By Ram Soffer,
The rest day of the Dresden Chess Olympiad provided an opportunity to resolve the issue of the Topalov-Kamsky match, which troubled the chess world for almost a whole year. After tedious negotiations an agreement has been reached between two chess players, and the chess match will be held in Sofia on February 2009.
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ICC's Macauley Peterson and Chessdom were the first to report that the final deal on the match Topalov-Kamsky has been reached. The match will take place on 16-28th February in Bulgaria.
You know, everyday I've been patiently awaiting Timati and Sergey's new video to drop for "Lazerboy" and I almost missed this little gem in the way of "Perfect Criminal" by Vlad Topalov.For those of you who don't know, Vlad used...
Now that Anand is almost certainly winning the WCC match against Kramnik, it is possible that FIDE will take the final steps to arrange the match Kamsky-Topalov to take place in the originally planned time frame.
There have been rumors that in case of Kramnik's win in Bonn, Alexander Zhukov's...
By Ram Soffer
The “Grand Slam Final” chess tournament, with the participation of the six most outstanding chess players in the Wijk-aan-Zee, Morelia/Linares and Sofia tournaments, started on the first week of September in Bilbao, Spain.
Despite the recent multitude of super-tournaments in the chess world, the Grand Slam Final is still a unique event, and not [...]
President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has announced that the World Championship Challenger Match between Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) and Gata Kamsky (USA) will take place in Lvov, Ukraine in November 2008. The organiser offered a prize fund of 750,000 USD and to hold the match on the “neutral” territory of Ukraine, as the players wanted to avoid Bulgaria or the USA. President Kirsan Ilyumzh
Alexei Shirov Press releaseWith this short press release I would like to bring attention to the following facts:1. In spite of having passed all the possible deadlines, FIDE still has not announced the venue of the match Topalov-Kamsky. That means that the match should normally take place in Bulgaria because the Lvov offer seems not to have been materialized.2. Mr. Gata Kamsky has declared that he
Eurochicago.com, May 20, 2008Eurochicago.com: Mr. Chernenko promised several times to present his bid. Yuri Vassilev published an article regarding this, but until now I could not find official information by FIDE. Is it official?Silvio Danailov: It is not official because simply there is no money.Vassilev said they were on the screen of the bank?They are just in his imagination. I think Vassilev
Bulgaria's top grandmaster Veselin Topalov, rated 2767, had won three of his last four games; Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi, 2708, had lost three of his last four encounters and was languishing at the bottom of the table. Today they met head-on, and Bu won the game! With a round to go Vassily Ivanchuk is a full point ahead and playing "goal-keeper".RESULTS:Round 9: Saturday, May 17, 2008
Russian chess journalist Yuri Vasiliev has now confirmed that the semifinal Candidates Match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky will take place in Lvov, Ukraine, for a prize fund of US $750,000. On the web site ChessPro Vasiliev tells of a lengthy conversation he had with the initiator, Gata Kamsky's manager (and diamond trader) Alexander Chernenko. Must-read interview.Lvov awaits Topalov
Veselin Topalov had little difficulty beating his second Ivan Cheparinov, while Levon Aronian blundered one move before the time controls (see his round seven interview) to throw away the full point against Teimour Radjabov. Meanwhile Vassily Ivanchuk was lucky to survive against tail-ender Bu Xiangzhi. He is now just half a point ahead of Topalov, with two rounds to go.The tournament, which is be
The shocker of round six: Vassily Ivanchuk only drew his game against Teimour Radjabov, the first time he has dropped half a point in this tournament. His performance has dropped to a dismal 3155. Both Bulgarians, Topalov and Cheparinov, won their games and are in second and third place.Current standings: 1. Ivanchuk Vassily 2740 UKR - 5.52. Topalov Veselin 2767 BUL - 4.53. Cheparinov Ivan 2695 B
The chair of Topalov was sold for BGN 10 000(Sofia, 13 May 2008) The chair on which the 19th World Champion Veselin Topalov is sitting during the games of the super chess tournament M-Tel Masters 2008 was sold for BGN 10 000. The antiquarian chair was purchased by the businessman Ivo Krastev and will be put in a new bar by the lake Ariana in Sofia. The gathered money will be used for the award fun
Like many expatriates who become accustomed to the proper pronunciation of a different language, I often find myself wincing when I hear English renderings of Spanish names. Zaragoza, for instance, is frequently mangled - the z is th - even on announcements at its airport. I must have heard the name Ballesteros hundreds of times on English television and radio without realising that the ll sound is more like a English y (think Mallorca). I put most of the blame for this on Peter Alliss, who I propose to refer to in future as Peter Ayis.It should be easier, I think, for an English person to pronounce Spanish words correctly, than the other way around, given that one of the languages is phonetic and the other is not. At least if we're provided with the right spelling, we shouldn't have to gu
I've read somewhere (and lost the link since) that diagram from Topalov-Kramnik, Corus 2008 appeared on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung front page. Supposedly FAZ is rarely using colors on the cover pages, but note the red squered e5.
