Elista 2006 World Chess Championship,Vladimir Kramnik Vs Veselin Topalov :

What happened? but,in Nigeria we sat wetin happen?

...by Tijani Olumide , game analyst and developer.

"Both players’ behavior at the board was excellent. Prior to game 5 they even analyzed a little bit after the game, but after this incident they did not. Draw offers were never a problem either, they looked at each other, there was a little smile and they signed the score sheets." Arbiter Geurt Gijssen, Cheif Arbiter World Chess Championship Elista 2006

Perhaps the above quote, by the presiding official, best describes the events at (and surrounding) the World championship match between the challenger, Veselin Topalov and World champion, Vladimir Kramnik. It all started well with everyone (here in Nigeria at least) speculating as regards the likely outcome. For the positional players (whatever that means) Kramnik was the man and for lovers of flair and tactics, Topalov would be the victor.

I personally don't believe in such distinctions in part because you either need a good position for tactics to work or tactics help to bring about favourable board situations! You cannot successfully separate the two. The other reason is that at the top level (to which I presume the players being discussed belong) you need both qualities and more to succeed and to me any talk of two different styles is just boring. But, I did however have a favourite in the person of Mr Topalov. Why? Simple, he plays the kind of chess I wish I could and over the last few years he has, in my opinion, single handedly made chess interesting to watch and study. Also, Kramnik hadn't played that much during the same period, due to medical reasons and so didn't have very much recent experience. Kramnik fans, on the other hand point out the fact that he is the only person that has managed to defeat Kasparov in a match and as such he
{Kramnik} possesses more “match experience”. ( Looking Back now I think this is quite true. To beat Kasparov in a match requires not only fantastic understanding of the game, but also a knack for sidestepping his phenomenal opening preparation.) Kasparov himself said , on Chessbase, "Kramnik has a more profound understanding of chess, while Topalov has energy and confidence on his side. I wouldn't pick Kramnik to win a San Luis-style round robin the way Topalov did, but in a match it's quite even." And so the Stage was set for a very interesting championship match .....and what a match it was.

From the very first move, two things were clear; Firstly, Topalov meant bussiness and was going to play to win in all sorts (if indeed not every) position. And that in doing so he could overextend and end up losing. Indeed this was the case in the Game 1. In game 2 the chess world was treated to an exciting contest in which, at one point,Mr Topalov had mate in a few moves ( ibelieve not too many people saw the mating position. He missed this and seemed although his move did not let the win slip, it marked the start of his gradual decline after what was a brilliantly conducted first part of the game. This seems to be a hidden weakness of the FIDE World Champion. Sometimes, if the opponent gets some symbolic counterplay in a basically lost position, Topalov starts becoming less confident and naturally his opponent won.This two losses seemed to make him less combative because the next 2 games were drawn.

And then came "Toiletgate". Here is an reproduced copy of the press release to "all mass media:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The careful study of the video recordings from the rest rooms done by the technical experts of the Bulgarian team revealed the following facts which we would herewith like to bring to your attention:

1. After each move Mr. Kramnik immediately heads to the rest room and from it directly to the bathroom. During every game he visited the relaxation room 25
times at the average and the bathroom more than 50 times – the bathroom is the only place without video surveillance.

2. Unlike Mr. Kramnik, the World Champion Veselin Topalov spends his time mainly at the playing table. The average number of times he visited the rest room
and the bathroom is 8 and 4 respectively.A short statistical sample derived from the camera recordings in the rest room during the third game shows:

15.54 – Kramnik plays move 15
15.55 – Goes into the bathroom
15.56 – Goes out of the bathroom
15.57 – Goes into the bathroom
15.59 – Goes out of the bathroom
16.03 – Goes into the bathroom
16.04 – Goes out the bathroom
16.07 – Comes out for move 16

The behavior of Mr. Kramnik is very similar to the above during all games played so far.

The logical question arises: How many times during a game does a player need to go to the bathroom and with what regularity? The logical answer is: between 5 -10 times at the most, but not 50 as the statistics from the games played so far shows.

