GM Ben Finegold Apologizes for Ruining Topalov's Career

Clip with Ben and Pat [03-31-2024]

#benfinegold #chess #viewergameanalysis

[bradleonhardt]

Have you tried spinning him the other way?

[pastorofmuppets]

If you ever feel stupid, just remember Topalov tried to literally pick up Ben Finegold.

[Rubrickety]

Mikhail Tal also hid his smoking from his wife; as a result, his wife never actually set eyes on him.

[yosefcohen]

Kramnik was accused for years, of being a nerd.
Recently an eye-witness claims he saw him smoking and playing tennis at the same time.
Charges dismissed!

[cidd]

Topalov should have been 8 time world champion. Terrible.

[yotoober]

The KGB said that in those days Vaseline Topalov was a very slippery character. 🤯

[filipmunteanu]

0:26 He was in fact accused with evidences by IM Galchenko.

[andress]

idk who the guy is but its nice seeing someone laugh at bens jokes besides just me

[andsviat]

Cool. So Kramnik plays tennis on Nightmare difficulty.

[xwngdrvr]

Five minutes with Ben AND Trusty Sidekick!

[joepangia]

Ben Stole Topalov’s Mojo that faithful evening and subsequently gained promotion from IM to GM at the age of 40! A virtually unheard of feat!

[Matthew-bufg]

I always wondered why Topalov fell away in the 2015 Sinquefield Cup after starting out like an express train/Magnus blundering tactics

[jeremyfirth]

The inside-baseball stories are what keep me coming back.

[tomasz]

Topalov wasn't familiar with the "spin for the win" tactics, therefore he lost.

[isaakvandaalen]

You could say he was a spinning Top(alov).

[Aphixx]

Is ATL Chess Club still a thing? It says permanently closed on GMaps and the domain just has a parked name page-

[rickcarson]

I lost a lot of respect for Topalov during Toiletgate (2006), and this nonsense really solidified it:

(from a 2007 chessbase article)

> In the second round Topalov had the white pieces against the six times Dutch champion Loek van Wely. He castled queenside, van Wely kingside. Until the middlegame nothing special happened. This changed when manager Danailow entered the hall.

> During the following hour a strange ritual kept repeating itself. As soon as van Wely made a move Danailov rushed out of the hall and pulled his mobile phone out of his jacket. Did he just want to transmit birthday greetings? Check stock rates? He could also, every few minutes, have been phoning someone who, somewhere around the world, was following the game on the Internet.

> Whatever the explanation, Danailov would return to the hall after a short time, always move to the same corner of the spectator area and put on a pair of glasses, although he has not been known to wear spectacles before. Topalov sat on the left-hand side, from the point of view of the spectators, Danailov stood on the right-hand side, behind a barrier and in the anonymity of the masses, about 15 meters away from Topalov.

> From this vantage point he could see nothing of the game, not even the monitor that showed the position; but from that corner he could establish direct visual contact without Topalov having to move his head. Indeed Topalov looked up, when it was his turn to move, and as soon as he caught sight of Danailov in the corner, he would usually put his elbows on the table and fold his hands across his forehead.

> In this thinking pose it looked as though his eyes must be directed at the board, but he could also be peeking through his fingers at Danailov, who sometimes executed some strange movements.

> On move 26, for instance, he held his thumb between his teeth and moved it back and forth in the right corner of his mouth. After this Topalov took a knight on c5 with his bishop. Usually Danailov would immediately take off his glasses and disappear from the corner. The ritual would be repeated as soon as van Wely had made his move:

> Danailov would hurry out of the hall, make a phone call, and usually return after one to three minutes, going to the same corner and putting on his glasses. And while Topalov took on his thinking pose, his manager would scratch himself three to six times behind his ear, tap with his index finger on the glasses or execute other strange movements.

> On move 31 he once again had his thumb in his mouth, and Topalov captured a pawn on d3 with his rook. After 35 moves van Wely resigned in a hopeless position. Later it turned out that all the moves that Topalov had played in this decisive phase are also the first choices of the popular chess programs. “During the game I did not at all have the impression that anything was fishy, but I was also told that Danailov was behaving in a very suspicious fashion, ” said van Wely.

> The chief arbiter, too, had not noticed anything suspicious, but he said that he would be looking out for any conspicuous behaviour during Topalov’s next game. On the next day – in the game against the Russian (sic) Sergey Karjakin – Topalov was sitting more to the right in the playing area. Starting from move 20 the action started again: Danailov marched around. Only this time he went to the opposite side, the left corner. From there he could once again not follow the game, but could establish visual contact with Topalov. At this moment his position already looked precarious; Karjakin had the advantage.

> On move 23, with Danailov standing there with his glasses, the arbiter suddenly moved into the field of view and scrutinised the manager. On move 26 again the ritual was interrupted for a moment, when someone asked Danailov for a spontaneous TV interview. Both left the hall.

> When Danailov returned Topalov had already made two moves. After this the well-known game was resumed: Danailov walked out, returned, proceeded to the corner, put on the spectacles, took off the spectacles, etc. Almost on every move, more than twenty times in all. In the end, after a series of precise moves, Topalov achieved a draw. Shortly before the time control (each players has two hours of thinking time for 40 moves) it had become hectic.

> “I couldn’t believe it, Danailov rushed in quick step to the place where he could see Topalov, all but pushing away the people who were standing there. It was, after all, a matter of speed, ” said one of the spectators, who had been watching these activities for over two hours.

> Neither Danailov nor Topalov were available for comment during the past week, in spite of repeated attempts to contact them. Was it just a coincidence when the thumb was being twiddled in the mouth, or part of a secret communication?

(etc.)

[zainquadri]

@0:51 "Nobody can say or pronounce his name"... Kiss-my-tool-in

[LizaFan]

This is a Norm MacDonald-worthy shaggy dog.

[GraemeCree]

Spassky tried the same thing Kramnik did in 1977. He was losing badly to Korchnoi, and suddenly started spending ALL his time in the rest area, analyzing on the demonstration board, and only coming out to make his move. Korchnoi, rather than considering the advantages of such a thing, went to pieces, and lost four games in a row. In the end, they moved the demonstration boards to where they couldn't be seen from the rest area.

I don't know if Topalov is a nice guy or not, but he was sanctioned by the Ethics Committee for his actions in the 2006 match, and threatened with a suspension if the behavior were repeated. Condemning Topalov was the only time in recorded history that Karpov and Korchnoi agreed on something.