First Classical World Chess Championship after four years
The
event was announced by the sponsors and organisers in a press conference which
was staged in the exclusive Hamburg hotel Vier Jahreszeiten. It will
take place in Switzerland from September 25 to October 18 this year. The location
is the Centro Dannemann and the prize fund one million Swiss Francs, which
currently converts to US $772,700 or €649,100.
The opening ceremony is on Friday, September 24, the 14 games will be played
on September 25, 26, 28, 30, October 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18. The
arbiters will be Dr. Markus Angst (Switzerland), Dr. Andrzej Filipowicz (Poland)
and Albert Vasse (Netherlands).
The press invitation, started off with the drawing of colours – with
a new and interesting twist. Adriana Madeira, a representative of Dannemann,
selected a square, f5, which was not revealed to the players. Kramnik and Leko
started a blitz game, and the first to place a piece on the selected square
got White in game one of the match.
Peter Leko managed with the move Nh4-f5 in the above position. So he will
be White in game one on September 25th.
Present at the press conference were Hans Leusen, President of Dannemann Brazil,
the title holder Vladimir Kramnik (28), challenger Peter Leko (24), ACP President
Joel Lautier and a few others involved in the staging of the match.
The press conference was attended by a group of around 40 journalists and photographers.
Hans Leusen, speaking in German with a pleasant Dutch accent, told the audience
that the size of the prize sum "underlines the global importance of this
tournament – our commitment is intended to contribute to the further
development and professionalisation of chess.“
The proceedings were simultaneously-translated for Vladimir Kramnik. Peter Leko
and Joel Lautier are both fluent in German. During the conference Vladimir's
mobile phone suddenly rang. There were no serious consequences, like disqualification
or anything.
One of the main speakers was Joel Lautier, who announced the full backing
of the event by the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP). His speech, which
is given below, retraced the schism in the chess world and the problems created
by the World Chess Federation FIDE. Lautier, who is also the tournament director
of the Dannemann event, presented the rules for the World Championship,
which according to ACP could also form the framework for future World Championship
duels. He set FIDE a deadline for October to organise the match between Kasparov
and the winner in Libya, or they would have to look at other reunification
options.
In his address Vladimir Kramnik mentioned that the person on the Dannemann
logo (behind his head) had a stunning resemblance to the first chess world champion
Wilhelm Steinitz. When asked about his chances against Leko he drew laughter
by quoting Alekhine, who speaking about his opponent Capablanca, said: "I
don't know how I'm going to beat him; but I also cannot imagine how he can
beat me." We have video-taped Kramnik's speech and will bring it to you
at a later date.
Peter Leko spoke about the importance this match has for him personally and
for the Hungarian chess community which has for such a long time been close
to providing a challenger for the World Championship but never quite made it
– until now. Peter told the audience that Hungary is planning live coverage
of the event in public places all over the country.
The two players pose with Hans Leusen and Adriana Madeira.
Adriana attaches a lucky band around Peter Leko's wrist
After the press conference the two players take time off to chat with each
other
About the Centro Dannemann SA – Brissago, Switzerland
Inspired by the success of the Centro Cultural Dannemann (Bahia, Brazil) at
the start of 2002, the Centro Dannemann was founded in Brissago. It is a place
where ideas, dreams and thoughts are found. The guests of the Centro Dannemann
include among other things: the Locarno Film Festival, the Ruggero Leoncavalo
Opera Festival and Miss Switzerland 2003. During the 2nd. Dannemann Chess Classico
on January 29, 2004 the reigning World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik beat
the German national team in a simultaneous
match with 2.5:1.5. Contacts:
Rosanna Pierantognetti
CENTRO DANNEMANN
Via R. Leoncavallo 55
Casella Postale 364
CH - 6614 Brissago
T +41 91 7868133
F +41 91 7868149
M +41 76 4995807
r.pierantognetti@centroDANNEMANN.com |
Ellie Zips
IRA WÜLFING KOMMUNIKATION
Infanteriestraße 19
Haus 4a
D-80797 München
T +49-(0)89-200030-31
F +49-(0)89-200030-40
M +49-(0)177-8168158
ellie.zips@wuelfing-kommunikation.de |
Links
Joel Lautier's Address at the Dannemann Press Conference on May 12, 2004,
in Hamburg
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
Obwohl es für mich immer eine aufregende Herausforderung ist, in Goethes
Sprache zu reden, reicht mein Wissen unglücklicher Weise nicht aus, um
meine Meinungen über einige der eher komplizierteren Themen, die ich heute
vor Ihnen erläutern werde, auszudrücken. Lassen sie sich nicht von
diesen wenigen deutschen Sätzen täuschen, da ich sie heute morgen
sorgfältig geübt habe. Wenn sie mir erlauben, wechsle ich jetzt auf
Englisch.
