Thanks to Chessbase for this photo:


The Anand Team in Sofia: standing in the front row are GM Peter Heine Nielsen, Eric van Reem, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Hans Walter Schmitt, Vishy Anand, Aruna Anand, GM Surya Ganguly, GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek. In the second row on the left: Christian Bossert, Mark Lefler. All of the GM seconds worked with Anand in his 2008 match against Vladimir Kramnik.

The final agreement between FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Stefan Sergiev was signed in Sofia, Bulgaria. The prize fund is two million Euros (we are told that it is to be transferred to FIDE on January 10th). Ilyumzhinov met with the President Georgi Parvanov of Bulgaria, who is guaranteeing the conditions of the match. See Chessbase FIDE press release.

After the fourth round (there are four more) the match between Gata Kamsky and Veselin Topalov is currently drawn. As an American I'm proud to see Kamsky fighting back and making this match as 'bloody' as possible.


The most recent update and game commentary can be found at Chessbase and Chessdom.

FIDE just recently issued a press release claiming that an agreement between FIDE and the players has put the match in Sofia. However, after reading the interview with Kamsky's new manager we find:

"the contracts are not signed yet, but it seems that we finally have an agreement on all the important points." - GM Emil Sutovsky

That's right, FIDE has issued yet another press release without having signed contracts. That's just a good idea.

The following open letter has been issued by the representation of GM Gata Kamsky in regards to his upcoming match against Veselin Topalov.

Dear President, gentelmen, Susan,

When I first saw Bill's letter I was happy, because finally USCF has been showing strong support for their representative. Whether there could be a better solution or a more diplomatic one is a good question, but the reality is that there is no time to negotiate and given FIDE's strong-arm history of negotiating, it is not likely to succeed.

When I spoke with FIDE Vice President Mr. Makropoulos in Greece, it was decided that both my team and Mr. Topalov's team would meet during the rest day at the Olympiad in Dresden to negotiate and discuss everything, including technical details. With their last public statement, Mr. Illumjinov not only attempted to revoke his personal guarantee of the match, but he also imposed the time limit of one week for the players to acceed to his demands and at the same time re-awarded the bid to the Bulgarian Federation, which was the original FIDE's intention in the first place. You all are aware of the clause in the FIDE regulation for this "special" match that gave the Bulgarian Chess Federation a privilege of matching any bid that is coming from my side, which effectively ruined any attempt to find and submit a bid from the United States.

Throughout the negotiations with my managers, FIDE did nothing to find a sponsor on their own, despite the fact that it was solely FIDE's decision to create this match, and thus to allow Mr. Topalov a backdoor into the final steps of the qualification proceedings for the world championship title, quite unfairly, I might add.

FIDE's entire purpose, for chess players, for fairness, has been changed into a special interest group organization and I personally believe that any negotiations with FIDE rulers or tsars, or whatever you like to call them, will be unsuccessful.

The time for the negotiation is over and the only way to fight FIDE is to expose their mistakes, and perhaps fight them in a court of law if and when FIDE broke the law. Therefore, I would respectfully request all USCF Board members to unite and find ways to make sure that justice and fairness will prevail.

Sincerely,
Gata Kamsky

Saturday, November 8, 2008

I understand Susan Polgar's desire to seek a diplomatic solution in the matter but I tend to agree with Kamsky. The gestapo tactics employed by FIDE make it impossible to talk to them without holding a major threat over their head (like an easy-win lawsuit).

I'm also glad to see Goichberg has a little bit of chutspa. He has a bit too much aggression and is well suited to FIDE presidency but as the USCF president in this matter I salute him. I don't wish to make Susan look bad and I know her passive stance in this situation is going to be used a political weapon against her later. I think Kamsky was giving her an opportunity to take a stronger stance with his last paragraph urging USCF board members to unite.

As a side note - I really thought Kamsky would be fine with playing in Bulgaria - hmmph, what do I know.