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27 January 2007 17:13 PM
After his crushing win over Peter Svidler, Loek van Wely gave straight away a pressconference and showed why he was able to win this quickly. In the end some questions where asked and we also asked if he considered the recent accusations around Topalov credible. Enjoy!
37 Responses to “Pressconference Loek van Wely”
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| Rank | Name | Rating | Change | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Anand | 2798,0 | 0 | 0 |
| 02 | Ivanchuk | 2791,5 | +10,5 | 18 |
| 03 | Carlsen | 2791,1 | +16,1 | 11 |
| 04 | Morozevich | 2788,0 | 0 | 0 |
| 05 | Topalov | 2777,0 | 0 | 0 |
| 06 | Kramnik | 2772,9 | -15,1 | 7 |
| 07 | Leko | 2746,0 | +5 | 7 |
| 08 | Radjabov | 2744,0 | 0 | 0 |
| 09 | Mamedyarov | 2740,8 | -1,2 | 7 |
| 10 | Aronian | 2737,0 | 0 | 0 |
I think Topa is a great guy, please, stop the attack
http://www.veselintopalov.net/article/media-attacks-continue
why do we always see the news from chessbase??? I am not going to read their page more.
Correction, I meant to say the news against Topalov… they never say a good word for his thousands of interviews and games with normal people. I have an autograph from him, he is a nice guy.
yes he is, he was and still is very respected player but after the Elista match everybody hates him, I don’t know why. If I were there and Kramnik visited the WC after each move I would react the same way.
Kramnik is bad for the chess.
If chess was football, then Kramnik would be Germany and Topalov would be Brazil!
Topalov and especialy his manager Danailov are bad for chess. If team Topailov keeps on with groundles accusations they should be banned from tournament play.
This signal thing with Topalov is rubbish. I am from Munich myself (where this phantstic article was published) and am suprised it was published at all.
Topalov as chess player is phantastic, one only has to compare his will to win and his investment and effort in every game with the approach of Kramnik who apparently would like to stop playing with black gebnerally. This is simply a disgrace and not worthy of a world champion. Not to mention the degree of risk Topalov is willing to take. This is chess!
Elista was very unfortunate for Topalov and by now he himself probably regrets it.
For this article chessbase and the people behind them can go to court. Groundless accusations against Topalov.
Loek rules!!
I wish chessvibes published ips of those commenting . . .
Both Topalov and Kramnik are to be admired not to be accused. Stop with this stupid “sensations”
I am from Sofia and i know Topalov personally. We met in Grand Hotel Sofia where the”Mtel Masters” tournament took place. I can say for sure that he is an honorable player and person and any accusations against him are pure LIES !!!
It’s an interesting article. Among other things, it puts the accusations made in Elista in a different light.
It’s beyond suspicion now. I remember him trying to explain the game on the display board. And he kept forgetting what move he made. Humnn… I don’t have any doubts anymore. He should be banned for 10 year. He is a disgrace to the chess community.
rain i happy you’re not a judge
Topalov plays very exciting chess, his games are my favorite to watch.
But the shenanigans pulled by Danailov and the Topalov marketing were shameless and disgraceful.
Kramnik, as boring a player he may be, is better than Topalov and proved it in the WC match.
Kramnik might be a weird, antisocial person who needs isolation in the toilet, but he clearly wasn’t cheating, the entire playing area and toilet included were electronically sealed.
Kramnik defeated the mighty Kasparov, and now he has beaten Topalov. His methods may be boring and dull, but they work and he should be respected as the best player in the world.
Topalov is a great player in his own right, and from all accounts a very nice and kind person.
However, this does not exempt him from the standard critiques and review of his actions. All I can say is that Danailov seems like a man who knows no limits and has shown manipulative measures in the past.
Congratulations to Loek, good explanation and sharp game.
About Topalov, the only thing that stinks around him is his manager, Danailov.
And a good sulution to falling pieces of the chess board by Centercounter:
“Magnetic pieces in an anti-gravity room?”
and may I add: Wijk aan Zee tournament in outer Space (we leave Danailov on Earth and solve the problem with anti-gravity room)
I agree with Hector.
OK… we have the fanatics of soccer, we have the asses of tennis, the sensationalism of boxing … yet we’re still not on TV. Maybe we should stop being like other sports - chess is a gentleman’s game, all hostilities should end at the board.
Nobody has noted the fact that Chessbase did not take a position on the Topalov article. Maybe the article makes baseless claims, maybe not, but Chessbase is not running around yelling “here’s proof, here’sproof, burn him at the stake”. If one of their jobs is to report the news in the world of chess, then that brings the good and the bad stories (Fischer comes to mind here). If you want to attack somebody for spreading lies about Topalov, then make arguments against the reporter’s position. So far, nobody has done that.
