Photo-Finish at the Stink Lodge

As I write this entry, I'm in a great mood. And why not? It's Friday, the Upstate New York winter is still a few weeks off, and I found this story in the New York Times.

It seems that I haven't been giving the World Chess Championship the respect it deserves. These guys are hardcore competitors. According to the article in the New York Times:

The world chess championship came to a halt today when a player who had been locked out of his private bathroom after insinuations that he was cheating refused to play and forfeited the fifth game of the match.

According to Chessbase.com, a chess news Web site, at the start of today’s game, Mr. Topalov sat down to play while Mr. Kramnik went to his private area and sat down outside his private bathroom, demanding that it be unlocked.

Chessbase reported that the organizers refused his request and after an hour, the game was declared forfeited in Mr. Topalov’s favor.

This is just fantastic, I haven't seen such behavior since 1993, when Ross Perot claimed that the reason he got his butt kicked in the NAFTA debate with Vice President Al Gore was because Gore had a secret radio receiver in his ear and someone was feeding him answers. Does anybody remember that or am I talking to myself on this one?

Anyway, life is good.