The World Championship is Postponed a Day; Play Starts on Saturday
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 11:11AM FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos has spoken in his role as Solomon, and while the baby wasn't split 50-50 Viswanathan Anand did at least receive a one day delay. What do you think, is it a fair compromise?
Here's the statement (from ChessBase, but it's an open letter being used by everyone):
Hon. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
Chairman of Organising Committee of FIDE World Championship Match 2010
Sofia
Bulgaria
Sofia, 21 April 2010
Dear Hon. Prime Minister,
In my capacity as FIDE Supervisor for the World Championship Match 2010, I have consulted with all the parties to try and resolve the “force majeure” situation which has arisen these last few days. It is clear that we have reached an impasse in the discussions and a decision must be made. I also requested a meeting with you, but I was informed, that unfortunately this was not possible.
After reviewing the World Champion’s request for a three day postponement, I understand that this would create enormous difficulties for the Organisers. Similarly, starting the match on Friday 23rd would cause enormous difficulties for the World Champion. I appreciate that whilst the one day postponement may cause some problems, it is justified by the circumstances that the whole world faced last week and ensures a fair play situation for both players.
Therefore, in accordance with chapter 7.4 of the match regulations as well as article 2.4 of our 2010 World Chess Championship Agreement, I would like to inform you that the 1st game of the match will be postponed by 1 (one) day to start on Saturday, 24th April 2010, for the following reasons:
a) As a result of the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland which caused the cancellation of thousands of flights from most European airports, including Sofia, we faced serious problems, not only with the late arrival of World Champion Vishy Anand in Sofia but also with the late arrival of FIDE officials and principals of the match. It is obvious that this is an "Event of Force Majeure" [pages 2 and 12 (article 11) of our 2010 World Chess Championship Agreement] which has resulted in an unfair position for World Champion Vishy Anand as he has not taken full benefit of the seven-days period (article 8.2 of our 2010 World Chess Championship Agreement) in order for him to acclimatize to the conditions and ensure that all his team will be organised to support him logistically and technically in the match.
b) According to the 2010 World Chess Championship Agreement, the final inspection of the match was to be held on the 18th April 2010, five (5) days before the 1st game (article 3.9). This deadline was not followed due to the Organiser’s delay and it has been agreed by all parties that the final inspection will be held on the morning of the 21st April 2010. Therefore a postponement is also needed in order to secure that all organisational requirements will be met in the remaining three days before the start of the match in lieu of the five days originally envisaged for such compliance.
The opening ceremony will not be postponed and will be held on 21st April 2010 as originally planned.
The whole world will undoubtedly appreciate the efforts that Bulgaria has made not only to organize such a prestigious match, but also to find a fair and equitable solution to this problem.
I would like to thank you for your understanding and all your commitment for this match to be organized at the highest level possible.
Yours sincerely,
Georgios Makropoulos
FIDE Deputy President
FIDE Supervisor for the World Championship Match 2010
Reader Comments (38)
NO, It is not fair at all. They should have given him 3 days rest as he requested. It would have been given if it were anywhere in the west or in India. Anand being a nice man did not make an issue of it. Hope he overcomes the fatigue.
One day seems fair and reasonable; however, the obnoxious comments and attitude of Team Bulgaria make it harder to see their position as anything but thoroughly wrong and Anand's as thoroughly right.
The compromise seems fair to me. The circumstances demanded some delay and yet not awarding Anand's full request makes Makropoulos appear fair and reasonable.
It's hard to see how Topalov's team and the Bulgarian Chess Federation can use this postponement as a later excuse... but I wouldn't be surprised.
Let the games begin. (Chess, too.)
I think it's a fair compromise, also the indicated one. One reason that Anand was entitled to ask for a 3-day compromise, as other commentators have noted, is that he had a clause in the contract entitling him to arrive 7 days before the start of the match. Said commentator opined it was unwise for the organizers to write that in an an entitlement, saying it was legally binding in a "force majeure" situation, i.e. that the "start" must be 7 days after. This anyway is a concrete counter to opinions---such as by Kevin Spraggett here, that the original postponement request was an act of gamesmanship. One other thing to note is that for most of WC match history it was felt necessary to give both contestants the right to take a "timeout", for explicit medical and later quite general reasons. Arriving after 48 hours by van, only about 60 hours from the originally-scheduled start, would certainly have been grounds for a timeout! I think the one day, creating 2 full blank days between tonight's(?) opening ceremony and the start of play, gives a reasonable enough "timeout" window.
agree with uff da.. objectively it seems fine..Anand seems ok with the extra day.. although that seems more like diplomacy...
