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Danailov goes to Talin
Lecheva and Sergiev also attend the meeting
Two consecutive letters inform the President of FIDE that a Bulgarian delegation led by Silvio Danailov will attend the meeting in Talin starting June 22. The first one is sent on May 29. The first one informs FIDE of the future official visit by a Bulgarian delegation. It will consist of the Minister of Sports, the president of the Bulgarian Chess Federaion, and Danailov. The second letter expresses the well known position of the Bulgarian Chess Federation on the absence of Topalov from the World Championship Cycle. The claim is clear, “with its last actions FIDE shows a bias attitude toward Veselin Topalov”.
Here is the full text of the two letters:
BULGARIAN CHESS FEDERATION
N 1-077-158 / 29.05.2007
TO
MR. KirsanIlyumzhinovFIDE President
Copy to
FIDE Presidential Board
Dear Mr. Ilyumzhinov,
Ladies and Gentleman,
I am writing to you with the kind request to add to the agenda of the forthcoming Session of the Board of FIDE in Talin (Еstonia) an item for discussion and adoption of a resolution with reference to the proposal of the Bulgarian Chess Federation about modifications of the World Champions System for men and women, as well as the letters of the President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Stefan Sergiev, PhD., of 03rd April and 31st May 2007 on this matter.
I believe that it is in our best interest to have the strongest chess-players participate in the world competitions, and the competitions are carried out in normal conditions and meet the expectations of the thousands of chess admirers from all over the world. Being tolerant toward one competitor to the prejudice of another is not in favor of the chess movement, neither are the constant changes of the rules, moreover during the run of one cycle.
The Bulgarian delegation will arrive in Talin for the discussion of our position and will consist of: Vesela Lecheva – Minister of Sports of Bulgaria; Stefan Sergiev, PhD – President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation and Silvio Danailov – Vice President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation and Manager of Veselin Topalov.
Looking forward to your prompt reply to our letters,
GENS UNA SUMUS!
Sincerely yours,
STEFAN SERGIEV, PH. D.
President
Bulgarian Chess Federation
Sofia, 31 May 2007
Position of the Bulgarian Chess Federation
The forthcoming tournament for world championship in Mexico starting on 11th September 2007 represents the end of one cycle that extends over the period after the tournament in San Luis (Argentina). As it is well known, Veselin Topalov became World Champion there. Considering the great interest in the world he accepted to play a match with Vladimir Kramnik in Elista even though he was not obliged to do so. Moreover, Veselin Topalov agreed that the loser of that match would not be allowed to play in Mexico because, according to FIDE regulations, adopted on 10th January 2006, every former World Champion or a chess-player with a coefficient over 2,700 could, under certain conditions, challenge the World Champion to a match.
On the basis of this position, the Bulgarian party asked for a new match for the world title and provided the required amount of 2 million US dollars for the purpose. The arguments FIDE submitted against playing a match for the world title, for which all requirements were met, were not convincing. Arguments of the kind that the bank guarantees were from a bank FIDE doesn’t recognize and later on that the time was short for organizing and performing such a match demonstrated that FIDE would compromise its own decisions lead by interests that may differ from those of chess. In order to substantiate its position, in the meantime FIDE approved a new system for electing the World Champion, which goes contrary to the rules, because the regulations may not be modified within one cycle. In this way, Veselin Topalov was definitely deprived of the possibility to take part in the competitions for the world title.
A new system for organizing the world championships should be adopted only after a thorough discussion with the participation of a maximum number of national federations; this new system has to be voted on a FIDE congress and to come into effect during the following cycle. Any other action and decision is a breach of democracy, it is intended to favor certain interests and doesn’t contribute to the development of the chess game.
The Bulgarian Chess Federation believes that with its last actions FIDE shows a bias attitude toward Veselin Topalov – one of the strongest chess-players in the world. Depriving him of the possibility to participate in the competitions for world championship substantiates this belief.
Since Veselin Topalov was not allowed to play with V. Kramnik in 2007, it is most evident that he should be permitted to take part in the World Championship tournament in Mexico. In this way an injustice will be remedied – at least in part – and FIDE will prove that the world chess interests are its priority and that the World Champion should be elected in a competition between the best chess-players in the world. Any argumentation for the non-admission of V. Topalov is deprived of any logic. The second, the third and the forth players from St. Louis will play there but the first one will not! The second in the world ranking list, the chess-player who won 7 super-tournaments during the last 2 years will not be allowed to play there! Why? Only because FIDE has changed its system in the meantime?!
We suggest a FIDE resolution is passed for 9 participants to play in the tournament in Mexico. The organizers have no objections and they will be happy because Veselin Topalov is very popular not only in Mexico but in the whole of Latin America as well.
