Such news now comes from Elista, where Kramnik and Topalov hold a unifying championship match for the title of the best chess player on the planet.
The head of the Bulgarian delegation Silvio Danailov announced the threat to boycott the match. He is worried not so much by the fact of Kramnik’s absence from need, as by the number of such absences. The Bulgarians estimated that Kramnik visits the restroom on average 50 times during one batch. "The toilet is the only place that is not equipped with video surveillance systems, and therefore no one can say what Kramnik does there," Silvio Danailov is outraged. He recalls how in the fourth game, which ended in a draw, Kramnik, making the 15th move, began to go to the bathroom every minute. And after the 16th move of Topalov, the Russian first went to the toilet, and only then - an elephant on d6.
“A logical question arises: how many times can a person go to the toilet during a chess game?” The authors of the letter are perplexed. “It would be logical to do this five, well, a maximum of ten times. But not fifty! Therefore, we propose to forbid chess players to use fair play separate toilets, visit the public, and then only with the permission of the judge. "
Given the outward absurdity of the Bulgarian claims, it is clear that Topalov, or rather, his manager hints at the unsportsmanlike nature of the struggle on the part of Kramnik. Perhaps, the Bulgarians think that in the toilet their opponent gets some sort of clue. 50 absences during the game - it's still a bit much. However, the explanation here may not be necessarily criminal or physiological. Perhaps Kramnik was thus trying to get Topalov out of himself, to prevent him from concentrating on the game.
As for the toilets, we can not say anything. However, Izvestia chess columnist Alexander Roshal, one of the few, managed to get into the lobby of the conference hall of the Government of the Republic of Kalmykia, where the match is taking place, and visit the restrooms of the title-seekers. “They have only one difference, but very characteristic,” he said. “The TV monitors were removed from there at all, and the display board is present only in Kramnik’s room. Topalov, who himself does not intend to retire at all, didn’t mind at all.”
One way or another, and the Bulgarians turned to the organizers of the match with a demand to accept an ultimatum. As a deadline, they named 10 am Friday, September 29th. If his demands are not satisfied, Topalov intends to refuse to continue the fight and leave Elista. At the time of writing these lines, Kramnik had not reacted to the allegations.
3 moves in 13 minutes
An open letter from manager Silvio Danailov, published on Thursday at the website of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, gives a per-minute chronology of the behavior of Vladimir Kramnik between his 15th and 16th moves in the third installment of the match with Veselin Topalov:
15.54 - Kramnik makes the 15th move;
15.55 - enters the toilet room;
15.56 - leaves the toilet room;
15.57 - enters the toilet room;
15.59 - leaves the toilet room;
03.16 - enters the toilet room;
04/16 - leaves the toilet room;
07/16 - makes the 16th move.
Denis Bystrov