The One on the Right Needs To Use the Bathroom.
But Some Smell Something Foul
Chess “world championships” today read like a cheap dime novel. Let’s be honest. Does anyone really give a rip who wins this match?
A 12-round chess match between Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov to decide the world’s top player resumed on Monday after a row over toilet breaks forced a two-day suspension.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, World Chess Federation president and head of the south Russian republic Kalmykia hosting the match, interrupted a conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin to broker a successful truce between the two teams at the weekend.
Kramnik, the reigning Classical World Chess champion, leads Topalov, the World Chess Federation champion, 3-2. The match has been billed as a reunification between the two rival chess organizations after a 13-year split.
Kramnik and his coach had threatened not to play the sixth game of the series on Monday unless organizers scrapped a game he forfeited on Friday.
The toilet is the only place the players are not under video surveillance during their match and Kramnik, who suffers from an arthritic condition which makes it painful to sit still for too long, visited it around 50 times in one game.
A bit of controversy is sure to generate more interest from the public, right? Wrong!
The antics of post-Fischer players are a shadow of those of Mr. Robert J. Fischer, poor imitations with self-serving motives. To sum up Mr. Fischer, I quote Garry Kasparov: “Mr. Fischer may have been difficult and unstable, but he was a sportsman whose complaints were based on principle and a sincere desire to improve the standards of the chess world. Tournament conditions and prize funds improved immeasurably thanks to his efforts.”
And there’s your difference between then and now. In a nutshell.
A man’s bathroom should be his Rook, I mean Castle. I would be more concerned if Kramnik displayed a sudden eclectic taste for yogurt.
I’m a life-long chess amateur and chess-lover, and I read chess magazines every month. I DO NOT CARE what happens to this match!
– Precision Blogger
Thanks for understanding exactly what I meant, Precision Blogger.
I like what Karpov said in an interview in 2005:
Interviewer: In the past, people knew the name of the world champion. Nowadays, everybody is exchangeable.
Karpov: You are right. People knew about 110 years of chess history. Nowadays, nobody is able to tell you the name of the world champion of 2000.
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2495
Texas Hold’em Poker seems to be the big thing to get into, and it’s has been eclipsing Chess since the beginning of this decade.
Some strong chess players in North America have quit chess for poker because there is more money in poker. In poker, the more skilled player wins in the long run, but the short term outcome isn’t as predictable as in chess.
I’m a chess guy, and I certainly do care about this match. As a (semi-) long match, it marks a return to the kind of struggle that made us remember all those world champions of the last half century: Tal, Botvinnik, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov. Since the 1993 Kasparov versus Short match, the whole title bout analogy has been kind of iffy, because FIDE, the world chess federation, decided that their world championship should be the winner of a quinky dinky knockout event. It lacked the gravitas of yesteryear. I’m a chess guy, and although the names of some of the recent FIDE world champions come to mind easily: Karpov, Anand, some of the others such as Khalifman or Kasimdzhanov, although they are solid top-30 players, lack the same magic. And without looking it up, I couldn’t tell you what year they won, though I do remember for example that Spassky was World Champion from 1966 to 1972. So, yeah, I agree, but this *could be* the start of a more memorable era in chess history.
I’m not at liberty to say who I’m rooting for in the Topalov – Kramnik match.
I lied. Khalifman and Kasimdzhanov aren’t even in the top 30 now. Another FIDE champion, Ponomariov, is #20.
I’m a chess guy, and I certainly do care about this match. As a (semi-) long match, it marks a return to the kind of struggle that made us remember all those world champions of the last half century: Tal, Botvinnik, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov…..
jbellies, I hear what you are saying and I hope that you are right. The “world championship” knockout bouts were just silly, and I’d like a return to real chess, that’s for sure. Time will tell if we get there. I would just argue that we’re not there yet if trips to the toilet bowl are deciding points. But I’m with you as to what constitutes a good championship, and what does not.
50 times in one game. Jeez. was he drinking beer?
50 times in one game. Jeez. was he drinking beer?
The death of chess’ prestige died in 1997 when Garry Kasparov surrendered to his opponent Deep Blue, A COMPUTER! When a man loses to a computer, he no longer is the same.
When a man loses to a computer, he no longer is the same.
True, but the problem actually came much earlier than 1997. Spassky lost to a computer in 1972. Its name was Bobby Fischer.