I need some help understanding this Championship Scene.
What is the situation with Topolav and Kramnik in this tournament.
I thought that Topolav was going to be in the tournament group and the winner would play Kramnik a match. I also thought that Topolav was going to get some special consideration in the tournament, or something.
But now, Kramnik is in the playing group and Topolav is not. Surely, it is not where the winner of this tournament plays Topolav a match for the Championship…
The agreement was whomever won their match would play in the tournament. The Topalov camp of course complained after they lost, and the current status is:
If Kramnik wins the tournament he will face Topalov again in a match.
If someone else wins the tournament, they will face Kramnik in a match. Topalov will face the winner of the next World Cup in a match. The winners of those matches will face each other in a W ch match.
From that point on The winner of the World Cup and the winner of the Grand Prix will face off in a match, the winner of that playing the World Champion.
I wish they would just go back to the old way of candidates matches instead of continuing to try all of this nonsense.
Fide is determined to make the worlds championship a tournament like the US championship not a match like in the past. A tournament reduces the bargaining power of the champion, making them easier to control.
You don’t have to think to far back to find examples of out of control champions.
Topolav gets to raise the money for a match if he wants and FIDE gets 20%.
All the spectators liked the candidates matches. But the problem with them is finding sponsors for them all. Many (most?) of them are not of great interest to sponsors. But players strong enough to qualify are professionals who expect to be paid large sums to play in candidates matches, and the prize funds have not materialized.
The candidates matches of the old days basically only worked because most of the players were paid salaries by the chess federations of Russia and Eastern European countries. Their federations essentially compelled them to play the candidats matches and large prize funds and sponsorships were not issues.
I still contend that part of the solution must come from the players themselves in terms of self-publicity and making themselves marketable. If the players do not see to their public image and the promotion of that image then the various organizations will have an impossible task in seeking publicity hungry sponsors willing to fund matches.
Topalov has just as good a position in all this as Kramnik!
I guess he forced that because Kramnik dodged his demands for a rematch which met the formal requirements. So Topalov had some good bargaining power. Not knowing the inside story, that’s the only way I could explain Topalov getting such advantageous terms, and it’s not as if everyone in FIDE is his friend!
As a Topalov fan, I’m pleased.
Ah well be a Topalov fan or a Kramnik fan or any players fan in the WCC cycle. It’s all irrelevant. Aronian will take the world title and be the 3rd Armenian to have the title of WCC.
Levon Aronian, Alexander Morozevich drawn.
I like Moro too but unfortunately he lost today in Game 2. Kram’s b6 (before it I thought Moro was winning) surprised the heck out of me, maybe Moro thought he couldn’t play it either. If Kram just stays in his seat, I’m a fan.
Weren’t there requirements that the match had to occur 6 months prior to Mexico City. From what I remember they wouldn’t have met that requirement.
Since you are a fan, what do you think of his (and Danailov’s) claims and behavior regarding Elista?
I find Kramnik’s behavior indefensibly suspicious, so Topalov’s claims were reasonable.
I think they should at least remove players’ shoes and have them wear organizer-provided slippers during their games. Google for “cheating shoes” for how the Chinese university entrance exam takers used them.
I moved this topic into the All Things Chess section as per request of Mr. Bogner.
I will leave the report on for a little while as Mr. Bogner wanted to make sure David saw it.
Carry on 