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The full, Russian lanquage version of this interview has been published at the Chess Ukraine website (www.chesspage.kiev.ua) and also in the October 5th issue of the popular Ukrainian newspaper Segodnya (today.viaduk.net).
...Everything happened at once, - Ruslan complains. - A week ago my coach and manager Mikhail Nikitovich has died suddenly. He was the second father for me; we have been working together for nine years. I feel lost without him... And the chess troubles are on top of all that...
What problems may the world champion have?
...The idea of joining the versions has appeared long ago and I fully support it. It is strange though that the championship organizers do not square up with me, absolutely. Nobody informs me on the taken decisions, moreover I have got an impression that some data is just being concealed. Recently I called an assistant of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, the International Chess Federation President, and asked about the agenda of the next FIDE Congress in Bled. He answered confusedly that it is not clear. And there is only one month left before the Congress opens.
By the way, the final decision on the absolute world championship procedure will be taken in Bled...
Quite so. There are preliminary plans that, as the FIDE world champion, I am to meet Garry Kasparov in the semi-final while the Brain Games world champion Vladimir Kramnik will meet Peter Leko who won the Dortmund qualifying tournament. There is an unclear aspect in such a scheme. Kasparov lost the world championship match to Kramnik and refused to play in Dortmund... Then, why he was admitted straight to the semi-final?! Would it not have been simpler to join the versions in a single match and let two champions - Kramnik and me to play?
Still, your duel with Kasparov has been announced as early as in May at the Prague summit. Why you haven't made your position clear then?
At that time it was rather a declaration of intentions. I have signed no contracts. Also, it would have been imprudent to declare my disagreement without considering all nuances: somebody might have said that Ponomariov was just afraid of Kasparov. Nowadays, everybody can see with naked eye that they want to create the most favourable terms for Garry Kimovich. We may start from saying that even the match against Deep Junior, that FIDE has promised me, was given to Kasparov. That was a chance for me to earn money and spend them on preparation for a match against Kasparov. The second aspect concerns the schedule of the matches. Presumably, I shall play against Garry Kimovich in May. Should I win, then I shall have to play the final already in autumn. Maybe, with Kramnik. However I won't have enough time for a normal rest and preparation for the second match.
What do you think, may be the way out of this situation?
I shall express my position at the FIDE Congress. If the delegates will decide on the match Ponomariov - Kasparov, I will not hide myself - I will play. Still, I'll try to assure at least equal terms.
© Chess-Sector.odessa.ua
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