Elista, 29
September 2006
Open
Letter
To
- FIDE
President H.E. Kirsan Iljumshinov
Copied to
- Executive
Committee of Kalmykia Mr. Valery Bovaev
- Chief
Arbiter Mr. Geurt Gijssen
- Russian
Chess Federation
Dear Mr. President,
The Appeals Committee of
the World Championship Match between Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik made
the following decision on the protest of the Topalov Team:
“to close both the
toilets in the players rest rooms and to open another toilet that will be
available only to the two players”
The Kramnik team received
the mentioned decision a few hours before the start of game 5 and was officially
informed about the protest of Mr. Topalov only yesterday evening, 10 p.m., 28
September 2006. With such a decision the WCC Committee is clearly violating both
the rules and regulations of the WCC match and the rights of Mr. Kramnik.
The relevant clause in
contract of Mr. Kramnik expels:
“FIDE shall provide a
rest room and toilette for the players during the WCC match in the playing hall
and close to the stage (if possible backstage) to be equipped with a live
monitor furnished with coffee and tea as well as with light refreshments.”
The reasons that Mr.
Kramnik is entering his own bathroom often is simple: The restroom is small and
Mr. Kramnik likes to walk and therefore uses the space of the bathroom as well.
The Appeals Committee has been informed about the issue before they decided. It
should also be mentioned that Mr. Kramnik has to drink a lot of water during the
games.
On the request of Mr.
Topalov the agreed live monitors have been removed as well as the shower cabines
in the bath rooms. The moves are provided on demonstration boards only. The
substance of Mr. Topalov protests (dated 22, 24 and 28 September 2006) were
basically always met by the approval of the Appeals Committee. Everything has
been done here to satisfy Mr. Topalov’s requests.
On a regulary basis the
restrooms and toiletts are heavily checked by specialists, obviously local
police forces. This goes together with the arrival of the players. The arbiters
are observing all the measures. One representative of each team has the right of
being present in order to observe the activities. The playing area is banned
from signals and the glas wall protects from any kind of view contact and/or
body language. There is not a single reason or evidence to believe that a player
would have any kind of cheating possibilities.
It is and was no problem
for the organization to assure all necessary measures in order to avoid any kind
of cheating. By starting the match both participants agreed all the playing
conditions de facto and de jure and the conditions are therefore legally
binding. Any change of the playing conditions without a good reason would in our
understanding request the approval of both players which is not the case
here.
Mr. Kramnik believes that
the latest decision should increasingly concern the world of chess as it shows
very clearly and once again the biased stand of the Appeals Committee members
involved. In person: Mr. Makropolous, Mr. Azmaiparashivili (well known as a
close friend to Mr. Danailov), Mr. Gelfer (now replaced by Mr. Vega). Therefore
Mr. Kramnik requests to exchange the mentioned persons immediately. Enough is
enough.
We would like to add that
the recent decision not only insults Mr. Kramnik but is clearly critizing both
the excellent work of the local organisation at Elista and the nominated
arbiters. Yesterday evening the chief arbiter and the head of the excutive
committee once again confirmed that the indirect accusations of cheating are
nonsense.
The protests of the
Topalov team into the direction of Mr. Kramnik and the suspicions in the press
release of Mr. Topalov are utterly disgraceful and are touching Mr. Kramnik’s
privacy. We do not think that the Topalov team has any right of getting access
to the recordings. This shall be job of the nominated arbiters only.
The Topalov team includes
a parapsychologist and more people which are obviously having no other tasks as
to distract and to insult Mr. Kramnik especially since their team is realizing
that Mr. Topalov finds himself in a difficult situation. This is what we call an
utterly unfair behaviour which is not in accordance with the FIDE Code of
Ethics. The decision taken by the Appeals Committee can only be seen as another
attempt to disturb Mr. Kramniks concentration since it is difficult to
understand what kind of improvement it shall be to have one toilet instead of
two.
Our team does not trust
the objectivity of the Appeals Committee anymore. Therefore it makes no sense
for us to bring a protest to this table and Mr. Kramnik strongly insists once
again that the members of the Appeals Committee will be changed immediately and
that the heads of the Organizing Committee are taking their responsibilities.
In the meanwhile Mr.
Kramnik will stop playing this match as long as FIDE is not ready to respect Mr.
Kramnik’s rights, in this case to use the toilet of his own restroom whenever he
wishes to do so.
Further and more detailed
legal investigations are already in process.
On behalf of Vladimir
Kramnik
Yours sincerely,
Carsten Hensel
(Manager to Vladimir
Kramnik, Classical World Chess Champion)