[This introduction says: It is always an exciting challenge for me to
speak in the language of Goethe. But my knowledge of it is unfortunately
insufficient to adequately express my opinion on the complicated themes which
I will explain to you today. Please do not be fooled by these German sentences
– I practised them carefully this morning. If you permit I will now
switch to English.]
Ladies and gentlemen,
For those of you who do not know me, I would like to introduce myself. My
name is Joel Lautier, I’m a chess Grandmaster and the highest rated player
in France. I am here in a different capacity however, as the President of the
ACP, the Association of Chess Professionals.
To start with, I would like to briefly describe the current situation in
the chess world. In order to do that, I need to go back a little in the history
of our game. In 1993, the then FIDE World Champion Garry Kasparov and his official
challenger Nigel Short left FIDE, the international chess federation, in order
to play their match under the roof of a new organization created specifically
for that purpose. Ever since that date, the chess world has been split in two,
FIDE continued to stage its world championship events, while Garry Kasparov
stayed away from them and played independent matches with his world title at
stake. After successfully defending it in 1993 and 1995, Kasparov was defeated
in 2000 by Vladimir Kramnik, who thus became the new World Champion. This schism
has remained to this day, and that is why we currently have two World Champions,
the FIDE titleholder Ruslan Ponomariov from Ukraine and the Classical World
Champion Vladimir Kramnik.
What exactly entails the title of “Classical” Champion must be
explained. It is a testimony to the fact that the holder of this title belongs
to the long, classical tradition of World Champions that goes all the way back
to 1886 and to Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Champion. Such a lineage of
champions is unique in the history of sports, and what makes it so valuable
is the fact that every World Champion has beaten his predecessor in a fair
duel. The only exceptions were in 1948 and 1975, but there were good reasons
for that: in the first case Alexander Alekhine abruptly died, while in the
second Bobby Fischer just stopped playing chess. Therefore, Garry Kasparov
himself, in his recent best-selling book “My Great Predecessors”,
only recognizes Vladimir Kramnik as the current World Champion, the fourteenth
in the history of chess.
Since 1993, FIDE has been struggling to hold its own championships, as it
was always lacking the participation of the strongest player at the time. In
2002, by signing the so-called ‘Prague Agreement’, FIDE recognized
the necessity to reunify the chess world. It took upon itself the responsibility
of organizing a FIDE title match between the current holder Ruslan Ponomariov
and Garry Kasparov. The winner of this match was due to meet the winner of
the Classical World Championship for the reunified title. For reasons that
are not fully elucidated to this day, the match between Ponomariov and Kasparov
was eventually cancelled by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. This means that
FIDE has gone one step backward in the reunification process, since Ponomariov
has lost his status as World Champion and now has to defend his title in a
large knock-out event involving 128 players before being able to play Kasparov
in a separate match. FIDE’s attitude towards Ponomariov is very questionable
and has provoked a strong reaction from Ponomariov who has refused to take
part in the knock-out world championship, but we shall not dwell on that now.
Vladimir Kramnik, in the meantime, has obtained a worthy challenger in the
person of Peter Leko, who convincingly won a very strong candidates’
tournament in Dortmund in 2002. Once their match will be over, we shall know
the name of the Classical World Champion and this part of the Prague Agreement,
at any rate, will have been fulfilled. FIDE’s part of the Prague deal,
however, is not likely to be delivered very soon. At the moment, FIDE is experiencing
serious difficulties in attracting the best players in its World Championship
knock-out event that will be staged in Libya in June-July. All the FIDE World
Champions since 1993, all four of them – Karpov, Khalifman, Anand and
Ponomariov, have refused to play in Libya. On top of that, out of the best
16 players in the world, 9 have declined to play in Libya, not counting Kasparov
who is granted a direct match for the FIDE title against the winner from Libya.
This basically means that FIDE has already failed in its avowed attempt to
reunify the chess world. It also means that in the current state of things,
FIDE’s World Championship title cannot be considered legitimate if so
many top players are missing from the competition.
As you can see, FIDE has not done a stellar job in running high-level chess
during the last years, and that is precisely why the ACP has come into existence.
In September 2003, a small group of strong professional players decided that
it was time to take matters in their hands and not let the bureaucrats from
FIDE or the ECU, the European branch of FIDE, dictate professional players
how and where they should play chess. This small group of players gathered
together and created the ACP, a not-for-profit international organisation established
in Paris under the French law. We actively started recruiting new members from
October 2003 and in December of last year, a Board of nine members was elected
to run the association and I was elected as its president. Eight months after
the birth of the ACP, we have more than 200 members, a large majority of which
are high-level professional chess players. The aim of the ACP is twofold, to
defend the rights of chess players worldwide and to promote chess by setting
up a circuit of professional chess events.