We would like to once again remind you that the bathroom is the only place without video or audio surveillance.In our opinion these facts are quite strange, if not
suspicious.

In relation to the above, and to ensure the best conditions for fair play and rule out all suspicions,We demand:

To stop the use of the rest rooms and the adjacent bathrooms for both players.

If a player needs to go to the bathroom, he can use the public bathroom, but only with permission from the Arbiter and accompanied by an assistant arbiter.

The Organizing Committee should present the video tapes from the rest rooms to all journalists accredited in the press-center so that they can verify for themselves the facts described by us.

Should this extremely serious problem remain unsolved by 10.00 o’clock tomorrow (September 29th, 2006), we would seriously reconsider the participation of the
World Champion Veselin Topalov in this match.

28.09.2006
Elista Sincerely:
Silvio Danailov
Manager of the Bulgarian team

And Kramniks reply:

The Appeals Committee of the World Championship Match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik made the following decision on the protest of the Topalov Team:

“to close both the toilets in the players rest rooms and to open another toilet that will be available only to the two players”

The Kramnik team received the mentioned decision a few hours before the start of game 5 and was officially informed about the protest of Mr. Topalov only yesterday evening, 10 p.m., 28 September 2006. With such a decision the WCC Committee is clearly violating both the rules and regulations of the WCC match and the rights of Mr. Kramnik.

The relevant clause in contract of Mr. Kramnik expels: “FIDE shall provide a rest room and toilette for the players during the WCC match in the playing hall and close to the stage (if possible backstage) to be equipped with a live monitor furnished with
coffee and tea as well as with light refreshments.”

The reasons that Mr. Kramnik is entering his own bathroom often is simple: The restroom is small and Mr. Kramnik likes to walk and therefore uses the space of the bathroom as well. The Appeals Committee has been informed about the issue before they decided. It should also be mentioned that Mr. Kramnik has to drink a lot of water during the games.

On the request of Mr. Topalov the agreed live monitors have been removed as well as the shower cabines in the bath rooms. The moves are provided on demonstration boards only. The substance of Mr. Topalov protests (dated 22, 24 and 28 September 2006) were basically always met by the approval of the Appeals Committee. Everything has been done here to satisfy Mr. Topalov’s requests.

On a regulary basis the restrooms and toiletts are heavily checked by specialists, obviously local police forces. This goes together with the arrival of the players. The arbiters are observing all the measures. One representative of each team has the
right of being present in order to observe the activities. The playing area is banned from signals and the glas wall protects from any kind of view contact and/or body language. There is not a single reason or evidence to believe that a player would
have any kind of cheating possibilities.

It is and was no problem for the organization to assure all necessary measures in order to avoid any kind of cheating. By starting the match both participants agreed all the playing conditions de- facto and de jure and the conditions are therefore legally binding. Any change of the playing conditions without a good reason would in our understanding request the approval of both players which is not the case here.

Mr. Kramnik believed that the latest decision should increasingly concern the world of chess as it shows very clearly and once again the biased stand of the Appeals Committee members involved. In person: Mr. Makropolous, Mr. Azmaiparashivili (well known as a close friend to Mr. Danailov), Mr. Gelfer (now replaced by Mr. Vega). Therefore Mr. Kramnik requests to exchange the mentioned persons immediately. Enough is enough.

We would like to add that the recent decision not only insults Mr. Kramnik but is clearly critizing both the excellent work of the local organisation at Elista and the nominated arbiters. Yesterday evening the chief arbiter and the head of the excutive
committee once again confirmed that the indirect accusations of cheating are nonsense.

The protests of the Topalov team into the direction of Mr. Kramnik and the suspicions in the press release of Mr. Topalov are utterly disgraceful and are touching Mr. Kramnik’s privacy. We do not think that the Topalov team has any right of getting access to the recordings. This shall be job of the nominated arbiters only.

