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Chess Grandmaster Gets Public Trial
The World Chess Federation (French abbreviation FIDE) announced yesterday that its first-ever public hearing will be held on July 28 in Athens to consider the scandalous accusations made by Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov and his manager Silvio Danailov during and after the championship match against Vladimir Kramnik for the title of classic world cahmpion in Elista last year. If an independent ethics committee finds that Topalov and Danailov violated FIDE ethics and caused moral damage to championship winner Kramnik, they face punishment ranging up to three years' disqualification under the FIDE ethics code.
According to FIDE ethics committee chairman Roberto Rivello, the hearing will be held in the Royal Olympic Hotel in Athens. Former world champion Topalov and his manager are accused of violating four points of the FIDE ethics code by insulting Kramnik, the organizers of the championship and FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov during the championship in September and October of 2006, and after it.
In the past, the FIDE ethics committee, which was reformed at the congress in Turin last year, has played a formal, non-decisive role in the organization, so this hearing will set a precedent.
At issue are accusations made by Topalov and Danailov at the championship that Kramnik received advise while in the bathroom during the championship and comments made by Topalov to the Spanish publication ABC on December 18 of last year, repeating the same accusations and saying that he received anonymous threats that he would not leave Elista if he won the championship and that the Kremlin had ordered a Russian champion.
Danailov declined to comment on the subject yesterday. Kramnik's manager Karsten Hensel confirmed that he and Kramnik had filed complaints at the championship and after the ABC interview, but emphasized that they were distancing themselves from the five-member ethics committee to guarantee its impartiality. Topalov and Danailov recently were cleared of charges of cheating themselves.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 19, 2007
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