Both FIDE and the ECU have, unfortunately, given us a lot of work as far as
defending the players is concerned. I will just explain briefly some of the
more recent conflicts we have had to solve. As I mentioned previously, the
next FIDE World Championship will be a large knock-out event with 128 players,
to be staged in Tripoli, Libya. However, in order to take part, the participants
had to sign a so-called “Player’s Undertaking” that had very
little to do with a proper contract. It is actually a written commitment signed
by the players, which contains no obligations on FIDE’s part and does
not even bear any signature from a FIDE representative. This means that if
a dispute arises between a player and FIDE, the organization can use this document
at leisure while the player has no binding evidence of FIDE’s obligations
towards him or her. FIDE has turned a deaf ear to our offer of improving this
undertaking, as a result many top players have refused to sign it and have
consequently been excluded from the World Championship.
I must also point out that, by holding the FIDE World Championship in Libya,
FIDE is de facto depriving all Israeli players and several American participants
of a chance to fight for the world title. To this day, it is absolutely unclear
whether Israeli players are allowed to enter Libya, as FIDE’s press releases
assuring that all players will be granted visas have just been completely contradicted
by a public statement coming from the Libyan authorities claiming that they
never intended to allow Israeli citizens to enter Libya. If this were confirmed,
it would be an obvious breach of a basic sporting rule, namely that no participants
in a major sports competition can possibly be disqualified on account of race,
citizenship or religious beliefs.
Another striking example is FIDE’s absurd decision to stage the Women’s
World Championship in the city of Batumi, located in a province of Georgia
called Ajaria. This province was refusing to obey the central powers in the
capital Tbilisi, and therefore the Georgian government had warned FIDE and
the participants that it was against the staging of a World Championship in
Batumi, as it couldn’t guarantee the safety of the participants. The
ACP repeatedly asked FIDE to let common sense prevail and it finally did, but
at a very late stage. The event in Batumi has just been cancelled and moved
to Elista, capital of Kalmykia, only a couple of weeks prior to the event.
The list of FIDE’s management mistakes goes on and on, but I will bore
you no longer with that.
The second part of the ACP activity, promoting chess, has been more rewarding.
We have staged two successful Internet chess tournaments and we are now actively
working on building a unified circuit of tournaments called the ACP Tour. In
a nutshell, the idea is to group important existing tournaments, both at classical
and rapid time-controls, both from closed and open tournaments, all into one
system. The top performers of the season will then be qualified to a Masters
event that the ACP plans to organize at the end of next year. For some reason,
this simple model, which has worked very well for major individual sports such
as tennis, golf or Formula 1, has never been implemented in chess. Given the
time and means, we also envision to develop chess teaching for children, as
chess is ideally suited to help kids develop a strong sense of logic and therefore,
serves as an ideal introduction to mathematics and sciences in general. Numerous
other qualities are stimulated by the early practice of chess, such as independent
thinking, competitive drive or a sense for aesthetics, to name but a few. Chess
is best taught at an early age, around six or seven, when children usually
learn to read and their intellect develops at a very fast pace.
Having introduced the ACP, I would now like to state its role as far as the
Classical World Championship goes. For the reasons described previously, the
ACP recognizes the World Championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter
Leko, as opposed to the FIDE event in Libya. However, I must stress that the
sponsor Dannemann is the official rights’ holder to the Classical World
Chess Championship, therefore it would be incorrect to call this the ACP World
Championship. Nevertheless, the company Dannemann shares the views of the ACP
on the current situation in the chess world, that is why I have been offered
the function of match director, which it has been my honour to accept.
Of course, the big question on everyone’s mind is now: what will happen
after the World Championship match between Vladimir and Peter? Well, we all
agree that what chess needs more than anything else, is the reunification of
all the best players in one championship cycle. FIDE has such a damaged reputation
nowadays that we fear it will be hard for them to find sponsors to fulfil their
part of the reunification process. In fact, the only thing they have going
for them is Garry Kasparov’s commitment to play one match for the FIDE
title. However, even that may not last forever, since Kasparov has already
seen his match with Ponomariov twice announced and twice cancelled, in Buenos
Aires and Yalta. If FIDE struggles to find the financial backing for a match
between the winner in Tripoli and Kasparov, it is not quite clear how they
could stage a reunification match. The ACP position is the following: FIDE
should be given some time to stage its match between the winner in Tripoli
and Kasparov. By the end of the match in Brissago, we should already have a
fair idea of how far FIDE has advanced in that direction. If nothing definite
is announced by FIDE by the end of October 2004, the ACP will seriously consider
taking part in the reunification process. When the time comes, we shall advise
everyone in another press conference. Something tells me we might see each
other again in the near future!
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention.