I love writing headlines, really I do. Anyway, US GM Gata Kamsky has confirmed that he will play in the 2005 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk starting on November 27. This is good news and it's a shame FIDE saw fit to complicate things by radically changing the rules at the last minute. Kamsky has said he will file a formal protest.
The pairings won't be released until November 24. That's late considering that of the 128 spots the only ones yet to be filled are the two from the Chilean zonal (Nov. 13), five from the African zone (Nov. 15) and four more Ilyumzhinov wildcards. Since player contracts were due the other day they should be able to fill in from the reserve list now. Kasparov and Topalov aren't playing, Kramnik is almost certainly not, though for no good reason. I don't see why the classical champ can't try to poach in FIDE fields without abdicating. Anand, Morozevich, and Svidler have a free ride to the 2007 final but are free to play hors concours for cash and frostbite.
"Kramnik is almost certainly not, though for no good reason. I don't see why the classical champ can't try to poach in FIDE fields without abdicating."
If you don't see it I will help you to see it! Playing there means accepting the FIDE rules (and according to FIDE-rules Kramnik is no worldchampion). Therefore, if Kramnik plays there he accepts that he is not the worldchampion and Topalov is the champ - which is of course not true!
Someone had a very funny comment on chessgames.com the other day, similar to your headline:
"FIDE seems to be becoming more like the Soviet Union, only reversed - if you mess with them you don't get to go to Siberia..."
(it was "azaris", btw, in case he wants credit)
kramnik-fan,
Your response makes no sense. Kramnik holds the classical world title, which has nothing to do with FIDE at this time. Topalov, for what it is (not) worth, holds the FIDE world title. Of course Kramnik could play in FIDE events without any worries about his classical title! He would only be playing for the worthless FIDE title.
Knight_tour, you aren't making sense either. If the FIDE title is so worthless as you claim, why then would Kramnik want to play for it?
why play for anything?
If Kramnik played and won, we'd have instant reunification! What a lovely dream...
I'm rooting for Kamsky - the U.S. needs someone who's a playa on the international scene. Nakamura was a candidate, but looks like he's going to be exiting for college. Recall that Gata once defeated Kramnik in match play, so he may be as qualified as anyone to comment on his strength.
Dionyseus,
I am making perfect sense if you just recall how the world title matches were arranged previous to FIDE taking control. The world champion was expected to put his title on the line against the best candidate. Kramnik faced Leko in his last match, so it is time to arrange for the next match. Who is the strongest candidate for this match if not Topalov? The match would have absolutely nothing to do with FIDE! It is about finding the most appropriate candidate for facing the classical world champion.
Dionyseus,
I am making perfect sense if you just recall how the world title matches were arranged previous to FIDE taking control. The world champion was expected to put his title on the line against the best candidate. Kramnik faced Leko in his last match, so it is time to arrange for the next match. Who is the strongest candidate for this match if not Topalov? The match would have absolutely nothing to do with FIDE! It is about finding the most appropriate candidate for facing the classical world champion.
In case I wasn't clear enough, Dionyseus, Kramnik should not care at all about the FIDE title, which is worthless. He should make it clear in a match against Topalov that Topalov can keep the FIDE title regardless of the outcome of their match. The match would be ONLY for the classical title.
It is obvious why Rad Vlad won't play. He probably hates the format and if he gets knocked out early(which isn't too unlikely) it would further undermine his shaky position.
Well said DP
I agree DP
When do they start taking people off the reserve list and putting them into the "qualified" list? For example, they took out Topalov, but why not also Kasparov, Anand, Svidler, Moro, Kramnik, etc. who have all probably declined to come play? I'd like to see Volokitin and Mamedyarov get in - two young players who are just waiting for a chance to get in a great performance on a big stage like this.
It was really amusing, reading comments from Kranik fans. If kramnik doesnot accept (or care) FIDE or its rules and regulations than why is he so willing to play Topa for a World Championship :) Why play in any FIDE rated tournaments and why be a FIDE memeber at all and have a FIDE rating !
