A Quantum Diaries Survivor

Apparently, the World Chess Championship reunification match between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov is being threatened by the bizarre accusations and behavior of the players and their teams.

It is not the first time that psychological warfare plays a big role in a chess match. The most striking example was the 1972 Reykjavik match between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer, when the latter forfeited a game for futile reasons, later winning the championship at the board despite the handicap.  

What happens in Elista is that Topalov’s team complained for the tens of visits to the restrooms that Kramnik pays during every game: allegedly (and Danailov, head of Topalov’s team, produced tapes that show evidence for that), after almost every single move Kramnik leaves the chess table, goes into his restroom, enters in the bathroom, and stays there for a minute, then goes out, in again, and so on until he walks back into the stage and sits at the board to think at his move. The bathrooms inside the players restrooms are the only places not monitored by cameras, and Topalov’s team deemed Kramnik’s behavior suspicious.

The arbiters did not accept Danailov’s request that the players use public bathrooms in the building, and tried to settle the matter by  deciding  that a single bathroom be reserved to the two players and shared by them.

This afternoon, Topalov arrived at the board to play game 5, but Kramnik did not show up. His team sent out a note in which they complained about the decision and threatened that Kramnik will not play any more if he is not allowed to use a private bathroom during the game.

At this very moment, Topalov is waiting for Kramnik’s time to expire (players have one hour to show up at the starting time, otherwise they lose the game by forfeit).

It is very bad to see this happening. I fear the match will not continue if Kramnik is indeed given a forfeit. In any case, I find Kramnik’s behaviour really childish, and I did not expect him to act that way - especially given the fact that he is leading the match by a score of 3:1.

What is hurt by all that is the image of the game of chess. I can already see the headlines in tomorrow’s newspapers, and the accent given to the oddity of chessplayers, their fussiness, and tales of madness in strong chessplayers of the past.