has invested $50 million into this match and so it means a great deal to him. Also, for FIDE to again oversee the only world champion is huge.

Chess pundits have been posting their opinions and such, with several big names volunteering to fly out there in an effort to help the negotiations. Yassir Seirawan, a US Chess Grandmaster and noted chess author and tournament organizer volunteered his services if they wanted him. As far as I know he has not been asked to come out.

Today was supposed to be Game 6, but we weren’t sure if it would be game 6 or a replay of game 5. There is no way that they can allow Topalov to keep the forfeit point given the events which led up to it. If they allow him to keep the forfeit point I suspect it all but guarantees Kramnik will walk away.

There was no game today, but the FIDE president says there will be a game tomorrow though we still don’t know which game it will be.

There is a lot of psychology at play here, John Nunn published an open letter noting that Topalov was out of line and the Appeals committee has really screwed this up. Chess is about imposing your will on others and to have this done to Kramnik’s bathroom off the board is a niche in the armor to allow it to happen on the board.

So here we wait, the chess fans unsure of what is coming and what will come. Will the unification match continue? Or will it end with the chess world still having two world champions. We should know tomorrow.

If you want my prediction, I expect it to continue. There is a lot on the line here, and if either player walks away they will pretty much, in the minds of much of the chess world, give up their right to the title of world champion. And both of these men legitimately believe they hold the rights to the title and they both want to be the only world champion in the history books.

So I think peace will be found, but I’ve been wrong before.

– IG

2

Interesting development. So the appeals committee ruled in favor of Topolav…but what does that mean, exactly? Can Kramnik no longer go to the bathroom? Will they have Official Grandmaster catheters installed? Will Kramnik have to move en pissant?

3

The appeals committee sided with Topalov though they found his count of the number of visits to the restroom to be exaggerated. And what they did was close the private bathrooms and rule that both players would share a communal bathroom that would only be open to them.

The FIDE President answered reporters questions and announced that the match would resume, that both players had agreed upon, but what has not been decided is whether the score would be 3:1 or 3:2 (which in turn affects the game number for tomorrow) and also the bathroom situation.

Chessbase.com is where I am getting most of the news, and they jokingly called this ‘Toiletgate.’

– IG

4

Wow, I just flashed back to the days of Cold War chess, with its accusations of mind control.

5

Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that Kramnik is sneaking off to communicate with someone, with whom would he communicate? He’s presumably one of the two best chess players in the world, and the other one is the last person who’d be helping him. And even if he had Gary Kasparov, Bobby Fisher, and Deep Blue on a conference call, would their collaborative advice necessarily be significantly better than what he could come up with himself?

If, on the other hand, it’s just that something he ate is disagreeing with him, it seems awfully jackbooted for the tournament officials to penalize him for that. If I had a case of Montezuma’s Revenge, and was told that I couldn’t use the restroom during the tournament, I’d do the same thing he apparently has, and not show up.

6

It might be. I think it’s now well accepted that the best chess software is about as good as the best human, and (significantly) can analyse potential lines meaningfully faster.

Of couse there is thus far not the smallest evidence that Kramnik was receiving help. Nor do frequent bathroom visits contravene any rule.

FIDE has got into real trouble on this one. The ruling of the appeals committee was not in accordance with the agreed-on rules, and thus was certain not to be calmly accepted. It’s a considerable mystery how three smart men could possibly have imagined it would be. Worse, since Topalov is FIDE’s champion, this bogus ruling gives ammunition to the skeptics who claim that FIDE is inherently biased and unable to stage a fair match.

It now appears that the ruling has been rescinded and the appeals committee dismissed. But a huge difficulty remains: what will happen to the game that was ruled a forfeit? FIDE must now concede that this game should not have been started. But it’s reported that Topalov has threatened to abandon the match if he’s deprived of his lone victory.

FIDE’s bungling has turned a promising match into what looks increasingly like a train wreck. I hope it can get back on track, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

7

Monday update: Play resumed with a game that was drawn. It’s being described as dull, though it appears to have had its moments.

But the off-the-board situation remains tense. Kramnik is playing under protest. He maintains (and a large number of chess folks seem to agree) that since the initial ruling about bathrooms was found to be in error (so much so that the appeals committee that made the ruling was dismissed) the fifth game should not have been started and certainly should not have been awarded to Topalov as a forfeit.

Officially the match score is now 3.5-2.5 in favor of Kramnik, but there’s strong sentiment that the score should be 3.5-1.5. If and when FIDE gets around to adjudicating Kramnik’s protest, it will be hard for them to escape the conclusion that the forfeited game should be declared null and void. But there is no evidence that Topalov has backed down from his assertion that he will quit the match if the forfeited game is taken away from him.

8

Yep, the game was rather dull given the previous ones of excitement.

Perhaps an unorthodox solution, but I think they should let game five stand and simply shorten the match to 11 games. It allows Kramnik’s lead to remain, and having a shorter period left would make his lead more important, while it does not remove the point from Topalov.

I doubt it will happen, but it makes sense to me…

– IG

9

I haven’t been paying attention to chess for the last few years. What happened with FIDE? Why are there two champions, potentianlly? What’s this with Kasparov being disowned by the FIDE? Did something dramatic happen that I completely missed?

10

In 1993 Kasparov agreed to put the world championship on the line against Nigel Short and decided to play it outside of the FIDE jurisdiction, under the PCA (created by Kasparov). FIDE named a new world champion and thus the two worlds began.

You can read more from Wikipedia: Garry Kasparov - specifically relating to his ejection from FIDE

– IG