I was almost surprised that the challenger requested no delay in the match, but then again, it is Topalov.
I do wonder what "enormous difficulties" for the organizers (in the event of a 3-day postponement) would entail, given that the volcanic eruption has already presented them great problems.
Excellent letter from Makropoulos - establishing authority in the face of a BCF which has been quite amateurish.
Anand would have had higher ground if he had kept lines of communication open re. his travel arrangements. Keeping those secret fed BCF paranoia that he was going to find a way to not appear, while retaining his crown. (That's the buzz, at least.)
Can't really understand why Anand didn't want to let them know when he was arriving, unless he was trying to avoid the insult Kamsky received when no one was at the airport to receive him. But not informing the BCF, made everything very uncertain -- so Anand doesn't get the full three days, but he gets one.
Quite a mess. Judging by today's statement from the president of Iceland, we can be pleased there's a WCC at all. He says what we've experienced is a foretaste of what's in the pipeline, given that the Katla volcano is way overdue for an eruption. And compared to her, what we've just experienced is apparently nothing.
Go Frodo!
Nope. Granting Anand any postponement at all is unfair as far as I can tell.
Fair or unfair can be argued to death. What this problem put in the clear is the complete lack of class of Topalov and his team. We can blame Danailov as much as we want, but ultimately if Topalov would've wanted to, he could've said he'd wait the three days, so that the battle is between two players at its best. Does Topalov really want it so badly that he'd use any means necessary to win? Wait, I guess Toiletgate answers that question.
It is truly a shame.
Apparently (according to a Bulgarian on chessgames.com) Topalov said that he did not know about Anand's problems at all since he "does not read newspapers when preparing for match" but when he learned about the one-day postponement he was perfectly okay with that. One can choose to believe this or not..
To update my own comment, actually Anand traveled Sunday+Monday-into-Tue am, not Monday+Tuesday into Wed. am. as I thought. So it was 84 not 60 hours ahead. But I keep my point as-is.
Typing glitches: I means to say "...entitled to ask for a 3-day postponement",
Actually, I believe Topalov when he says he doesn;t read papers while preparing for a match. His only job is to concentrate on his chess. His manager takes care of everything else (including gamesmanship). Also, Aronin, in an interview also said he doesn't read newspapers or watch the news, on the grounds that he can little or nothing to influence world events, and it stops him concentrating on chess.
I'm a bulgarian, who studies in Germany.The place I live at is 80km away from Frankfurt (the place where Anand got stucked).Let me tell u that one can get with car from Frankfurt to Sofia for about 15 hours.I travel this route (Fra-Sof) with my car several times a year and manage to make it without sleeping.However even with sleeping at a hotel somewhere on the half route (mb in Budapest or Wien) , 2 days would be more than enough for anyone to arrive in Sofia from Frankfurtf.
I'm quite sure that Anand could have made it he wanted to.It was clear that there wont be any flights in the next few days, so using a car (or mb a special bus for his whole team?) would've been reasonable.After all he is the World Champion and I asume he's having a whole team of guys, whose task is to take care of such things.
Millions of people in Europe have managed to arrive where they had to, even without planes.Let me point out that the Champions League Winner FC Barcelona have travelled near 12 hours(Anand would've need just a few hours more) from Barcelona to Milano by a bus, in order the semi final in the CL to be played on time.There was no claims for delay and no whines about the time consuming travel.Same will go for FC Liverpool - they will change 3 trains to get from Liverpool to Bordauex and then they 'll catch the plane to get to Madrid for the semi final in LeagueEurope against Altetico de Madrid.So obviously when there is a will to arrive in time for the sheduled match, it can be done.I just guess the footbal clubs have much better organizers, who take care of such unexpected things, while Anand's managers were caught unprepared to face a situation like that.
Thus beeing said, I would've gone with Anand about the delaying of the match with a few days, if he had came up with some solution of the problem (traveling by car/bus/whatever but not plane).However just sitting in Franfurt and doing nothing just doesn't suit to a World Champion.
I believe the reason Anand was somewhat secretive was to retain secrecy as to the precise identity of his team. If they all arrived at a regularly scheduled time at the airport, the Bulgars could have seen clearly who his assistants are.
Pencho - you fail to understand that Anand (and some of his team) are not European and would therefore need visas to get through Serbia. Try going the route from Frankfurt through Romania to Sofia some time and see if you can do it in 15 hours!
I'm in the minority opinion, I don't believe the match should have been postponed at all.
