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The match for the title of world chess champion between the Russian grandmaster Yan Nepomniachtchi and the Chinese Ding Liren will begin on this week in Astana. It's time to remember that the last owner of the chess crown from Russia was Vladimir Kramnik, and one of the matches he played became perhaps the most scandalous in history.
In fact, there were enough scandals in matches for the chess crown. About the confrontation between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi, full of various kinds of provocations, a film called «World Champion» was recently made.
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But it is quite difficult to film another story. The match between Russian Vladimir Kramnik and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov in 2006 was awaited by the whole chess world with great impatience. The fact is that he had to put an end to the split that occurred after in 1993 the Russian Garry Kasparov and the Briton Nigel Short refused to hold a match for the chess crown under the auspices of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and came under the wing of the newly formed Professional Chess Association (PSHA).
This organization lasted only three years, but Kasparov, and subsequently Kramnik, who defeated him, continued to consider themselves world champions in classical chess. The fact is that historically the chess crown passed only to the one who defeated the previous champion (unless he refused to defend the title himself).
FIDE also held its own draw in parallel, in which Karpov, another Russian, Alexander Khalifman, Indian Viswanathan Anand, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomarev, Rustam Kasimdzhanov from Uzbekistan and, finally, Topalov won in chronological order. There were no scandals here either. At some point, FIDE adopted a knockout system in which the reigning world champion had no privileges. Karpov, for example, did not agree with the change in the format and refused to participate in the draw according to the new rules.
Finally, after a 13-year break, the efforts of the then FIDE President and the head of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov managed to agree on a unification match between the «classic» world champion Kramnik and the FIDE world champion Topalov. The grandmasters were hosted by Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, and the prize fund amounted to $1 million. It was divided equally between the participants of the match, regardless of the outcome. The match was supposed to consist of 12 classical games, in case of a draw the winner was determined by a tie-break.Kramnik was considered the favorite of the duel, having a significant advantage in personal meetings in the classic time format (10 wins against 5 losses with 24 draws). And the beginning of the match confirmed the pre-launch alignment. The Russian chess player scored two victories in two games, although with far from flawless play. So, in the second game, Topalov had an overwhelming advantage and several times could complete it in a few moves. However, the Bulgarian overlooked winning continuations. Just as Kramnik did not see an easy way to victory.
The third and fourth games ended in a draw, after which a scandal erupted. Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov filed a complaint with the organizing committee and also announced in the press that the Bulgarian side suspects Kramnik of using computer prompts due to the fact that the Russian grandmaster goes to the toilet too often — the only place in the rest room that is not equipped with video surveillance systems. Danailov called the frequency of Kramnik's visits to the latrine «strange, if not suspicious.» And he added that Topalov would refuse to continue the match if this application was not considered.
The next day, the appeal committee, consisting of the Greek Georgios Makropoulos, the Cuban Jorge Vega and Zurab Azmaiparashvili from Georgia, satisfied the protest of Topalov's side and decided to close the private bathrooms of both players, leaving only one common toilet for them to use.
In response to this, Kramnik protested. A statement released by his manager, Carsten Hensel, said that «the break room is too small because Kramnik likes to walk, he used the toilet space.» Also, the side of the Russian grandmaster emphasized that during matches he drinks a lot of water. Hensel, threatening Kramnik's refusal to continue the fight, demanded that FIDE return the originally agreed conditions for the match.
It is worth mentioning here that by 2006 the topic of confrontation between a person and a computer in chess was finally closed. If in the 90s there were still doubts that the computer was capable of fighting living intelligence, then the defeat of Kasparov in the match against the Deep Blue computer in 1998 removed all questions forever. Soon «engines» began to be used for training by all chess players in the world, but in parallel, the problem of «cheating» arose. Naturally, in the match between Kramnik and Topalov, all appropriate measures were taken — in particular, the participants passed through a metal detector into the playing area and rest rooms. And, of course, nothing suspicious was found either in Kramnik's room or in his toilet.
While waiting for his protest to be considered, Kramnik did not show up for the fifth game of the match and was forfeited. The match was in jeopardy. Ilyumzhinov urgently rushed to save the situation. Three days of negotiations with the participants led to the fact that Topalov agreed to continue the match under the original conditions. The Appeals Committee was disbanded, but the new composition of this body admitted that it had no legal grounds to cancel the technical defeat in the fifth installment. Kramnik said that he would not recognize Topalov as the world champion if he won the match, and also threatened with a FIDE trial.
However, the match was resumed with the score 3-2 in favor of the Russian. The sixth and seventh games ended in a draw, then Topalov won two victories in a row and took the lead. Kramnik immediately equalized the score, and draws in the last two games led to a tie-break. The 14th world champion turned out to be stronger there — 2.5-1.5.This was the end of the dual power in the chess world, but Topalov's attempts to cast doubt on the honesty of Kramnik's victory did not end. Danailov announced the data, according to which Kramnik's moves in 78% of cases coincided with those recommended by Fritz9, the strongest chess program at that time. To this, Kramnik's side replied that this indicator of Topalov's performance in the tournament won by the Bulgarian for the world championship in the knockout system is even higher. And by themselves, such numbers do not mean anything — it all depends on how much time the computer is given to calculate the best option.
Finally, the last splash of water in the toilet was Topalov's interview with the Spanish publication ABC a few months after the end of the match, in which he stated that network cables were found in the ceiling of Kramnik's toilet. Topalov did not publicize this fact, allegedly out of fear of not receiving prize money or not leaving Russia at all. The Bulgarian also admitted that he received threats during the fight and felt uncomfortable.
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Ilyumzhinov replied that Topalov's representatives had taken part in inspecting Kramnik's room and could have made any information public, especially since the scandal had already broken out, the money had been transferred through a Swiss bank, and Topalov had received some of it in advance.
>The rematch, which Topalov's side insisted on, did not take place, because the Bulgarian chess player failed to provide the necessary guarantees of the prize fund. Kramnik lost his world title the very next year. The chess crown, played in a two-round system with the participation of eight grandmasters, was taken from him by Anand. The Indian held the title until 2013, when he lost a match to Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. For ten years, the «Viking» reigned on the throne, until he got bored with it. At least, this is the official reason why Carlsen refused to play this year's match with Nepomniachtchi.
As for Kramnik and Topalov, the Russian and Bulgarian chess players did not shake hands for the next ten years. This, without any jokes about hands dirty in shit, is not surprising.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.