The point is did he have such habit in his match against Leko for example? Or his tournament plays in 2005 and 2006 for example.

That is all I am curious about. Also, Kramnik does not necessarily need to have had such habit. This habit might have emerged in this match due to some external causes we might not be familiar. All is possible.

The point is: did he have such habit before?

@beatgiant, well. It was not "An interested party accused his rival of something, so it must have some truth." either :) I replied in the way you did.

But to answer your question, there are a few public quotes that claim Kramnik has always liked to walk around a lot during games.

In an interview about the Tal Memorial:

M. Komich: "You just won the Tal Memorial with 6 points out of 9, while not playing in the Kramnik style at all – but boldly, confidently, with a flourish – like your walking around the hall. Where did that change come from?"

Kramnik: "No, no, I’ve always walked around a lot, there’s nothing new." (followed by discussion of his style)

I seem to recall a quote about Kramnik walking around a lot during the Kasparov-Kramnik match too, but was not quickly able to find it.

Right, but oddly enough the two funniest moments from that match both came from Topalov (Kramnik is not a particularly funny guy).

One of them was when Topalov made some comment about how can you get out of Russia with the airports shut down. "You can't walk out!" For some reason, that struck me as absolutely hilarious. It immediately conjured up images for me of Hitler and Napoleon's misadventures in Russia, which probably wasn't Topalov's intention, but it came out that way.

The other was on the blurb of the potboiler he commissioned to reassure the Bulgarian people that he'd been right. The blurb on the back was wonderful:

<Chess has the reputation of being a quiet game, in which there are no ankle injuries or bruised elbows. But in the godforsaken town of Elista we hear the artillery volleys of a toilet war.">

Topalov won the FIDE title impressively and was #1. This was not taken well by everyone in Russia, where he was widely accused of being a cheater. One of the top players who was in Team Kramnik (Bareev) claimed that “we know” that Topalov had been cheating for years. Moro stated that Rybka and Danailov were the players of the year, not Topalov, etc.

Bareev said that Kramnik ‘s best move ever was to insist on a glass wall in Elista, with the intention of stopping Topalov’s cheating. The mood was one where everyone thought the other side was cheating. At least according to Bareev Kramnik thought Topalov was cheating, and that they had managed to stop Danailov’s move transmissions. Topalov second Onischuk said Topalov had been certain that Kramnik was cheating when leaving the board.

FWIW, I never thought Topalov was cheating, either. At least, no clear evidence was ever shown. Granted, Danailov is shady enough to do it, but that doesn't help if Topalov isn't willing to receive it. I just never saw any evidence that he was that bad.

Granted, Topalov and Danailov had a bizarre relationship. There's a quote that I'm going to have to turn up again, describing how Danailov took over at a very young age, saying something like "I'll be your mother, I'll be your father. I'll do your laundry, I'll pay your bills. I don't want you thinking about anything but chess."

It sounded like Danailov really did all Topalov's thinking for him. Whether that would stretch so far as for Topalov to take computer assistance from him, I saw no clear evidence, so I'm going to say no.

68 times in 4 games, in 3 of those 4 games only around 1 hour footage was inspected, that equals 17 times per game. only 1 game (3rd game) was re-watched fully. Who told you 18 times in 4 games? The committee, not Danailov, stated Kramnik visited 25 times in the first game, 13-12-18 times respectively in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th game. And only 1 game was fully inspected, the rest of the 3 games' 1 hour footage was analysed. It all comes from the committee's report. 13 times in 1 hour only, 12 times in an hour, 18 times in an hour. That is why Danailov claimed 50 times per game and the committee replied "it is an exageration." Moreover, the committee refused to share the footages with the journalists for public investigation.

<But to answer your question, there are a few public quotes that claim Kramnik has always liked to walk around a lot during games.

In an interview about the Tal Memorial:

M. Komich: "You just won the Tal Memorial with 6 points out of 9, while not playing in the Kramnik style at all – but boldly, confidently, with a flourish – like your walking around the hall. Where did that change come from?"

Kramnik: "No, no, I’ve always walked around a lot, there’s nothing new." (followed by discussion of his style)> Strange. So, walking in a hall was sufficient.

<In the third game the number is 18...It should be noted that, the 3rd game is the only game which was recorded fully.>

The statement says, "the number is 18." It does not say "the number is 18 in an hour." The game lasted 38 moves and Kramnik ended in time pressure, meaning he alone spent almost 2 hours.

Nor did the statement say anything about the 4th game.

Am I wrong? Please clarify.>

Only 1 hours from those games were inspected/re-watched, that is why "... times in 1 hour." not to mention the committee refused to share the footages for public investigation (+ later on they all [were forced to] resign).) Here is what I wrote in my previous comment:

68 times in 4 games, in 3 of those 4 games only around 1 hour footage was inspected, that equals 17 times per game. only 1 game (3rd game) was re-watched fully. Who told you 18 times in 4 games? The committee, not Danailov, stated Kramnik visited 25 times in the first game, 13-12-18 times respectively in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th game. And only 1 game was fully inspected, the rest of the 3 games' 1 hour footage was analysed. Whatever number comes in those 3 games comes from that analysed 1 hour. Kramnik - Topalov World Championship Match (2006) (kibitz #30113)

Now you are stating it is 12 times in one hour of the third game. Yes, that's more frequent than 18 times over the whole game. Thanks for clarifying that. For purposes of discussion, I can stipulate your later statement is accurate.

Your question above was answered, Kramnik did behave this way in other events before and since. (By the way, Danailov also behaved with off-board antics in other events before and since.)

As for your last question, I of course am not gonna give verdict based on this issue only, but if it turns out the Kramnik's behaviour in this match was his usual habit, not something unique to this match then of course I will find it less strange.

But likewise, if this was the case unique to this match, then I will find it more strange.

Pro Topalov's complaint: Kramnik's frequency of bathroom visits was indeed higher than what would be normal for most people. After seeing your information, I have to agree on that part.

Con Topalov's complaint: His team should not normally have even known how often Kramnik was using the bathroom. His team should have raised any complaints through regular channels and not a media circus. Kramnik had a medical excuse for drinking lots of water. There's no evidence that Kramnik played with any inhuman accuracy in any parts of the games in question, and in fact the games were full of mistakes. The rest of Kramnik's career gives no reason to suspect him on this occasion. Some of the other points raised by Topalov's team were clearly ridiculous. Danailov had a poor reputation based on other events in his career.