@Clifford
Noone needs visa to travel through Serbia (note to trvetl through, not to live at), this is for sure.I have been traveling this route from Germany through Serbia to Bulgaria for more than 5 yeras and I have NEVER got any problem concerning visa.Even back in the time when Bulgaria was still not a part of the EU, it was just fine.But even if Anand needed visa, I belive there would be any problem to get one for no time, one call to the indian ambassador in Serbia would've been enough.U seem to fail to see my point - if Anand's team realy wanted to arive in Bulgaria on time (or at least as close the the set date as possible) they could've done it.Perhaps they would've been a day or two late, but they woudl've made it for sure.Then it would be the most natural thing to get these day or two delay.But considering what actualy happened, this one day delay, that Anand got, is just a try by FIDE to make all happy, instead of a fair decision.
@ Schroedinger
As very first I would like to ask u to keep your manners up, people of Bulgaria are called Bulgarians, not Bulgars, so please do not insult a whole nation.Second of all - what if Bulgarians see which people are actualy involved in Anand's team?Do you realy think Topalov could change anything for these couple of days that are left untill the first game?He and his team have been preparing for this game more than a year, so I doubt they would throw away their 1 year work and change anything, just because someone ( put whoever u want here) is in Anand's squad?This just doesn't maky any sense.
Last but not least if u really think it's that important for Anand to keep his team in secret, he could have just arrived alone (mb with his wife and 1 organizer that has nothing to do with chess), while the eventual GMs that r part of his squad woudl've came a day later.
Pencho
You are simply wrong about visas - I am non-European and I have queued for hours at embassies and on borders to get visas for many Eastern European countries. Citizens of many countries do need a visa to travel though Serbia.
Also, getting a special faxed letter from an Embassy doesn't always work if the border guard believes it is a fake. And there's no chance to correct matters if you are crossing outside office hours. (It's happened) So Anand had no choice but to go via only EU countries, i.e. Romania.
From what I can see, Anand's team acted as quickly as possible - as soon as his team realised there might be no more planes out of Frankfurt they organised a van and found the fastest trouble-free route to Sofia. The fact that you, a privileged European, could have done it faster is beside the point.
This is not a vacation, it's a world championship. Anand needs to be in top shape. I would have preferred to see 3 days but 1 is at least something.
If Anand wins his superiority will be clear, winning in Bulgaria with less settling in time.
Clifford,
I'm far from beeing a "privileged European" that's for sure.At least, we, bulgarians have never been.
Now it might be that serbians requires visas for some non-european nations even for just passing by through Serbia(since I don't know any non-eropeans who got any problems traveling trhough serbia I will just take your word as truth).
However, do you really belive the border guards would stop Anand and his team?!The guards will be warned long ago that the World Chess Champion will cross the borders.Most likely Anand will be granted a VIP pass, avoiding all possible waiting and problems.After all he's a very well known and respected man all over the world.I can't belive u have even considered that "the border guard believes the letter from ambassador is a fake".The guard might think like this if it's you or me carrying such a letter, but for Anand?No way.
Anyway let's not continue arguing about this, u made your point, I made mine, that's the purpose of people beeing allowed to make comments at this blog - that everyone is free to express his opinion as long as it's mannered and non-offencive.
Fair may have been a 2-days postponement, 1 day is merely enough to reestablish some sort of equilibrium.
So much silliness...
1. Topalov's behavior doesn't surprise me in the least. He and the people he has chosen to surround himself with are the same folks who brought us Toiletgate. If he was a classy sportsman, he could have spoken out personally that Anand should have as many days delay as he got waylayed in transit. Heck, that's what I would have done in his shoes -- even if it wasn't genuine and I really didn't want a delay and was just playing to the cameras to boost my public image fully confident that the BCF had my back in all of this. Even if he doesn't read the newspapers, surely Danilov or one of his seconds must have taken the initiative to mention there was a chance the first game might be delayed since it might impact his training schedule a little. No, he and his posse want to win at any cost. Period. There's no chance he'd say a thing that might reduce his chances in the slightest for a big PR coup.
2. This whole match is being put on by the BCF with the backing of the Bulgarian Prime Minister. I think that he even had the government guarantee the prize fund early on (though I'm not 100% sure I'm remembering correctly on that point...). Why? Because he's a big chess fan? Or maybe he wants a Bulgarian to be WCC for political reasons? Could it be the latter? Could the fix possibly be in? Shocking! Scandalous! Of course if the PM wanted there to be no doubt that it was fair match he could have made the three day delay happen -- no matter how "difficult" it might have made things for his bureaucrats. Think about it. They play on a three day cycle: game/game/rest for the first 10 games. That means games 1-8 could have been played at the exact same times that games 3-10 were originally scheduled -- and games 9-10 could have been played at the exact same times as games 11 and 12 (with one extra rest day in there that the players would appreciate and no one else would care about). That would leave the bureaucrats 2-3 weeks to figure out what to do about games 11-12. I'm sure they could have handled it despite the "difficulties"...