And if you want positive Topalov stories to appear on Chessbase, find a way to take pictures and write a story of an event he does (say, a simul with kids or whatever). I cannot speak for their policies on what they post/reject, but they seem willing to put stuff like that on their site.
Indeed Topalov is a great player, who makes chess look very simple, a characteristic of all great players with a great liking for technical positions like Fischer, Karpov and so on (for example in his game against Carlsen). However great a man may be as a chessplayer, this does not necessarily mean he has got a high level of reflection in other areas.
Last week Topalov appeared in the Dutch TV-magazin called the ’sportjournaal’ (sports news). Of course the average journalist, who does not understand anything substantial about chess as a game and for whom it is not very different from a game like monopoly, is eager to drag-up this story about the WC-match again. It is terrible to see so much shamelessness in the media, but of course one must say we cannot attribute much intelligence to Topalov either, for he seems all too ready to tell his well-known tale over and over again, without realizing, at least so it seems, that he is being used for the larger public’s amusement. One cannot blame the public though. Topalov ‘d better realize the following: there are only two options, both of which make him appear to be completely insane in the eyes of the world. This is not a judgment of value - really I do not care too much about who’s right or wrong here - but just simple common sense. Consider:
he is lying, in which case he’s gotten in too deep, beyond the point of no return. In that case he will have to uphold his story ad infinitum. In this case he will not only look crazy.
On the other hand, he may be right, but since there is no proof, the more he makes a fuzz, the crazier he apperas to be. In that case he will have to explain why the alledged proof disappeared etc, which he is doing now, but this will make him look crazier and crazier etc.
In either case, it seems to me, that it is a lose-lose situation for Topalov. He’d better let it rest, never mention it again, play beautiful chess and one day, he will probably get his revenge on the board. To me, this seems to be the only sensible option.
The accusation of cheating against Topalov is very disturbing. A serious charge like that may need to be investigated, but it should not be reported unless proof is found. A good reputation is a difficult thing to regain. Then again, that is not a consideration that team Topalov made for Kramnik before they leveled their reckless accusations against him. Now that they know how it feels perhaps they will be more careful about what they say until they have more proof.
A nice presentation and a clear-cut win by Loek van Wely. Poor Mr. Svidler who has chosen a faulty plan with Bxh6.
There has already been written a lot on Elista and both oppenents have expressed their opinions clearly, e.g. in their latest NIC interviews that I strongly recommend everyone to read. Personally I consider the behaviour of Team Topalov as strongly unserious, their accusations are simply absurd and lack any proof. Mr.Topalow- whose style of chess play appeals more to me than Kramnik´s- has damaged his image as a sport heavily, and unfortunately he isn´t realizing this at all and keeps on train downhill.
We need a champion like Kasparov, good in tournaments and matches, and people will stop talking.
The article was written by an IM, so we cannot dismiss this as simply the words of antagonized journalists who need something to grip to - this is actually a professional chessplayer here. In addition, the arbiter was actually informed about what was happening (just like in Kalmykia?) and acted in such a manner to discourage the behaviour without the fuss (personally I would have asked for the glasses to see if they were real, and the mobile phone to see whom he had called… but I guess that was not possible any maybe I am a bit extremist here).
From the short Topalov interview, I believe Topalov is as unhappy about what happened in Elista as is Kramnik.
My 2 pence is that, as long as either player is not proven to be cheating, they are simply the two strongest players in the world with amazingly different styles and approaches to chess. They are so close that tiny episodes affected greatly both their performances during the match, and that it is only … I’m sorry … stupid to proclaim either as the strongest player ever while attacking savagely the other. People must realize that highest rated and world champion are two distinct titles - this same situation happened in the early 90s when Karpov overtook Kasparov on the rating list, but no maniacs (yes, that’s what you are) came out crying out that Kasparov was not WCh anymore.
http://www.veselintopalov.net/article/media-attacks-continue
The accusations are absurd. If we stick to the report, then there obviously was a reporter who followed Danailov during all of his exits from the playing hall. Otherwise he could not have been so sure that he was making a call each time he left the building. Now, to do this - to follow Danailov on every step he makes - one must (apart from being a bit paranoid) already suspect Topalov and Danailov of cheating. In other words, the reporter held a grudge against them; or was at least doubting their integrity. So my question is: why then didn’t he report Danailov’s behaviour right away? I mean, you cannot see Danailov going in and out of building whenever Topalov makes a move by accident; you must already be suspicous of him. And of course, if one is suspicous, one will use convincing evidence as soon as one gets it and if that were the case, the reporter would inform the arbiter as soon as during the game. So, why didn’t he? Why didn’t he told the arbiter (or one of them) to secretly observe Danailov’s movement? If I had something against Topalov and would clearly see that he is cheating, I would do it at once.
