Grudge chess match nearly goes down the toilet

IT went down to the wire but in the end the Russian turned up to play.

A 12-round chess match between Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik and Bulgarian Veselin Topalov to decide the world’s top player resumed yesterday after a row over toilet breaks forced a two-day suspension.

World Chess Federation president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and head of the south Russian republic Kalmykia which is hosting the match, interrupted a conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin to broker a successful truce between the two teams at the weekend.