Only have time for a quick post today, so let me just mention that Game Seven of the big chess match ended in a draw in 60 moves. Topalov once again had white, and once again failed to get anywhere against Kramnik's Slav Defense. In fact, towards the end it was Topalov who had to play carefully to secure the draw.
Alas, the Topalov camp has now explicitly charged Kramnik with cheating. The claim is based on a comparison of Kramnik's moves to those selected by the well-known computer chess playing program Fritz. You can find the charges laid out here. The Chess Ninja explains why this is thin evidence indeed.
So now it seems the match is in jeopardy once again. Topalov is making an utter fool of himself with these baseless charges. It's hard not to fantasize about what would have happened if Topalov had pulled off his much deserved win in the second game. Then the score would have been tied and all of the momentum would have been with Topalov. You can be sure he would not be wasting everyone's time with this nonsense in that case. Instead Topalov is embarrassing chess players everywhere with his ridiculous, unsubstantiated charges. Everyone can see that on the board Kramnik has had the better of it. Instead of showing a touch of class, Topalov is responding like a petulant child.
There is zero evidence that Kramnik is cheating, and ample evidence, in the form of some dubious moves he has played, that he is not. I was a big Topalov fan going into this match, but now I'm horrified by his behavior.
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Boo hiss Chess! It may be fun and intellectual to play with a friend, but wow what a turnoff these blog posts are to the entire enterprise of the game. Thank goodness I like strategy and frustration too much to abandon playing it myself.
thanks.