A few weeks ago, I posted about the challenge to Kramnik by Mr. Danailov, manager of Topalov. Now, Mr. Danailov has issued another open letter:
1000 София, ул. А. Кънчев 11, тел/факс 0035929816160
To Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov,
President of FIDE
Dear Kirsan Nikolaevich,
On the 15 December 2006, the number one on the FIDE World Ranking List, Bulgarian Grand Master Veselin Topalov, sent you a letter expressing his wish to challenge the FIDE World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in a match for the title in March/April 2007, according to the FIDE regulations.
For that purpose, an Organizing Committee was established in Bulgaria, where the Minister of the Interior Rumen Petkov, the President of the State Agency for Youth and Sport Vessela Lecheva, the Executive Director of Mobiltel Nikolay Nikolov, as well as Martin Batkov, Member of the Board of Standart Daily and Anatoly Paziyski and Ertan Kara, advisors to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria George Parvanov, are members.
The President of the Republic of Bulgaria, H.E. George Parvanov, also expressed his support for the contest. The Organizing Committee initiated the process of issue of Bank Guarantee for the match at the D Commerce Bank. The Bank sent FIDE a letter confirming their intent to issue a bank guarantee. It was not clear from the reply that FIDE bank had some special requirements as to the bank which would issue the document.
A few days ago,on 11 January 2007, however, the Organizing Committee understood that FIDE had not heard of D Commerce Bank, which was ready to issue a bank guarantee for 2 Million US Dollar (the prize fund and the organizational expenses) and will not recognize the document. From the letter FIDE sent we understood that the bank of the International Chess Organization will only accept bank guarantees from four Bulgarian banks – DSK, Bulbank, UBB and International Asset Bank.
We are astonished with this decision because it means that we have to initiate negotiations with a different bank, which will require quite some time. With this letter FIDE show no respect to our Organizing Committee ,our President and our country.
We are very surprised by FIDE’s approach, because there are no requirements as to the bank in the rules of the International Federation. We deem the last decision an attempt to jeopardize the match in Sofia.
Wijk aan Zee, 15 January 2007
Sincerely,
Silvio Danailov
I hate this guy….
KI and FIDE will avoid the rematch.
Elista was for returning title to Russia and they wil not give the chance for dangerous oponnent.
SU had hold for many years RJ Fischer
now is the time for the others.
P.
Interesting how Danilov always seems to announce this stuff in the middle of a match or tournament. I bet Kramnik is paired with Topalov tomorrow. What losers !!!
“FIDE has asked us to clarify that it is not FIDE that rejected the bank guarantee provided by Silvio Danailov, but the financial institution that FIDE uses for all its transactions. This is the Swiss bank UBS AG, one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world (assets: 2.8 trillion Swiss francs). UBS could not accept a bank guarantee for two million dollars from D Commerce Bank, but required it from one of the four Bulgarian banks listed in Danailov’s letter.”
— from Chessbase
someone on ICC reported that this bank is very very small.
I think it makes more sense to require the money be deposited into a FIDE account in Switzerland. Then it does not matter what bank it comes from.
Of course one does not deposit $2 mil on the application but it can be forthcoming very quickly on some schedule. There are ways around this problem.
But if the talk on ICC is correct then the bank they used was obviously not suitable.
It would be nice if someone could get the real information about this bank.
Cut the crap, thank you.
Team Topalov: Please get over it! You lost the title. Get on with life. Thanks
The Chessworld doesn’t need your political games.
Weird that Susan wants to publish these soap opera still…. !?
The best choice for the rematch should be Iceland ,not Bulgaria.
Kramnik won becouse of the advantage of his own terrain :).
In Bulgaria ,with two players of equal strenght,Topalov would be on advantage.
So let them in the Fischer new homeland.Money will be no issue,becouse everybody wanna see new commedy!
acirce said…
“FIDE has asked us to clarify that it is not FIDE that rejected the bank guarantee provided by Silvio Danailov, but the financial institution that FIDE uses for all its transactions. This is the Swiss bank UBS AG, one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world (assets: 2.8 trillion Swiss francs). UBS could not accept a bank guarantee for two million dollars from D Commerce Bank, but required it from one of the four Bulgarian banks listed in Danailov’s letter.”