31 May 2007, Sofia
BULGARIAN CHESS FEDERATION
Stefan Sergiev, PhD
President
Let Topalov play!
Yes! Let Topalov play! He deserves it. I live in Spain and I root for him. All Mexico loves him!
Thank you Susan and chessdom for information, vamos Topalov!
What a bunch of hot air. Both Krammnik and Topalov knew what the situation was before undertaking their match. Topalov knew that he wouldn’t be in this cycle if he lost before the match started. Even though I would consider myself a fan of Topalovs chess this is just ridiculous posturing by Danilov to stir up more controversy.
-Richard Rajchel
Jeeze Kramnik even gave their guy a free point in the match!
I wonder if they would go to such lengths if Vladmir Kramnik was prevented from playing at Mexico City because the tournament would not be “representative of the best players in the world”?
FIDE should stick with its original position.
The Bulgarian Federation should concentrate its efforts on getting
Ivanchuk or Radjabov in to the tournament instead – to earn some sincerity points.
How much is Topalov going to keep humiliating himself begging and pleading for a shot at a title he claimed not to care about?
After the match, he said he didn’t care about that old world title anyway, it was the #1 rating that really mattered. So he should be begging and pleading for FIDE to give hiim 20 free rating points or something.
“I believe that it is in our best interest to have the strongest chess-players participate in the world competitions, and the competitions are carried out in normal conditions and meet the expectations of the thousands of chess admirers from all over the world.”
Hey, I’m glad they said that, because after his magnificent performance, Carlsen is just too good to be eliminated too. Let’s give him a free spot too, and bring it up to 10.
Hey, Kamsky’s too good to be eliminated too. I think FIDE should pass a motion saying that win or lose against Gelfand, Kamsky goes to Mexico even if it means increasing the tournament to 11 players.
if topalov is allowed in all otther players should boycott the event. is there a good faith left in the lame toaplov/danailov camp. they signed th e agreement and now seem to want to breach it? what the hades!
There’s little or no logic to the Bulgarian position. In one paragraph they state that the rules can’t be changed within one cycle, and in another paragraph they base their whole case on the 2700 Rule, a rule that was in fact changed in mid cycle. Their position undercuts itself.
In fact, the rules were very clear before the match. The 6 month rule prohibited any world championship matches within 6 months of Mexico, and the general rules give FIDE 5 months to respond to any challenge. 6+5=11 months, which is more time than the interval between the end of Elista and the beginning of Mexico.
There’s nothing in the 2700 Rule saying that anyone gets a shot before Mexico, nor is there anything saying that Topalov could vault past Radjabov, who had already made his own challenge under the 2700 Rule, which was accepted, putting him next in line in any case.
In short, Team Topalov knew before the Elista match started that there was no longer sufficient time to be guaranteed a rematch before Mexico. If they’d cared, that would have been the time to complain, but at the time, they were satisfied with that situation, due to overconfidence or whatever,
If they had cared beforehand about being assured a rematch, they wouldn’t have avoided the first match for so long, as they did here:
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2693
and again a month later, here
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2738
for example. The first match could have been played last April had they not avoided it for so long, which would have left plenty of time for a rematch before Mexico.
It probably seems like overkill at this point, but one other logical gap in the Bulgarian Federation’s position. They write:
“[Topalov] accepted to play a match with Vladimir Kramnik in Elista even though he was not obliged to do so.”
In fact, under the 2700 Rule, which they’ve based their whole case on (not to mention the Prague Agreement), he was obliged to do so.
Perhaps they don’t mean this the way it sounds. Perhaps they don’t mean to say he wasn’t obliged to play at all, they might mean he wasn’t obliged to play in Elista.
There may be something to that, but if they wanted to play elsewhere, then why did they turn down the original offer
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2738
which was for much more money?
graeme, why dont you describe in a 5-10 page essay (not more than 50 paragraphs) the rules agreed on before the match, as well as the flaw of reasoning in the position of the bulgarian federation, plus a one-page or less summary of the key issues with bullet points. that helps clarify all positions and brings some new light to the discussion from an entirely new aspect. we thank you for your insights.
LET TOPA PLAY, WE WANT GOOD CHESS!!
>>
graeme, why dont you describe in a 5-10 page essay (not more than 50 paragraphs) the rules agreed on before the match, as well as the flaw of reasoning in the position of the bulgarian federation, plus a one-page or less summary of the key issues with bullet points.
>>
There’s no need, it sounds like you’re already convinced that he shouldn’t play. At least I don’t hear any disagreements over any of the points raised. Why do we need more when you’ve already got it?
a contract is a contract if you dont like the terms dont sign!