Now, the only thing to do is hope that Anand crushes him thoroughly. Alas, hope chess seldom works out well...
@Pencho: What's the evidence for your claim that Anand was "sitting in Frankfurt and doing nothing"? Did you read the reports on how Anand made it to Sofia (available at several places on the Internet)? Unless you mean to imply that Anand was lying, you have to acknowledge the following facts:
- he made arrangements for overland travel as soon as it was clear that there would be no planes to Sofia for a few more days
- despite his purported "German connections", only a Dutch VIP taxi service was willing to drive him and his team to Sofia (causing some further delay, because they first had to get from Amstelveen near Amsterdam to Frankfurt). Don't forget that he wasn't the only one having to travel under the circumstances, and probably not even the "most VIP" one - if we compare the world champion of a little game with politicians, TV celebrities, top managers, .... .
- it was, at the very least, unclear whether they would be allowed to travel via Serbia (and don't forget that last-minute arrangements had to be made during the weekend!)
- net travel time was 32.5 hours (Sunday 11:30AM to Tuesday 5:30AM, minus 9.5 hours at the hotel in Budapest). They probably took some more breaks, but do you suggest they were going slow on purpose??
I can add a personal experience travelling about half the distance: Some 20 years ago, I travelled with a group of 10-12 year old kids from near Frankfurt to a chess tournament in Hlohovec (Slovakia, back then Czechoslovakia). Of course we knew well in advance how we would travel, and I could use my own car rather than having to rent one. Due to heavy rain and several traffic jams, we barely made it to the Austrian-Czech border before it would close at 6:00PM. By the time we made it to the top of the queue, we were like two minutes late, and the border officer said "Feierabend, try again tomorrow". I could pretend to be some sort of VIP (at least I had an official invitation letter to waive with), and it was enough to scare the border officer when I asked to see his supervisor .... .
What I want to say: expect the unexpected when travelling such long distances, including potentially problematic border crossings! If one does such trips regularly, it may eventually become some sort of routine - but while Anand has been to Sofia before, he could always travel by plane ... .
Empathy appears to be a foreign concept to some.
Anand secured transportation from the Netherlands. Two other members of his team were scheduled to fly into Sofia separately. They arrived where Anand and Aruna were waiting as the bus came to take them to Sofia.
The Anand's visa status required them to drive through Romania. And customs issues probably also played a
part.
I don't go to Germany for the food, but to Italy. And just as I don't go to the UK for the wine, I will make a note not to expect PR skills or empathy from Bulgaria.
It is quite possible that bulgarians already know Anand's seconds. They just need to find the people applied for a visa (assuming the seconds are not already eligible to travel without a visa)
Pencho
No offence intended or taken. Having been stuck in various airports for the last 72 hours due to the volcano, I am particularly sympathetic to Anand's plight. I also think that he will be very vulnerable in the first few games due to travel weariness - a sort of jet lag which just makes you think a bit more slowly than usual.
By the way, any EU citizen is certainly privileged when it comes to needing (or not needing) visas but I realise that a few years ago this was far from true for Bulgarians.
@ Thomas
I do not asume Anand's arrival took so long on purpose.U seem to misunderstand my point as well.What I'm saying is that Anand could've made it much faster, than he actualy did, and he would've made it if he had a professional manager (with all my respect to his wife).This whole problem would've been sold much faster if the organiZers in Anand's team have done their job a bit better.
I will give u the eXample with FC Barcelona once again - they had a late match at saturday night (game ended at 23:45).However they must have been in Milano playing against Inter on Tuesday night.So they had only 2 days to get from Barcelona to Milano by bus, to settle down in Milano, to train on the stadium where the match was to be played and after all to to prepare them selves for the game.And yet they managed it and there was no delay reQuests, no whine, nothing - just professioanls doing their job.
I hope u do understand now what I mean - if Anand has hired a professional manager, but not his wife (once again with all respect to her) to take care of such things, this whole drama would not happend(or at least not that much).I realy hope u got me clear this time, I wont eXplain my self anymore about this theme.