The whole story is in this view - I hope it is clear enough - obviously made up. It is a known fact that Topalov often relys on Danailov on purely psychological grounds. As he stated in the interview given in New in Chess (about two years ago) he needs to see that his team is supporting him during the game. And to interpret nervous gestures from Danailov’s part as secret signals - that truly is paranoid in clinical sense.
Who are the people behind this article?
My guess :
http://www.chessbase.de/2006/bonn/P1060801.jpg
I agree with Alexander. Can anyone backup this IM? The entire chessvibes team is there, they must have seen if something suspicious was happening.
In game vs Van Wely, both Bc5 and Rd3 were easy to find, even for candidate master. I am Kramnik fan, but this story is rubbish.
Danailov has a commercial background, something the chessworld has been missing. The whole Elista case is one which put chess in the big picture. We got to accept that to make chess populair, we need scandals. I’ve seen worse scandals outside of chess (politics anyone?).
…anyway, Topalov’s play is great to watch and Kramnik’s play is great to analyse…
My words matter little, but I am in an argumentative mood:
Chessnews: ChessBase reports on what is happening in the world of chess. If you think *they* wrote the article you dislike, you - like many others - are under a misapprehension. And I doubt Topalov plays very many games against “normal people”, it would be a complete waste of time for everyone concerned.
shame: Check your accusations more carefully. Take “SĂĽddeutsche Zeitung” to court, and have fun. They would never publish prima facie libel.
rain: That is also scant evidence. Not every player, however high his rating, has the course of his last game meticulously engraved in his memory.
Johannes Hendricus: Topalov makes “chess look very simple?” Speaking for myself, I can only say he shows me that there is a level of chess I can, in wildly optimistic moments, hope to understand, but emulate: never, not in a thousand years. “Simple chess” was perhaps played by Smyslov at his peak?
Lastly: I had the utmost admiration for Topalov before Elista. I cannot maintain that enthusiasm. I certainly do not feel competent to pronounce on the claims of cheating, but the acrimony Topailov (”we are one person”) has brought into the world of chess sickens me, and probably many other lovers of our game.
Chessbase should be sued if they keep posting rubbish like that.
After read all opinions, i come to give my contribution for this “council”.
1. Topalov don’t deserves any attack he’d suffered. His is a great player and very dedicated to the “chess cause”. Someone can don’t like his personality, but this don’t justify agressions like those pointed.
2. Kramnik is too a very good ans strong player and who could forget he won Kasparov and Topalov?… But his results on important competitions were poor and almost a misterious, since we all expect from him exactly the opposite extreme. Maybe Kramnik don’t have the wish to win nothing else except on WC matches (what is not a simple task…); maybe he haven’t the energy necessary to do it…
3. For these reasons, Kasparov remais the name to be remembered, and everybody who loves chess still dreams about his results, in tournaments or on the WC matches…
Kasparov remais the bigger name of the modern chess.
From Brasil, Inácio.
Does any one remember the match b/w Kasparov-Kramnik, and Kasparov’s comments one year after that.
Kramnik and his team persistently declined a replay …
‘If this is a man’ - (to paraphrase Primo Levi), or, better, deja’ vu.
Ja, Kramnik vertegenwoordigd Rusland met Putin aan de macht!
De match (lang geleden) tussen Fischer en Spaski heeft Rusland zich ook bedenkelijk gedragen (boek: david Edmonds & John Eidinow – Fischer trekt ten strijde).
Voormalig Sovjet was niet vies van beĂŻnvloeden van een match, geef Kramnik de voordeel van de twijfel, eerlijk gezegd zou het me niet verbazen als de kabel op de WC ergens voordiende.
Toch heeft Kramnik in het Rapid laten zien wie de sterkste is, laten we hopen dat de volgende match minder niet schaakstof doet op waaien.
Niemand is ermee gediend en zeker niet de schaaksport!
Hi all,
I think Topalov and his fans have a big problem, they can’t accept a defeat. Kramnik beat Topalov in Elista last year, so Kramnik must be accused of cheating, of playing like a coward and so on from their point of view.
I like both a good attack of Topalov and a really fine positional game of Kramnik, so please don’t say Kramnik isn’t worth being a World Champion! He is, but he plays a style which is not that spectacular.
FIDE made a mistake when they didn’t think of giving the looser a chance to take place in the next World Championship Qualification.
Greets from Austia
Alexander, learn how to read then come back. It was the arbiter who stopped Danailov’s behaviour in the first place.
Weren’t we supposed to stop this?
please Jeroen… we need your analisis :]]