Reports | September 01, 2007 7:11

[lang_nl]Oordelen FIDE Ethics Commission gepubliceerd[lang_nl][lang_en]Judgements FIDE Ethics Commission published[lang_en]

[lang_nl]Op de FIDE-website zijn de oordelen van de Ethische Commissie van de FIDE gepubliceerd aangaande vijf zaken. Vier kunnen worden beschouwd als 'kleine gevallen' (vanwege de vijfde): een straf voor de president van de Marokkaanse schaakbond, een reprimande voor journalist Dimitrije Bjelica, een schorsing voor de Zuid-Afrikaanse organisator Jackie Ngubeni en een reprimande voor Nigel Short (die Azmaiparashvili een "dunderhead" noemde). De vijfde was waar iedereen op wachtte: de reactie van de Ethische Commissie op Kramnik & Hensels klacht tegen Veselin Topalov en Silvio Danailov aangaande hun publieke beschuldingingen tijdens de wereldkampioenschapsmatch van vorig jaar in Elista dat Kramnik valsgespeeld zou hebben. Om een lang verhaal kort te maken, FIDE zegt tegen Topalov en Danailov: "Niet meer doen."[/lang_nl][lang_en]On the FIDE website the rulings of the FIDE Ethics Commission concerning five cases have been published. Four can in a way be called minor cases (because of the fifth one): a penalty for the President of the Moroccan Chess Federation, a reprimand for journalist Dimitrije Bjelica, a ban for South-African organizer Jackie Ngubeni and a reprimand for Nigel Short (who called Azmaiparashvili a "dunderhead"). The fifth was what everybody was waiting for: the Ethics Commission's judgement of Kramnik & Hensel's complaint against Veselin Topalov and Silvio Danailov regarding their public accusation during the 2006 World Championship match in Elista that Kramnik had been cheating. To cut a long story short, FIDE tells Topalov & Danailov "don't do it again".[/lang_en]

[lang_nl]Een echte straf hadden we ook niet verwacht. De reprimande houdt in dat Topalov zijn beschuldiging dat Kramnik valsspeelde in Elista niet moet herhalen; anders loopt hij het risico een jaar geschorst te worden van FIDE-evenementen. Danailov kreeg ook een reprimande maar er werd niets gezegd over een eventuele straf. De New York Times blog heeft al een reactie geplaatst van Danailov op de Ethische Commissie:

"I'm not angry. They are the court in this case. But I disagree. They cannot judge objectively in this case because the material evidence was destroyed. They need to ask why. If they watched the tapes and they did not agree then I would be okay with the decision."

[/lang_nl][lang_en]A real penalty was not really to be expected. The reprimand means that Topalov can't repeat his accusation that Kramnik cheated in Elista; otherwise he risks a one-year suspension from playing in FIDE events. Danailov was reprimanded too but there was no warning about possible punishment. The New York Times blog already posted a reaction by Danailov on the Ethics Commission's judgement:



Peter Doggers's picture
Author: Peter Doggers



pete's picture

Lajos Arpad I think we all understood that you are not a fan of Topalov and Danailov, and I think you should just let go of that, Topalov wasn't the first to use dirty tricks, please remember Fischer vs. Spassky and Karpov vs. Korchnoi matches, and now everybody is swearing how great these players are. History just repeats itself.

?ô‚Ä¶?õ?í?ò¬?'s picture

Does anyone know how many people outside the Topalov camp have seen the material evidence? I'm guessing not many as there would be more people behind Danailov and Topalov in this matter.

Lajos Arpad's picture

I think that the so called "evidence" should prove that Kramnik was cheating. Topalov never mentioned that he saw Kramnik using a computer, even Danailov didn't mentioned that. They have spoken about "Coincidence Statistics of the moves of GM Kramnik with recommendations of the chess program Fritz 9", about that cable found in a rest room, but never said that they had seen Kramnik using a computer on the video. If i'm not wrong this means they have never seen Kramnik cheating, nor any evidence about their accusation. I think Topalov should demonstrate that Kramnik cheated, not Kramnik that he is innocent.
I think this accusation was a really dirty, rude, evil and desperate way to make Kramnik uncomfortable, even if they really thought that he was cheating. They shouldn't have make this issue public, just make the necessary inspections, after that decide what to do. They new that the result will be a scandal and maybe cathastrophal for the chess world, but, as the situation was nearly hopeless, they decided to attack Kramnik's social position. Of course that tape shouldn't have been destroyed, but i don't see why is that suspicious. It certainly was destroyed because of somebody's interest, but not necessarily Kramnik's interest. I've never seen any evidence for that accusation, and, as a result i consider it a nonsense, i've lost my respect for Topalov and Danailov, and i'm really concerned by the fact that Danailov can affect indirectly the world championship as the organiser of the Sophia tournament(For example he will invite Cheparinov instead of somebody better, maybe Polg?É¬°r or Shirov, or he can organise the event to be as comfortable for Topalov as possible).

