10/02/2006

AFTER MUCH WRANGLING, WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CONTINUES WITH GAME 6


After the infamous "toilet incident" which has garnered worldwide attention, the President of FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and of the Republic of Kalmykia where the match is taking place, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, returned from a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi to try and save the World Championship reunification match.

With his legacy in the chess world undoubtedly at stake, Ilyumzhinov, who has been much maligned during both his presidencies (FIDE and Kalmykia), was able to save the match. He somehow was able to resolve the bathroom situation, and took the decision to restart the match (after two timeouts) at Game 6, leaving Veselin Topalov with the forfeit point he was awarded on Friday for Kramnik's refusal to play.

The question was: would Kramnik agree to play or would he fly home in protest?

As it turned out, when the game started at 7am Eastern Time, Kramnik was there, though he played "under protest" (this is what the pundits say he should have done for Game 5). They played and, despite Topalov retaining nagging pressure throughout the game, Kramnik was able to hold the draw.

Kramnik leads the match 3.5-2.5, with 6.5 points needed to win. 6 games remain.

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