Veselin Topalov was a guest at the online studio of Kod Sport in his home country, Bulgaria. In a video titled “I was among 3000 prisoners in Medelin” he talked on multiple topics, including the current state of chess, his manager Danailov, the role of computer chess, his loss from Anand in Sofia, the state of Bulgarian chess, his games in the prison in Medelin, and more.
Topalov extensively talked about cheating in chess and the connection to his match with Kramnik in Elista.
Topalov on cheating in chess
“The problem of cheating is huge. Especially online. I agree that 2% of the games played online involve cheaters. But the problem is only going to get worse as human chips are coming […] At this moment Neuralink is in development and the moment you have a calculator and an opening book in your brain, there is no point. […] Maybe Elon Musk or a clone of him will be world champion one day.”
On his match with Kramnik
We played on a podium and while the opponent was pondering on a move, you could go to a rest area. Each player had a room, and each room had a toilet. While playing, you do not know what your opponent is doing in his rest room. All this was recorded on cameras. Our delegation found Kramnik’s behavior suspicious and according to the rules we filed an appeal. […] The big problem was that Kramnik’s statements were not matching what was seen on the video recordings. […] He not only did not manage to explain [his behavior] but he simply lied. To cover up all, the video recordings disappeared. I am almost certain that their agents and institutions have made a few copies, but I do not have access to prove that I was right. The very fact that evidence was destroyed is admittance of guilt. If we see what happened later in Sochi, WADA took the license of the Russian Federation because they were destroying evidence. […] It is ironical that now Kramnik presents himself as defender of anti-cheating and requests full transparency from organizers and platforms.
