Kasparov praises Topalov and does not see much sense in the match between Topalov and Kramnik. He said in a interview which appreared on November 22 on Chess Today:
“If Kramnik, in his style and perception of the game, is very close to Karpov, then Topalov certainly, is most close to me. It is possible to notice a certain trend in chess: when there is a change to a player of dry positional style eachtime comes a player of a combinational type.” “It is necessary to consider Topalov not as he was five or even threeyears ago, but as he is now. He is capable of winning several games in succession (as in Linares, and in Sofia, and in Dortmund), he has a desire to struggle – to struggle up to the end, all the time finding energy for the continuation of the game. I do not know another suchplayer!” “For the first time since 1993 the title of the FIDE champion belongs to the chess player who is showing the most substantial play.” “In my view, Kramnik does not have any weight [power] to affect the situation. He, probably, has very disputable legal rights (because of the Prague agreements), but there are neither moral, nor chess rights. Topalov can make any decision (…). But his match with Kramnik will only create additional chaos because it will not solve anything.”
Curiously FIDE didn’t receive too much interest from potential organizers for the ‘Match’. FIDE started secret negotiations with each player separately and finaly in April 2006, FIDE President, after once more he agreed to put the money on the table, was please to announce that there will be a 12 game reunification match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov in Elista. This has subsquently been confirmed by Carsten Hensel, Kramnik’s manager. The match comes at the end of extensive negotiations which started after Topalov’s win in San Luis. It also sees a significant consession from Kramnik in that he wanted matches to settle future world championships but the winner will play in a World Match tournament.
Each player will receive 500,000 USD net from FIDE and in addition certain revenues from possible commercial sponsorships. The winner goes to the WCC tournament 2007 (see below), the loser has to wait for the next cycle. The games will be played under classical time control (120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61). Possible Tiebreak: 4 games of rapid chess (25min+10sec), then 2 blitz games (5min+10sec), then sudden death (6min/5min) with white to win.
Kramnik was the first to be interviewed in Sport Express in April 21.
Could you tell about negotiations about the match? Were the contentious issues decided easily?
As is well known, first a German sponsor had sent a match proposal to Topalov. The conditions were excellent and the suggested venue was perfect. For this reason it remains a mystery for me why Topalov had rejected that proposal…
As far as I understand according to the contract with the FIDE Topalov could not play the match, which was not under the FIDE aegis…
That main point is that no one was going to play without the FIDE. The sponsor stipulated that first the players and managers should come to an agreement and afterwards he was going to negotiate with the FIDE leadership about carrying out this event under its aegis. However, everything had turned so strangely and the proposal was rejected as a result, and I could not find any logic explanation for this rejection. However, it’s all over and done with. As a result the match took place in Elista instead of Bonn. But the money and the place are of secondary importance for me.
But the minimum of pecuniary conditions should be observed…
Certainly, the status of the competition is much obliging – it will be the first absolute world chess title match after a long period of diarchy. And we would have harmed chess if we had agreed to play for a song. However I was not absorbed by the exact sum of the prize fund and neither I’m interested in it now.
Whose idea was it to go fifty-fifty? It looks a bit strange from the point of view of sporting traditions…
Frankly speaking I do not know who originated this idea. I could accept the prize money being distributed in any proportion. For some reason this decision was taken. It was okay for me – fifty-fifty – I do not care at all…
Did you have doubts about the format of the event? Twelve games only – isn’t it too short for a world championship match?
Twelve games is a bottom boundary of a serious match. Perhaps eight games would be something mock…
What was the score in London by the twelfth game against Kasparov?
The same as the final one – 2:0.
Does it mean that 12 games can be enough to make things clear?
I managed to turn the scale in my favor only in the fourteenth game in the match against Leko… I was ready to play 14-game or 16-game match, but they started speaking about 12 games straight away. Well, 12 is also okay.
In case of a draw you will have to play four rapid games, if the match is still drawn you’ll play two blitz games, and if in these two games the winner is still not determined, there will be a turn of the ultimate blitz. In this case a so-called “sudden death” of one of the participants is inevitable… It means that there are both elements of “classical chess” and “knock-out” in your match… Did you take this decision with a light heart as a classical champion?
I hope it won’t run to the “sudden death” game. We were thinking over this situation, but could not find any other sensible decision except playing rapid tie-breaks. If it was an ordinary world championship match, the candidate would have to win the match while the world champion could be satisfied with a draw. In our case, when two world champions are playing, it’s impossible.
As far as I know, Topalov’s manager Silvio Danailov insisted that Veselin is a world champion and you are a candidate.
No, I’m not a candidate, I’m a classical world chess champion. And we’re going to play a unification match. Or, putting it differently, we’re going to play a match for the title of the absolute world chess champion.
Did the Bulgarian party agree with this statement?
They did.
Was Danailov’s suggestion to play till the first win in case of a draw rejected?
In this case only God knows when the match can finish! No organizer will undertake such conditions. I do not mention the fact that a player who plays the first game with White will have an advantage in this case.
Already in San Luis Veselin Topalov agreed to participate in the next FIDE world championship, which will take place in Mexico according to the same format – a double round-robin with eight participants. Having signed a contract for playing a match against Topalov, in case of victory you’ll have to replace him in this championship. Did you agree with this?
I think that a classical format of the world chess championship should be preserved in any case. In my opinion, the title won in a world championship match between two strongest chessplayers outweighs the title won in a tournament. I’m quite conservative in this regard. I would certainly preserve the world championship matches if it depended on me. However FIDE has different views and different plans. Well, I can play in the tournament…
Vladimir, I don’t speak about your principles and preferences, a law aspect of this case matters – having signed the contract you will have to play in the “Tournament of the eight” in case you defeat Topalov in the match.
For the moment it’s more important to settle all these title confusion, which started in 1993 and was not stopped in 2002. It is of such great importance that I made concessions for this. It’s okay! Do you want me to participate in the tournament? I will do this for the world to have a unified world champion!
However in case of a loss (this turn of events can not be excluded) you will have to participate in the World Cup and start from the scratch, so to say…
I did not and I do not care what will happen if I’m defeated as I’m not in the mood of losing this match. I’m going to win it!