http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1031


Ponomariov: 'I can beat Kasparov'

FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov has given another interview, this time
to the Russian sports magazine Sport Express. In it he repeats his
dissatisfaction with the way FIDE has handled the organisation of his
September match against Garry Kasparov and sets his demands for
reimbursement for financial losses at $150,000. Here's an English
transcription of the interview.

The interview with Ponomariov was conducted by the Russian journalist Yury
Vassiliev, who sent the questions to the FIDE world champion by email.
Ponomariov answered them in a reply mail. Vassiliev points out that he
somehow had an impression that not all questions were answered by Ponomariov
alone.

There are three key points in the interview: Ponomariov still demands
$150,000 from FIDE (and not $100,000 offered by FIDE to him and Kasparov).
He also insists on the semifinal status in the unification cycle of his
match with Kasparov, which contradicts the resolution of the FIDE Council in
Bucharest. Finally, he wants both himself and Kasparov to start the next
cycle from the quarter-final stage.

The interview was translated by Andrei Granik.

Question: I've been told that the official date and location of your match
with Kasparov will be announced in late June - early July. It appears that
the presidents of the Ukraine and FIDE Leonid Kuchma and Kirsan Ilumzhinov
have agreed in principle that the match will take place in Yalta, and that
the first moves of game 1 will be made by the two leaders of the Russian and
Ukrainian states.

Ponomariov: I still don't know about the date of the official announcement
regarding my match. I still have not seen a satisfactory draft of my
contract with FIDE either, and I don't know Kasparov's opinion concerning
this contract. Thus I think it's premature on my part to talk about that.

Question: How do you feel about the match taking place on your territory, in
the Ukraine, in Yalta?

Ponomariov: I was preparing for Buenos Aires, and I find it very sad that
the match was cancelled. At the same time, if the president of my country
has agreed that the match will take place in Yalta, obviously I won't
object. The climate of Yalta suits me.

Question: Do you think that in Yalta you will have more supporters than
Kasparov, which might give you a psychological advantage?

Ponomariov: I don't agree. I think Kasparov has at least as many supporters
in Yalta as I do. Besides, unlike soccer, in chess there is no need for the
12th player. Yalta does not give me any psychological advantage.

Question: Who would benefit more from the change in the timetable of the
match, you or your experienced opponent?

Ponomariov: I think that this change is equally detrimental to both of us.

Question: Recently you have said that you reached the peak of your form in
the middle of June and felt that you could beat Kasparov. Are you really so
confident?

Ponomariov: I have great respect for Kasparov and his chess talent. But if I
did not think I could beat him, there would be no point of playing him. I
did indeed reached my peak by the middle of June.

Question: And what about your shape in September? Will you be able to
progress even further?

Ponomariov: I can't really tell, but will be preparing for the match.

Question: Now let me touch upon your recent notorious press-conference. Do
you still insist upon financial reimbursement from FIDE for canceling your
match in Argentina, or maybe your position has changed?

Ponomariov: I don't find anything notorious about the press conference
organized by the newspaper "Ves Sport". My demand of financial reimbursement
is both lawful and just. The possibility of such reimbursement is even
mentioned in paragraph 6.2 of the unsatisfactory draft of the contract for
the match, given to me by FIDE and rejected by me. And in a letter written
by Mr. Omuku, in which FIDE replies to my financial claims, it promises to
reimburse me and Kasparov to the amount of $100,000. However, I estimate the
financial damage caused by the cancelation of the match in Buenos Aires to
be $150,000. I still insist upon full reimbursement and that the sum be paid
immediately, and not by August 15th, as promised by FIDE.

Question: Will you continue to insist that your match with Kasparov have the
status of the semi-final of the unification cycle, and not the final for the
FIDE World championship, as was decided by the FIDE Presidential Council in
Bucharest? And don't you fear that such demands can create unsurmountable
obstacles to organizing the match in Yalta?

Ponomariov: All questions regarding the signing of the contract for the
match should be solved through mutual consensus. I strongly dislike it when
FIDE tries to dictate its position to me. I hope FIDE will change its ways,
and then we will be able to reach the contract by way of mutual concessions.
In legal matters I fully rely on the experienced Ukrainian lawyers.

Question: Why have you come up with an additional demand to FIDE: that both
participants of your match with Kasparov start the next cycle from the
quarter-final stage?

Ponomariov: This has been mentioned in the general principles of the
unification process formulated by Yasser Sierawan. I think this requirement
is just. Such was the idea of the Prague agreement, one paragraph of which
declared that I should play Kasparov with this provision. Otherwise I don't
see any sense in my match with Kasparov.

Question: Do you plan to play anywhere before your match in Yalta?