Pencho, I reacted primarily to two quotes in your first comment:
"using a car (or mb a special bus for his whole team?) would've been reasonable" - that's EXACTLY what he did
" just sitting in Franfurt and doing nothing" - that's what the organizers sitting in Sofia claimed, how would they even know? And they were wrong
About the comparison with Barca's trip to Milan: While it was mentioned all over the Internet, there are many differences - I will name all I can think of, maybe you accept at least one of them:
- It's easier to organize such things in one's home country
- Presumably, there were less travellers stranded in Barcelona and competing for alternative transport than in Frankfurt, a major airport hub
- A prestigious football club has a higher VIP status than a chess world champion
- Most importantly, the trips aren't comparable. A comparison would make sense if Barcelona had travelled overland to Kiev, Moscow, Istanbul or Sofia ... .
Barcelona-Milan was about ten hours, all proper highways and easy ("non-existing") border crossings. They actually broke the journey in two travelling six hours the first day. If Anand had limited himself to six hours per day, he would arrive in Sofia only on Friday .... .
The problem was that hardly anyone was willing to drive Anand all the way to Sofia, even if they had cars available. Maybe this is related to "Bulgaria being under-privileged" (paraphrasing your own words), though maybe it would have been as difficult to organize a trip to Tromso in Northern Norway.
It is at best hypothetical to claim that a "professional manager" would have found a faster solution. Anand's "other manager" (or whatever Hans-Walter Schmitt's role or function is) was already in Sofia, but Wolfgang Grenke (millionaire and manager of Anand's German Bundesliga team) offered his help, even his private jet, it didn't help ... .
Maybe you know that the German minister of defense was in a similar or "mirror" situation, stuck in Istanbul on his way back from Afghanistan. Like Anand, he had to travel by minibuses (provided by the German embassies) through Bulgaria and Romania to Budapest. Then he could take a propeller plane to Berlin, flying at low altitude and exempted from the flight ban - but no exception was made for Anand to use Grenke's private jet.
Shouldn't it have been better to stick to the original schedule, i.e have the first game on 24th but a rest day after that, and then continue and have the final game in the gap before the tiebreaks. less disruption.
"Wolfgang Grenke (millionaire and manager of Anand's German Bundesliga team) offered his help, even his private jet, it didn't help ... ."
Just something I'd note: if Anand was offered someone's _private jet_, as just one of "some very generous offers from Anand supporters" (from the road trip report), it's hard to believe that he was not able to get a car until Sunday. Of course, he would have preferred to fly, so he waited...but gambling does entail a risk.
acirce, the universe is filled with things you find hard to believe. get over it.
@acirce: It comes down to whom you'd rather believe:
- the organizers sitting in Sofia, who had as much inside information as you sitting in Sweden or me sitting in the Netherlands (but I had never heard before of Taxi Lagerberg's VIP service), or
- Anand's own detailed report.
Important "detail": Anand's seconds couldn't make it to Frankfurt until Saturday evening, after a 12 hour train trip (maybe having to stand in the corridor). If a car was available at that moment, would you want them to continue the journey immediately rather than first getting some comfortable sleep? The seconds also have to be well-rested, after all they may have as much or more work than their boss in the coming weeks, possibly including some night shifts.
If Grenke has a private jet, maybe he also has some limousines with chauffeur. However:
- there may not be enough room for seven persons and lots of luggage
- the drivers may not be available during the weekend at short notice
- maybe he needs the limousines for his own business, even if he can do without his jet for a few days.
"acirce: It comes down to whom you'd rather believe:
- the organizers sitting in Sofia, who had as much inside information as you sitting in Sweden or me sitting in the Netherlands (but I had never heard before of Taxi Lagerberg's VIP service), or
- Anand's own detailed report."
If the one who wrote the report had specifically mentioned that they were not able to get a car earlier than they did, I would simply have taken his word for it.
Acirce, for me this is in the report - apparently not the exact words you would like to read, but IMO no room for interpretation or doubts:
"On Saturday ... it became obvious that there was only one final possibility to reach Sofia: by car. However, most car rentals, taxi companies and other VIP services simply had no cars and staff available, while companies that did simply refused to drive all the way to Bulgaria. Finally, after many hours of trying, team Anand managed to find a VIP service by Taxi Lagerberg, located in Amstelveen, The Netherlands."
At most one could argue about a 24h delay, while they were still hoping for a flight from Frankfurt or maybe Vienna. Another 24h delay was due to the fact that the Dutch drivers first had to rest (in accordance with legal requirements) and then had to drive from Amstelveen (near Amsterdam) to Frankfurt. And I don't blame Anand for being concerned about whether his seconds can also reach Sofia, and making sure that this would be the case.
That quote just says it took many hours once they started trying on Saturday.
So what? I said that _maybe_ he could have arrived something like 24 hours earlier, but without his seconds. Would you agree that it's important to have the entire team in Sofia?