----- Original Message -----

From: ROUSTAM KAMSKY

To: office@fide.com ; kalmykia@center.ru ; fide@inbox.ru

Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 6:15 AM

Subject: Open Letter from Roustam Kamsky to FIDE President

February 28, 2008

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE President

office@fide.com

kalmykia@center.ru ; fide@inbox.ru

Open letter from Mr. Roustam Kamsky to FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, in response to the FIDE decisions regarding the 2008 Championship and the Championship standing of GM Kramnik and GM Topalov as well as other relevant issues concerning the game of chess.

It is appears that as FIDE President and the President of Kalmyk Republik and a representative of Russian Government you have on numerous occasions ruled and advanced the position of Russian chess players directly violating the true spirit of sportsmanship in favor of your countrymen.

The first example is the 1996 world chess championship Kamsky –Karpov match held in Elista, Russia, where GM Karpov got unquestionable advantage by playing in Russia.

The second example is the upcoming 2008 Kramnik –Anand match. In 2007 Kramnik lost his title in Mexico City, but miraculously he was granted the privilege to challenge Anand in 2008. Thus without a prior selection GM Kramnik received a chance to compete at a final stage of 2008 world championship, a second bite at the apple. You have to ask yourself, is that a fair game?

GM Vladimir Kramnik is a nice guy. He is the only hope of Russian chess, or so it seems. However he was not able to successfully compete in any qualifying chess competitions neither under the PCA’s championship cycle nor under FIDE’s. In 2000 he was selected by a whim of Gary Kasparov to play in a private Kasparov-Kramnik match. Kramnik was selected despite his loss to GM Shirov, who was qualified as the legitimate challenger for the PCA crown. While Kramnik was not recognized as the champion by the majority of chess grandmasters after his win against Kasparov, and without other qualification, Kramnik was allowed to play a 2006 ‘reunification’ FIDE match against Topalov in Elista where Kramnik won. In 2006 Russia had its world champion who in 2007 lost his title in Mexico City.

In 2007 FIDE makes another unprecedented move – it allows Topalov a second bite at the apple. In order to avoid litigation with Topalov and Danailov, FIDE allows Topalov to challenge the 2007 World Cup Winner. Note that both Kramnik who in 2007 lost his title in Mexico City as well as Topalov who lost his title in 2006 in Elista were able to participate in the 2007 World Cup but they refused to play there.

FIDE president has unlimited power and the final decision making capacity, accordingly it was decided well in advance and without a good cause that FIDE will grant these two players privileges they did not deserve. FIDE made its decision which conflicts with the rights of 134 grandmasters who took part in NEW world championship cycle by competing in 2007 World Chess Cup. It is clear that these are only few examples of numerous violations of fair sportsmanship and basic rules of selections for the World Championship all of which point to the president.

Now, regarding the Topalov-Kamsky match. GM Kamsky, the winner of the 2007 World Cup, did qualify to play the championship match against GM Anand. The intermitted semi-final match clearly favors GM Topalov and should not have been approved by FIDE at all.

Mr. President, because of FIDE prior ruling allowing GM Topalov in the semi-final stage of the championship, GM Kamsky lost his right to play GM Anand for a price fund of 1.5 Mil Euro.

Further, in mid 2007 FIDE did have an alternative solution at its disposal by allowing GM Kramnik and GM Topalov to compete in a semi-final match with a prize fund of $150,000 for a chance to play with the 2008 World Champion, the winner of the title match between GM Anand and the Winner of 2007 World Cup.

Currently FIDE has been unwilling to rectify the existing situation and states that it has no money for the proper and comparable prize fund for the Topalov-Kamsky match. Also, FIDE states that the match in Bulgaria which has unequal bidding conditions from the beginning, will be organized with equal rights given to both players. However, FIDE President forgets that he did make similar “equal rights” promises times before and they failed.

Therefore due to numerous prior violations and an improper FIDE rule changes regarding participation of GM Topalov and GM Kramnik in the 2008 World Championship it is hereby respectfully requested that FIDE allocates a sum of $1,000,000 to organize and sponsor the Topalov-Kamsky match in a neutral country. If this reasonable request is not met, I believe that GM Kamsky will have no other recourse as to protect his rights in a court of law.

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

Sincerely,

Roustam Kamsky

P.S

I believe that it is important for FIDE to hear the voice of a public opinion, in case I do not receive FIDE’s response to this ‘Open Letter” within 7 days, I will urge the chess public, grandmasters and all who care about the chess to write, e-mail and contact FIDE directly so that FIDE will correct its mistake. In any respect, I believe that FIDE and Gata Kamsky prefer to resolve this issue amicable in that FIDE allocates the funds comparable for the level of such high level competition.

 

From: FIDE World Chess Federation

To: roustam@optonline.net

Cc: imwjd@aol.com ; bhall@uschess.org ; melendy@comcast.net ; Chessoffice@aol.com ; fide@inbox.ru ; kalmykia@center.ru

Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 9:12 AM

Subject: Re: Open Letter from Roustam Kamsky to FIDE President

Dear Mr Roustam Kamsky,

FIDE strongly condemns your continuous insults towards the FIDE President, a method which does not help in establishing proper communication between all parties.

All the technical details, mentioned in your open letter, have already been clarified by FIDE through our email below of 25 February.

Concerning your particular (and erroneous) statement that "GM Kamsky, the winner of the 2007 World Cup, did qualify to play the championship match against GM Anand", I clarify once more that the winner of the World Cup, according to FIDE regulations, doesn't get a direct match for the World Title. In 2005 the World Cup winner (Aronian) qualified for the Candidates Matches, in 2007 (Kamsky) qualified for a Challengers Semi-Final Match and the same will apply for the winner of the 2009 World Cup. The qualifying procedure is well-known and it was accepted by all players when they signed their undertaking for participating in the 2007 World Cup.

Georgios Makropoulos

FIDE Deputy President