Pedrito's picture

This is ridicules! To destroy tapes is equals, for me, to admit cheating from Kramnik. Don't forget that he played on his ground and soviet chess always was "KGB-supported". So, now i know, that Kramnik is real WC.

Judge Trend's picture

From the report on Chessbase' website:

"On 17th July 2007 Mr. Valery Bovaev, Chairman of the Executive Committee World Chess Championship match 2006, informed the Ethics Commission, through the FIDE Office in Elista, that ?¢‚Ç¨?ìaccording to the statement of the Head of the Administration of the informational resources of the Republic of Kalmykia Mr. Namsinov, who was in charge for the security and tapes as well during the Championship match, the video tapes from the Topalov-Kramnik match have been destroyed?¢‚Ç¨?. Prior to receiving to this report, FIDE Offices have never been informed of Mr. Valery Bovaev?¢‚Ç¨‚Ñ¢s decision."

Suspicious? The least to say...

Lajos Arpad's picture

I didn't refer to the tapes, i have referred on the fact that Topalow and Danailow don't have any right to watch private videos without Kramnik's approval.
"The tapes didn?¢‚Ç¨‚Ñ¢t show anything inside the rest room "
Everything in the rest room was recorded, i think you wanted to say that nothing in the toilet was on the tape. So, Topalov and Danailov shouldn't have access to the tapes from the first place.The dirty thing was to get access to them and use them against Kramnik. And they did it publicly. That is another immoral thing, because they could resolve the situation without press conferences, interviewes and public accusations. We shouldn't have known about this, only the Topalov team, the Kramnik team and the appeals committe. Full stop. I'm still waiting to see an evidence which shows clearly that Kramnik cheated or a formal apology by Topalov, Danailov and all the team members.

Judge Trend's picture

Lajos Arpad said "watching tapes about his rest rooms is certainly dirty"

The tapes didn't show anything inside the rest room (there was no video recording in there). The tapes only showed how many times during the game he was entering the toilet which would subsequently justify (or not) Topalov's action to complain about it...

Wim Nijenhuis's picture

Lucky escape for Topalov, for using old-fashioned Stalinist Iron-Curtain tactics.

pete's picture

I ain't convinced he is such a bad person, I don't remember a bad word said about him before the match with Kramnik, suddenly after it everybody was ready to lynch him :). Maybe the guy really believes there was something unjust there and he stands up for that, nobody can say for sure. What I like about him is that he is not afraid, and I mean that in a few ways. During his year as a world champion he played everywhere against the strongest players in the world and the results were impressive. He was not afraid to lose, and he was not afraid to put his title in the name of the chess unification.

Lajos Arpad's picture

True, but his real personality came to evidence when he was in trouble. Anyway, i enjoy his games not his person.

Lajos Arpad's picture

Yes, Topalov plays in an excellent way, i've never put that into question. I strongly disagree with his behaviour. I think the Ethics commitee made a fine judgement to "only" warning the two. Topalov is a very good player and should not be excluded from the chess world, but as a person i don't like him.

Lajos Arpad's picture

That's true, but i'm not a great fan of outside-the-board-gambits(for example the toilet gambit).

Jos?É¬© Ribeiro's picture

Did Topalov and Danailov know that KGB have communications without cables since the first world war? These allegations of cheating are nonsence and we can see that in games there were errors that are not from any machine and the allegations that the moves are equal to Fritz moves is another nonsence, because any chess player know just by following any game of strong players that the moves choosen are almost always the first or second choice of any program.
I lost any respect for Topalov and if FIDE was ruled with justice and fair play, Topalov deserved one year away from chess and Danailov cannot in the future organize any major event. This is something that for example we will never see in tennis because it is a sport organized by professionals with a clear image. Chess deserves a champion with charisma, fair play and a gentleman inside and outside the board like Federer in tennis or Tiger Woods in golf. These psychological warfare that always were present in chess is a great damage to our sport and I hope that in the future, we will not see this ridiculous situations, and I hope to see the next generation with Carlsen and Radjabov doing great matches and for the present maybe a match with a great sporsman like Anand against Kramnik.

pete's picture

that's just part of the game if you ask me, you play the board and the opponent, Topalov gave it a shot and it almost brought him the title. Life goes on, I like Topalov's chess, and the incident in Elista does not affect a beautiful game. The same with Fischer, his statements about the Jews are not good for the hear, however, he is idolized by many ;).

Lajos Arpad's picture

Pedrito: Kramnik didn't destroy the tape, somebody else did. In this perspective Kramnik didn't admit anything. Kramnik is a private man, and accusations against him are destroying his image, and watching tapes about his rest rooms is certainly dirty. Topa-low and Danai-low are certainly low in my eyes.

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