Kramnik speaks about his title shot with Leko

11/25/2003

Excerpts from Chessbase news:  

On the Arrangements for his match against Peter Leko:

Kramnik: Until the end of June this year I had no say in these matters, because all rights were held by the Einstein company. I could only give them my contacts. If I had been involved in the business side of things earlier, the match might already have taken place. Einstein lacked professionalism. My match against Peter Leko is a true world championship match. Leko is the official challenger who beat everybody else. He meets the defender of the title. I could have had a $2 million match against Kasparov at any time, but it is a question of principle and not money.

Stefan Löffler: “At the Dortmund tournament in August, you and Peter Leko mostly just bored the public.”

Kramnik: If you want fun games, look for them in an open tournament. I would rather watch a soccer game between France and Italy that ends 0:0 than a second division game that ends 7:6. It's all about the quality of play, and true chess lovers think exactly the same way. I can guarantee that our match will produce very good chess.

  here is the full link to  Kramnik's interview

     www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1322