— from Chessbase
——————————
I am a bit confused. Is the Swiss bank serving FIDE or FIDE is serving the Swiss bank. For first time I see a serving entity to determine the policy of it’s client.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
boo hoo…cry me a river!
I hate this f****r! He is going to bring such disrepute to the chess world that we will never have world championship matches!
What a wanker! Pure evil.
The web site for D Commerce Bank gives their assets as US$56M, which indeed is very small. The auditor, however, is identified as the Bulgarian branch of KPMG, which is an internationally respected accounting firm.
getting a $2 mill guarantee from a bank with only $56 mill is 4% of net assets. That is rediculous. Of course it would be rejected. That would be the equivalent of the Swiss bank giving a guarantee of $100 billion dollars or 4% approximately of the $2.8 trillion.
I think most people would laugh at a $100 billion guarantee and know it was just a piece of paper. We have to put things into perspective.
A bank with $56 mil in assets might not even have a profit. The depositors get first pick on the money. Danailov is playing games with such a bank for sure. This is another shame on Danailov.
Fide told Danailov a month ago that he needs a bank guarantee on the money. It took him a month to come up with this phoney guarantee. Of course it is rejected. It is not worth the paper it is printed on. I say plain and simple Danailov does not have the money.
FIDE is playing by unwritten rules here. Why does it list only those 4 banks? Why not, for instance, the biggest banks in Bulgaria, like BulBank, Biochim, Reifeisen Bank, or Pyreos Bank? Where does it write what guarantees it accepts and what not? Doesn’t the guarantee of the Bulgarian president mean anything?
There is a strong stench of corruption in FIDE which is felt here. In such a way, Kirsan makes FIDE a joke of an organisation. The same underhand tactics as in the Elista match continues.
>> I hate this guy….
The world is full of haters like that. That’s why all the wars and misery.
Both parties seem to be in good faith here.
D Commerce Bank is a small, privately owned bank. But it is a bank, with a banking licence. Presumably, Danailov found it simpler to work with this bank than with another, bigger bank. Perhaps he, or another member of the organising group, knows the owner of the bank. Unfortunately, he seems to be acting in good faith.
Danailov doesn’t *know* that FIDE will organise the event, so asking Danailov to arrange for a cash transfer is a bit harsh.
On the other hand, FIDE, in organising the event, presumably also has to provide guarantees of its own – to the players, hotels, whatever. FIDE does this through UBS. So UBS has to give guarantees, backed by the D Commerce Bank guarantee. UBS is then taking a credit risk on D Commerce Bank, and UBS is free not to accept this risk.
Two options exist to find a relatively quick solution :
1. Danailov asks one of the banks, which are accepted by UBS, to issue a bank guarantee backed by the D Commerce Bank guarantee. Since they are Bulgarian banks, presumably they know the market, and this bank, better than UBS.
2. FIDE works with another big bank which may be willing to accept the D Commerce Bank guarantee. Perhaps HSBC or another large bank are more informed regarding Bulgarian banks.
Of the two options, I would think option 1 would be the quickest.
There is a strong stench of corruption in FIDE which is felt here. In such a way, Kirsan makes FIDE a joke of an organisation. The same underhand tactics as in the Elista match continues.
————————–
Kirsan didnt make fide a joke.
The chess federations that voted for Kirsan at the Olympiad are the ones responsible. They knew what they were getting from past behaviour and voted for this current administration.
People in ‘democracies’ get the officials they deserve, most of the time, by voting them in.
The post on Chessbase game me the chance to reread the letters of support GM’s (including Susan) wrote in favor of Kramnik during Elista.
Worthy of being reread.
http://www.chessbase.com/eventarticle.asp?newsid=3397
icebear, it seems that for you the fact that Danailov is acting in good faith is “unfortunate”? Is it because you would rather promote an agenda than face the truth about possible Kramnik’s cheating?
>> I bet Kramnik is paired with Topalov tomorrow. What losers !!!
You just lost the bet. Kramnik is NOT paired with Topalov today.