Ponomariov: I don't know yet as the new date for the match seriously
interfered with my schedule.

Question: Will the youngest GM in the world Sergey Karjakin remain your
training camp for the period of your preparation for the match? And what can
you say about his progress and his performance in Leon?

Ponomariov: My coaching team must now be formed from scratch, taking into
account playing schedules of those who had been there before. I don't know
about Karjakin's plans. I think that he is making progress. He played well
in Leon, but did not have enough luck.

Question: Are you settling down in Kiev?

Ponomariov: No, I have not moved to Kiev yet, partly due to the situation
which resulted from rescheduling the match.

Question: How are you going to prepare for your September match with
Kasparov?

Ponomariov: I still don't know.

I do not think his demands are so unreasonable.

He wants to be paid the same as Kasparov, that seems to be the 'key' issue.

Perhaps, if Kasparov wants the fast-track back to the World Championship, he
should give a little and get the match under way. It should be an easy win
for Kasparov based on experience. His problem is 'time' he is aging now and
his mental form is decreasing as the years tick by.

A smart move would be to win the World Championship and retire from serious
play.

Hopefully, Garry will put his chess knowledge in print and share it with
generations to come !

"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1031

Ponomariov continues to be a tough person to deal with and his demands
continue to be unreasonable.

The chess world will not object if FIDE simply boots him out and
ignores him hereafter.

Sam Sloan

Have you read the demands of Ponomariov?

Among other things, he is demanding to be paid $150,000 "damages" by
FIDE because his match in Argentina was cancelled when the sponsors
could not raise the money.

Never in chess history has a player demanded to be paid so much for a
match which was never played.

He also demands that his match with Kasparov be deemed a semi-final
match, not a match for the World Championship. What this means is that
even if he looses the match to Kasparov, he will still be World
Champion.

Who ever heard of such a thing? What sponsor will pay such a large
amount of money if the match is not for the World Chess Championship?

Remember that Ponomariov was also demanding draw odds from Kasparov.

If it were me in charge of FIDE, I would just ignore the crazy demands
of Ponomariov and forget about him.

Ponomariov seems to think that the title of World Chess Champion is
his personal property, not a title awarded by an international
sporting organization.

Sam Sloan

Have you read the demands of Ponomariov?

Who?

Russian chess masters are like heavy metal drummers. A dime a dozen. How
many times have we heard about Flavorofthemonthski or Hotnewgrandmasterkov,
only to forget about them two months later?

TMB

Ponomariov seems to think that the title of World Chess Champion is
his personal property, not a title awarded by an international
sporting organization.

Sam Sloan


It sounds like you are describing kasparov to a tee. Remember
Ponomariov is the only one with a Title from a legitimate sporting
organization. He is FIDE Champion. Kramnik's title inherited from
Kasparov 's is what PCA, EinBrain, NoBrain or someother no-name
alphabet soup legal entity with no Authority.

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 02:51:32 GMT, "Gunny Bunny"
wrote:

I do not think his demands are so unreasonable.

He wants to be paid the same as Kasparov, that seems to be the 'key' issue.


I completely agree, IMO there's a simple reason for those demands: To
prepare for a match Pono needed to engage one or more good GM's for
training and a team for the match. He may have made contracts for
that. The GM's need to be paid. Their contracts have to be changed due
to the changed date of the match. And additional money is needed. The
reason is solely a FIDE matter, so they have to pay.

Perhaps, if Kasparov wants the fast-track back to the World Championship, he
should give a little and get the match under way. It should be an easy win
for Kasparov based on experience. His problem is 'time' he is aging now and
his mental form is decreasing as the years tick by.

I guess that probably there are unusual problems for Kasparov for
preparing for the match, as -at least - the opening preparation is
very difficult, if you look at the lines used by Pono in the last
months. These youngsters develop very fast, so games from lets say
2000 may be much too old to check for preparation.
I think it will be a tough match. Kasparov has the same problems now
that Karpov had in the 80's when facing Kasparov.

Andreas

On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 03:51:35 GMT, (Sam Sloan)
wrote:

Have you read the demands of Ponomariov?

Among other things, he is demanding to be paid $150,000 "damages" by
FIDE because his match in Argentina was cancelled when the sponsors
could not raise the money.

Never in chess history has a player demanded to be paid so much for a
match which was never played.


As you cite in your own post, he does not want to be paid for the
match. The usual "Kasparovian" lies again. The reasons are logical and
reasonable (compare my other post in this thread).

He also demands that his match with Kasparov be deemed a semi-final
match, not a match for the World Championship. What this means is that
even if he looses the match to Kasparov, he will still be World
Champion.