The Topalov team includes a parapsychologist and more people which are obviously having no other tasks as to distract and to insult Mr. Kramnik especially since their team is realizing that Mr. Topalov finds himself in a difficult situation. This is what we
call an utterly unfair behaviour which is not in accordance with the FIDE Code of Ethics. The decision taken by the Appeals Committee can only be seen as another attempt to disturb Mr. Kramniks concentration since it is difficult to understand what kind of improvement it shall be to have one toilet instead of two.

Our team does not trust the objectivity of the Appeals Committee anymore. Therefore it makes no sense for us to bring a protest to this table and Mr. Kramnik strongly insists once again that the members of the Appeals Committee will be changed immediately and that the heads of the Organizing Committee are taking their responsibilities.

In the meanwhile Mr. Kramnik will stop playing this match as long as FIDE is not ready to respect Mr. Kramnik’s rights, in this case to use the toilet of his own restroom whenever he wishes to do so.

Further and more detailed legal investigations are
already in process.

On behalf of Vladimir Kramnik

Yours sincerely,
Carsten Hensel
(Manager to Vladimir Kramnik, Classical World Chess
Champion)

And thus KASALA bust. Basically Team Topalov believed that there was more to the toilet breaks(50+ in game two)than met the eye and that there man(My Man also) deserved to know what his opponent was up to. Team Kramnik saw the allegations and the action of the appeals committee(taken without consulting the champion) as an insult and as such would discontinue the match if their grievances where not addressed.
What do I think? well... I think My Man possibly had genuine problems with the toilet breaks, and that he had every right to complain as he deemed fit. Be that as it may, there was no evidence(besides the said toilet breaks) and so led a lot of on lookers to
believe he was trying of board tactics to ruffle Kramnik. Consequently, Vladimir abandoned Game 5 and lost by forfeit. Later in the day, he agreed to continue "if certain conditions" were met. He wanted his toilet back, a change of the appeals committee and "he did not sign a contract for acting in a reality show",so the recordings from the rest room would be viewed by the arbiters only with no copies going to the press.ll the whole the Fide president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov returned from a trip to moscow and as is usual, managed to almost settle everything. Kramnik
wanted his forfeit cancelled and the score back 3-1 and so played under protest.

The two men thus returned to the board (actually shaking hands before the game) and drew within three hours. And then, later that day: After very detailed analyze of all games of the match we would like to present to your attention coincidence statistics of the moves of GM Kramnik with recommendations of chess program Fritz 9.

First game:
From 75 moves: After the 12th move of Topalov Ba6, a
novelty, from 65 remaining moves – 41 moves match
with the first line of Fritz 9. (63% of matches)

Second game:
From 63 moves: After 17th move, where the theory
ends, from remaining 46 moves – 40 moves match with
the first line of Fritz 9. (87% of matches)

Third game
From 38 moves: after 10th move, when the theory ends,
from 46 remaining moves* – 40 match with the first
line of Fritz 9. (86% of matches)

Forth game:
From 54 moves: After 14th move, when the theory ends,
from 40 remaining moves – 30 match with the first
line of Fritz 9. (75% of matches)

Sixth game:
From 31 moves: After 13th move, when the theory ends,
from 18 remaining moves – 14 match with the first
line of Fritz9. (78% of matches)

Thus, out of 5 games – 78%** of GM Kramnik’s moves
match with the first line of Fritz9.

Sincerely
Silvio Danailov

This time ,however,the only response from the kramnik camp was, a fear that some sort of device might be planted in the toilet or his room.

Topoalov then went on to win Games 8 & 9 to take the lead and Kramnik responded with a win in game 10 to tie the match at 5:5. The last two games were drawn and so the match went to tie breaks. Four games with 25 minutes on the clock for each player with an addition of 10 seconds after each move and blitz games to decide if they were still tied.

Kramnik won two games and drew one to take the Unified World Chess Championship title.

It was a very eventful contest which had its share of scandal, but all told it was a lot of fun. My only fear is it might be remembered for the wrong reasons .... like many World Chess Championships before it.