Sunday, September 24, 2006 Cebuano chessers split between Topalov, Kramnik By Jaime Frias II Sun.Star Correspondent
Most Cebuano woodpushers have placed their bets on Grandmaster Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, who will face Russian Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik in yesterday's World Chess Championship Match at Elista, the capital of Kalmykia.
The match officially opened last Thursday through the presentation of players at Kalmykia's National Football Stadium.
But the game had started yesterday 3 p.m. (Elista time), with Kramnik taking on the white pieces.
Among those rooting for the top-rated Topalov is Fide Master Anthony Makinano, who said the Bulgarian has a strong killing instinct and isn't afraid of taking a risk in gambling unclear positions at the board.
Makinano, for his part, chose Topalov because he has improved his rating on his way to becoming the only third player in the world to reach the 2800-barrier, next to former world champion Garry Kasparov and Kramnik, the Classical Chess champion.
The indomitable spirit to win also endeared Topalov, the Fide world champion, to the players of the Bibo Chess Club and veteran National Master Ben Macapaz of Mandaue City.
Macapaz's reason choosing Topalov over Kramnik is the former's solid and tactical brand, which according to Macapaz, will break Kramnik's positional style.
Rodrigo Alejandre, the 2005 Rose Pharmacy Chess Knock-out finalist, though, picks Kramnik, who has more experience in world championship matches..
Sun.Star Cebu chess columnist, Boy Pestaño, is also placing his bet on the Russian grandmaster, who had been scouted by ex-champion Kasparov and found Kramnik a phenomenal player at just 15.
Reports culled from the website www.chessbase.com show that Kramnik has won 10 games over the Bulgarian while the latter has only won five games versus Kramnik.
The World championship match is a reunification match between the Fide champ and the Classical Chess champ to finally come up with one world champ.
