Hi all,
        Interesting to read people's views on Kramnik, who for so long has been slated himself for seemingly initiating avoidance tactics!

Mig, on his chessninja site, comes up with the point that Topalov may as well 'go for all the marbles', if he is seeded well in the next FIDE World Champs and I for one agree with him, even if I am just desperate to see reunification!
 
Regards

Paul Hopwood

BRAVO to Kramnik!

He has laid down his position so dramatically and clearly that Topalov will have to take up the challenge or be viewed as the one who's avoiding a tough match.   

Kramnik really has been consistent on this, and I take his comments completely at face value.  I would love to see a two-year cycle for the right to play for the World Championship!   

Two years is still very short time to prepare for a title defense and I think we will return to the time when the World Champion will have to play in relatively few tournaments just because of the preparation and recuperation time for such a match is so long.

While I understand the emotional claims of Topalov and his fans, San Luis really was designed to produce a legitimate challenger to Kramnik, not a replacement.  (In case anyone had any doubts, the FIDE president said as much just before the match began!)

What is it about becoming the world champion in chess since 1972 that makes the World Champions into little children?  It wasn't this way during the years of Soviet domination.  (Perhaps the one good thing that the Soviets did??)  

Topalov is saying that someone 60 points lower than he is doesn't deserve a shot because Kramnik's a class lower.  Kramnik isn't just anybody, and while I agree that 50 rating points difference is really significant at the highest levels, Topalov's attitude reeks of arrogance.  

The FIDE format isn't even the ideal way of making a champion (again, that darned drawn match with Anand sticks out), and Kramnik was probably right not to play in San Luis.  That Kasparov now backs Topalov just shows how much Kasparov dislikes Kramnik now.  

There have been several times when the world champion wasn't one of the two or three highest rated players in the world.  The best player in the world sometimes doesn't have the highest rating.  I doubt too many people really believe that Kramnik's current rating reflects his strength in match play.  

Let's get a match on, and quit the quibbling!

I think it was Spassky who said, after hearing that Fischer (sorry about the F-word) was willing to defend his title in one year, that the fatigue of playing in such a strenuous match (or tournament in this case) doesn't really set in right away.  Spassky found that he needed at least a year to recover from each of his World Championship matches.  I expect Topalov will also start to feel veeerrrrry sleeepy soon.   


And then the public can pounce all over him for not being active enough!

All in all I agree with Castlerock's interpretation, though I must say that the Sjirov affair was far more complicated - with the usual dirty Kasparov politics involved. But Sjirov's claims mainly have become invalid because he is not strong enough anymore.
A WCh must be both legitimate and trustworthy. So best is a Topalov-Kramnik match within a year; the winner will be WCh beyond any doubt. Thanks to Topalovs' outstanding performance, Kramnik hardly can duck such a match. If he does, he runs the risk to find himself in the same position as Fischer.

Well i hope the Topalov-Kramnik Match takes place but i just want to say Topalov played an awesome tourney and i hope he goes on to be number 15

Castlerock and all, 

Thank you for providing us with the chessninja site.  In the final analysis, what is said there or here will have some effect but not much on what will happen after San Luis.

I welcomed this tournament because it gave FIDE a chance to come up with a legitimate challenger to Kramnik.  I didn't see him as much of a whiner or dodger after his match with Leko.  Kramnik had everything to lose and little to gain by his match since it was already clear that Kasparov was going to dodge his half of the unification matches.

FIDE's greatest hope was that a clear winner, hopefully with an exceptional pedigree (probably Anand) would dominate the field and make a unification match possible.  Before the match, Iluzhminov made overtures to Kramnik which were warmly received.  

For the first time since the PCA broke away from FIDE, The World Chess Federation has a World Champion with as much claim as Kasparov or Kramnik.  The popular voice, as registered here and elsewhere shows that Kramnik has to do something if he wants to retain the title.  

The single greatest obstacle to a unification match is the timing of such an event.  Several world champions have said that a World Championship match takes at least six months to prepare and takes a year off a player's life (literally).  Topalov played a fantastic tournament, but it would be totally unfair to expect a unification match before, say, March.

While the public may proclaim Topalov the World Champion, even the best players recognised that the tournament format wasn't the best for determining the winner.  After all, Topalov didn't beat Anand in his mini-match (the only player in the tournament to stave the Bulldozer off).  The World Championship shouldn't be decided by how well a player does against the lower half of a field, regardless of how elite that field is.

This is where the unification match will come in.  The chess public will be firmly in Topalov's corner for it, but the game itself will be richer and stronger because of it.  FIDE will need to consider how to reward both players in terms of a future cycle, but that shouldn't be difficult.

Clearly, both Kramnik and Topalov deserve to be in the next cycle's final eight.  They shouldn't have to worry about qualifying at all.  I know that leaves only three spots open for all the remaining players (the top four from San Luis are guaranteed places in the next cycle), but I think the chess public will be willing to accept the reality of the situation.

I would like to see a two or three year cycle with a tournament like San Luis used to select the challenger for a relatively short match for the title.  I know this isn't quite what FIDE has in mind, but it's been changing its official position for the last five years and will probably do so again.

FIDE should use the positive press it has already earned by holding such a fantastic tournament to good use by immediately setting up talks and arranging a match against Kramnik.  Kramnik has everything to gain by returning to the fold now, including shedding his undeserved "whiner" image.

I for one hope to see a fantastic match between two distinctive styles for all the marbles, and I want to see it in the next six months!