Norway? India? Oz Perhaps? Where???
OK so we’re six months away from the FIDE World Chess Championship rematch between former champion Vishy Anand and the new World Champion, 23-year-old Magnus Carlsen. But there’s one problem, where will the much anticipated match come from?
As of May 6th, not one single bid has been received by FIDE, and the process for the bidding ran out on April 30th. If you remember, as I’m sure you do, the 2013 match was held in Anand’s hometown of Chennai, in India at a hefty price, about $4.5 million dollars. What’s the likelihood of that happening again this year?
The article, featured on Chessbase on the above mentioned date of May 6th, states a few reasons why there have been no bids. Reasons ranging from the problems of FIDE’s critics, who blame FIDE’s lack of professionalism, which stems from chess legend Garry Kasparov, who is running against current president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, to the idea that the World Championship of Chess is overvalued. Kasparov recently stated that: "Many western sponsors don't want to deal with Kirsan's FIDE & some of his usual backers are facing sanctions."
There were a few articles scattered around on the internet about the match being held in Norway, the country of Magnus Carlsen, but even so, the Tromso Olympiad, which begins in August, hasn’t even been fully funded yet, so looking there for a World Championship match, despite the country’s richness in oil, doesn’t seem likely or realistic at this point. To read about the financial troubles relating to chess in Norway, check out this link.
And for further reading, here is another article, from Chessbase a few days ago, May 14th to be specific, where you can out more about the woes of the Tromso Olympiad
OK so we’ve ruled out (for now) a repeat in Chennai and a match in Norway, so we have to think neutral ground. What about London, home of the incredible London Chess Classic? Or Russia perhaps? The only problem with Russia is that it already held the Candidates Tournament, and even more recently, the Women’s World Blitz and Rapid Championships, so what is the chance of the World Chess Championship being held there as well?
FIDE undoubtedly with extend the bidding process but as the days keep ticking away as we get closer to November, all eyes will be on the chess world and FIDE to come to an agreement to decide where the match will be held, but for now, all we see is fog and darkness ahead.
Thanks for reading everyone and have a good day.
-Mark