Edit: source found, via Veni Markovski blog
Official opening of the first chess cafe in Sofia will take place tomorrow May 29th at 11 am local time. The cafe is located in downtown Sofia, street Car Osvoboditel 8A, near Russian Church.
Special guest Veselin Topalov will have the honor of ordering first drink.
If this really happens, who will be on board one? Chess club "Sveti Nikolaj" from Valjevo in central Serbia is negotiating with Vladimir Kramnik to join the club in its chase after 2007 European Club Cup. Team captain Milan Bozic confirmed that Veselin Topalov and Anatoly Karpov are already their...
From Topalov fan website:
Topalov, Danailov, and Ginchev helped the rumors spread even more by saying that they will present the documents for a return match with Kramnik in a week. Danailov says that the FIDE central expects the official documents and that the match is supposed to take place in...
Kramnik,Vladimir (2753) – Topalov,Veselin (2778)
Sofia MTel Masters Sofia (10), 22.05.2005
Commentary by IM Miodrag Perunovic
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 b4
b4 move became really fashionable lately. The idea of the black side is not just to move the...
Bulgaria's chess king Vesselin Topalov may be disqualified by FIDE for three years for violating the Code of Ethics by linking Vladimir Kramnik to the KGB in an interview for Spanish newspaper ABC. People from outside who were Russians and were far from the world of chess helped Kramnik, Topalov said in the interview. These were either amateurs or people from the secret services, he added. They were the ones who placed the Internet cable in Kramnik's toilet, he said.Topalov also said that he was afraid for his life while in Elista and that he would never go to Russia again. Nobody from Kramnik's team was involved in that, that's why they deny the whole thing, he said. Topalov suspected FIDE's president Kirsan Ilymzhinov was also involved in the plot because he was a businessman who was obeying orders because there had to be a Russian champion. For these words of Topalov Kramnik's manager Carsten Hensel lodged a claim with FIDE against the Bulgarian chess master. Hensel said he ha
The World Chess Championship match has started on September 23rd. WorldChessNetwork is providing live audio broadcast for this event. GM Larry Christiansen, IM Irina Krush, GM Alex Finkel and GM Victor Mikhalevski are planned as commentators.
Final result: Vladimir Kramnik - Veselin Topalov...
As I was taking a stroll the other day through ChessBlogLand I found a blog that's main goal seems to be to reflect the lighter side of Chess. Since I'd been reading way too much about the Nalchik WWCC tournament I decided to post the funniest thing I found from that site right here:
GM Veselin Topalov without Coffee
GM Veselin Topalov with Coffee!!
Chess in Cheek is a hilarious but still obscur
Q: Is Kasparov more afraid of Putin or of you?
A: I don't think Kasparov is afraid of anyone. Just the act of raising his voice the way he has shows his courage and the conviction of his beliefs. Veselin Topalov is just another opponent on the other side of the chessboard.
Q: But you were the last player to defeat the Ogre of Baku. After losing to you, Kasparov retired.
A: That was in L
Since Lvov, Ukraine did not meet FIDE president Kirsan's demands for the Kamsky-Topalov candidates match Kirsan has again offered the match hosting spot to Sofia, Bulgaria (Topalov's home turf). I got the story first from Chess Ninja. I don't think Kamsky will have a problem playing in Bulgaria (the money will be too good). He made stage a mild protest to appease his fan base but he and Topalov ha
FIDE just recently issued a press release claiming that an agreement between FIDE and the players has put the match in Sofia. However, after reading the interview with Kamsky's new manager we find:
"the contracts are not signed yet, but it seems that we finally have an agreement on all the important points." - GM Emil Sutovsky
That's right, FIDE has issued yet another press release without havin
