The Candidates Tournament!

Very artistic, i like it a lot. 

@jesterville: Do you creat all those pictures yourself?

 The picture has a signature with the name Diaz if i see correctly

(i have no idea if it's the same person with jesterville)

by the way what happened to Ibanez is he still alive??

what happens if either of the players 'refuse' to play in any location finalised by FIDE? Does he lose his chance to play in WCC? Or does FIDE give in to the them and changes the location which suits both players..

That cartoon was drawn by Jose Diaz after the Candidates ended. He is a prolific chess cartoonist.

It would depend entirely on the reasons and the timing of the refusal. 

Once the contract is signed, there would have to be a very good reason to refuse to play. 

Anand has gone to Sofia, Bulgaria, to play a Bulgarian challenger. Simply having a match played in Anand's home town isn't reason enough to refuse to play.

In the 1983 Candidates semi-finals, Kasparov was scheduled to play Korchnoi in Los Angeles, and Smyslov was to play Zoltan Ribli in Abu Dhabi.  The Soviet Chess Federation didn't like either proposed locale, and instructed Kasparov and Smyslov to refuse to play.  I believe Korchnoi actually played his first move in the Los Angeles match with Kasparov nowhere to be seen.  Eventually though, Kasparov managed to convince Korchnoi and the other players at Niksic to put pressure on the FIDE to allow the matches to be rescheduled.  The two matches finally took place in London.

Kasparov and Short breaking away from the FIDE in 1993 was also related to their dissatisfaction with FIDE's handling of the match arrangements.

Who is that guy on the bead of sweat dripping off Magnus' chin (not Kramnik, the other one). I don't recognize him.

I would bet Ivanchuk. But, I'm not sure...

I think you're right - the eyebrow.

Kramnik about candidates tournament and Anand-Carlsen:

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4009448/indepth-interview-with-vladimir-kramnik-120413.aspx

or

http://pogonina.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1600&Itemid=1

That was a neat interview!

MM: Forum kibitzers often say that Magnus’ style is Karpovian, that it reminds of Anatoly’s youth. He also didn’t have any fancy opening preparation, or we should rather say that the entire USSR was working to prepare openings for him, but not himself.

VK: Yes, he reminds Karpov a lot. He also has certain weaknesses, which everyone, even the greatest players, have. Karpovian weaknesses, yes. They are hidden and very few, yet they still exist. Their styles are very similar. I would say that Carlsen is an improved version of Karpov. I have heard people say that his style is too dry, too positional. It is partly the case. However, I believe that a person of his mastery can choose any style he likes. He must decide this for himself. With such a high rating and skill, you know, no one should be telling him what to do. He is indeed an outstanding player. Like we say in such cases, “if you don’t like it, don’t watch”. He can play whatever way he likes to.

MM: It is his soul playing…

VK: Yes, that’s the way he is. Cold-blooded, rather pragmatic, somewhat melancholic even. His chess is also swampy, laidback, choky/boa constrictor type. It doesn’t matter. For me personally mastery is most important. His skills are remarkable. This is great. I think it’s a bonus that all the players have unique styles. I have one style, Aronian has a completely different style. Carlsen has the third variety. It is good for the game. This is interesting.

Anand - Carlsen. This will be interesting match. The old generation against the new one.

Went through all these pages once again. That was thrilling! :)

Wow! I thought I was the only one to re-read this thread

You know what trysts? I bet this thread takes off again when the next candidates tournament starts. It'll just pick right up here and continue on. As though it never paused.

That's a lot of pages!

It might double.

Then it would be a Chess.com e-book