Per Definitionem this *is* a semifinal match for the Championship. It
is quite ridiculous that Kasparov (and his puppets from FIDE and other
organizations) redefine it as a Championship (final) match. The only
reason for that can be that they (Kasparov and FIDE) believe that the
final (winner of Kasparov vs Pono vs winner of Kramnik vs Leko) will
never be played. By that Kasparov can claim that he - if he wins - is
champ again.
And the claim of Pono is *not* that if he looses the match he will
still be champ, but if he looses the match *and* there will be no
final, that then he will still be champ. And that's something *quite*
different. Here too Ponos argumentation is quite logical. A tourney
that is not finished has no winner. That's quite normal.
Your argumentation is yet another *Kasparovian* one, twisting and
turning the truth.


Who ever heard of such a thing? What sponsor will pay such a large
amount of money if the match is not for the World Chess Championship?

ROTFL, are the sponsors defining the kind of tourney today?


Remember that Ponomariov was also demanding draw odds from Kasparov.


Remember that in a title match (as FIDE and Kasparov now see it !!!)
the champ nearly always had that advantage? That Kasparov had that
advantage in every match he held when he was Champ?
Again this was a logical and reasonable argument of Pono.

If it were me in charge of FIDE, I would just ignore the crazy demands
of Ponomariov and forget about him.

Seems that the Chess world is lucky that you are not.


Ponomariov seems to think that the title of World Chess Champion is
his personal property, not a title awarded by an international
sporting organization.

In fact it is just the other way round, Kasparov thinks that the title
is *his* personal property, and even more ridiculously - his puppets
from FIDE agree.

Andreas

Sam,

Pono is the FIDE W-C and that is a fact. He feels he has weight in the
chess world because of it.

He is demanding the $ 150,000 because that is how much he had to pay lawyers
to draw the deal that fell apart, I can understand that.

The bottom line is if he loses the match to Kasparov nobody will consider
him the WC of anything, so it does not matter !


"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
Have you read the demands of Ponomariov?

Among other things, he is demanding to be paid $150,000 "damages" by
FIDE because his match in Argentina was cancelled when the sponsors
could not raise the money.

Never in chess history has a player demanded to be paid so much for a
match which was never played.

He also demands that his match with Kasparov be deemed a semi-final
match, not a match for the World Championship. What this means is that
even if he looses the match to Kasparov, he will still be World
Champion.

Who ever heard of such a thing? What sponsor will pay such a large
amount of money if the match is not for the World Chess Championship?

Remember that Ponomariov was also demanding draw odds from Kasparov.

If it were me in charge of FIDE, I would just ignore the crazy demands
of Ponomariov and forget about him.

Ponomariov seems to think that the title of World Chess Champion is
his personal property, not a title awarded by an international
sporting organization.

Sam Sloan

--

"Sam Sloan" wrote in message him.

Ponomariov seems to think that the title of World Chess Champion is
his personal property, not a title awarded by an international
sporting organization.

Sam Sloan

Don't they all?

Have you read the demands of Ponomariov?

Among other things, he is demanding to be paid $150,000 "damages" by
FIDE because his match in Argentina was cancelled when the sponsors
could not raise the money.

I may have read this wrong, but I thought he was due to get $100,000,
but is asking for an additional $50,000 (bringing the "total" to
$150,000). Either way, I don't see him getting a penny extra just
because the match was postponed.


He also demands that his match with Kasparov be deemed a semi-final
match, not a match for the World Championship. What this means is that
even if he looses the match to Kasparov, he will still be World
Champion.

Well, certainly the overall "plan" is that it is a semi-final,
culminating in a reunification match between Kasparov/Ponomariov and
Kramnik/Leko. Of course, if that match doesn't happen, then it would
seem that, "semi-final" or not, the winner would be "FIDE World
Champion".


Ponomariov seems to think that the title of World Chess Champion is
his personal property, not a title awarded by an international
sporting organization.


Yeah, he's right in line with folks like Kasparov. Problem is, of
course, is that while he has a title of "World Champion" right now, he
has very little real clout in the chess world - FIDE is holding the
cards on their side (esp. with Kasparov presumably back in their good
graces), and Kasparov has not only a much longer track record, but also
much more marketability (at least for now).

I think Ponomariov fails to realize that his moment of fame may be about
to pass him by. He may be the current FIDE World Champion, but if he
ends up defaulting because of his demands, he will probably go down in
history as merely a footnote to the world title - just like Khalifman,
and Anand (although I think Anand may have more of a chance at winning
the title in the future than Ponomariov). Playing this match with
Kasparov may be his only shot at really establishing himself as one of
the top players of the day. It's put up or shut up time for Ponomariov.

John