He is plain scared to play in a knock-out!
Just look at the relative positions of strength of Kramnik and Topa, that is, whereas Kramnik is ready to play Topa (and is trying to provoke him for a WC match), Topa, on the other hand does not care about him! Times have changed, it's not year 2000, friends! There are better and stronger players to claim the throne!
-Amit
Topalov was replaced because he formally told FIDE that he wasn't going to play early on. I doubt they'll bother to make a special announcement for each player who does this, however. Easier to just wait and announce the group. But they should be able to do so now. In these cases I often wonder if they negotiate with some of the top players behind the scenes for conditions.
The FIDE World Cup is not a good event for Kramnik. The "one blunder and you're done" format makes it highly unlikely that any particular player will make it to the end. I mean, look at past winners of the FIDE knockouts; it's practically random. As Kramnik is one of the more successful professional chess players, he can afford to be more choosy.
Dear Amit, let me point that:
1) Kramnik is not a memeber of FIDE. FIDE accepts membership only from chess federations.
2) regarding relative positions of strength of Kramnik and Topalov, just look at their recent face to face results. The only year Topalov was able to manage an equal score was year 2005. Kramnik has a positive score vs. him in all previous years.
3) Playing in knock-out can not be accepted for a simple formal reason: this is a qualifier for a next FIDE World Championship, and Kramnik has to play with FIDE Champion directly without preliminaries for a title unification.
The pairings won't be out until late in the month, but is FIDE releasing any sort of list of confirmed participants before then? I'd like to get at least a general picture of what the field will be like.
GM Kramnik has never played in any of the knockout events because he doesn't like the time control and doesn't like the knockout format.
No reason why that should change this year, unless Mig knows something about his financial position that we don't.
He played in one of the knockouts. Lost to Adams in Vegas in 1999. After that he had Kasparov on his mind and then a title of his own.
Kramnik did very well in the PCA rapid knock-outs. Qualms are political, not about format. Not that he likes it, per se, but that's not the reason he doesn't play. Many players complain about the KO format and the control, but they can use the money and want a title shot. Not concerns for Kramnik.
Thanks for the correction, Mig. (Knew I should have looked that one up!)
The problem i have with Kramnik is that he doesnt "want it bad"... Players must finally want it from the bottom of their hearts - they should take risks, go for the kill, even if odds are stacked against them... then sport becomes interesting - we can then analyze their victories and defeats under odds and admire them even more... when they win, we can put them in a pedestal and make them even greater in our minds, we can attribute qualities that they never had (and we secretly hope all the time because we ourselves dont have them) - we can make heroes of them and also relegate them to dustbins :-)...
Why does sport get our money? because we like to see defeats, failures, successes and odds stacked up on our heroes - just like it is for us in our daily lives - we ourselves hope that we shine (and know in our hearts that we dont!) - we attribute great imaginary qualities on our heroes, that we ourselves hoped that we had, we see egos and frailties around us - we admire people for exceptional qualities - we project all the things that we dont have ourselves on our heroes - they may be Pele, Kramnik, Maradona, Senna.... We want to see character, their grit as they fight against odds and against injustice because we face them daily in our lives and want shining examples....
The rules of the world change on us without our asking for it, we lose jobs, we get to pay higher taxes tomorrow - which we didnt know was coming or could have planned for today, we resurrect ourselves after incurring big losses in a natural disaster like an earthquake, tornado, whatever... we didnt plan for those, but got them and survived through them...we want to see those qualities in our heroes. We dont give up when odds are stacked against us on a daily basis!
Get up Kramnik - show us who you are... take FIDE with their own rules and dump them by winning their format - you are capable of it - we know that - atleast you would have tried... somewhat like what Anand undertook late 90s when he was clearly playing at his best and although did not believe in all the things that happened (PCA, WC etc) took his chances with everything... atleast he tried.