the match to take place 16-28 February, 2009
18th November
Even though it is a rest day at the Chess Olympiad, Chessdom is again live from Dresden. Kamsky has agreed to the conditions and the match Topalov – Kamsky will take place in Sofia. Tonight the two grandmasters will sign the official documents.
The negotiations have continued over 5 hours. For Topalov have spoken his manager Silvio Danailov and the President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation Stefan Sergiev, while Kamsky has been represented by Emil Sutovsky.
Recent development:
FIDE Sets Final Ultimatum To Chernienko (4th November)
Match Kamsky-Topalov Offered To Bulgarian Chess Federation (6th November)
Open Letters From Bill Goichberg, Susan Polgar and Gata Kamsky (8th November)
Bulgaria ready to host the match Kamsky – Topalov (10th November)
Update 16:30 CET
The PR manager of Veselin Topalov, Zhivko Ginchev, has confirmed the news for the Focus news information agency. He commented, “This is a very good success for us.”
16:45 CET
Official reactions are expected any moment now.
17:15 CET
Zhivko Ginchev has confirmed for BTA agency the dates of the challengers match Topalov – Kamsky. It will take place 16-28 February 2009. Initially the dates offered by the Bulgarian Chess Federation have been 3-15 February, but Kamsky has requested later dates. The reason is that Gata Kamsky will participate in the Corus 2009 tournament.
17:30 CET
According to unofficial information Gata Kamsky will not be represented anymore by Oleksander Chernenko. The USA player has been represented by Sutovski. Kamsky participated in the negotiations as well, which is different than the initial info from Dresden.
17:35 CET
In the official statements (yet to come from Dresden) the Bulgarian side will guarantee the financial conditions, despite the deep financial crisis of the country (today the Bulgarian stock exchange sunk 10% and has lost over 50% of its value in the last 20 days). The amount guaranteed will be 250 000 USD plus 50 000 for FIDE.
18:00 CET
Macauley Peterson writing for ICC Chess.FM confirms the news and adds, “In attendance were Gata Kamsky, Emil Sutovsky (Kamsky’s second and now de facto manager), Silvio Danailov (manager of Topalov), Stefan Sergiev (President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation), Israel Gelfer (Honorary FIDE Vice President), William Kelleher (FIDE Vide President and USCF Delegate), Georgios Makropoulos (Deputy FIDE President), Zurab Azmaiparashvili (FIDE Vice President), Boris Kutin (Continental President for Europe), Berek Balgabaev (special advisor to President Illyumzhinov) and Lakhdar Mazouz (FIDE Verification Commission). Topalov himself, was not present, nor was Alexander Chernenko, previously serving as Mr. Kamsky’s manager and organizer of the so-called “Lviv bid” for the match. As recently as last Friday, Chernenko in an open letter stated, “I will be present at the FIDE Congress as the Manager of GM Gata Kamsky.”
19th November
FIDE has come out with a press release stating:
“Today Tuesday 18th November, FIDE is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached for the organization of the Challenger Match between Topalov and Kamsky.
The match will take place in Sofia (Bulgaria) from 16 to 28 February 2009.
A prize money of USD 250 000 will be shared equally by the players.”
Discussions included also – match regulations, security, conditions of fair play, hospitality, supervision of the match, transportation.
Both teams agreed on the appointment of IA Ignatius Leong (Singapore) and Ashot Vardapetian (Armenia) as arbiters and Mr Hall Bond (Canada) as Match Supervisor.
Furthermore GM Kamsky informed the participants of the meeting that Mr Alexander Chernenko is no longer representing him.
“FIDE is happy to state that the meeting with both delegations has taken place in a very friendly and constructive atmosphere. FIDE thanks both teams for their exceptional cooperation and their readiness to settle all differences that surrounded the preparation of the agreement.”
20th November
Our sources from Dresden have confirmed that match contacts are now signed. At the same time, Veselin Topalov withdraws from Linares 2009. Amiel Rosario quotes Silvio Danailov saying that participation was canceled “on friendly terms”.
