WC Match Question

No major sponsorship has come from India for the Anand--Topalov match.  The match will be played in Bulgaria.  The official website is the property of the Bulgarian Chess Federation which is an example of how the Bulgarians are pushing much harder for Topalov to take the title than the Indians are pushing for Anand. Topalov's age suggests that he is closer to his peak than Anand.  Does any of this affect Anand?

sure, why not?

depends on his mental state, lol.

I think Anand has not even tried to make a minimal effort to make this different. As Topalov says India is a greatest market and Anand is very popular and loved there.

Anand just simply had not wasted any effort in these issues (even despite of the fact that the prize fund will be weaker)(Topalov complains about it and says he even would not mind to play in India)

Anand has a huge following in India. There are chess clubs now in just about every street corner. A real pity all this could not translate to anything in terms of sponsorship.

A better format would have been half the time in India and half in Bulgaria or all of it in a third neutral territory.

But then Kasparov beat Nigel Short in London in 1993. A point to note however is that Short had NEVER beaten Kasparov since 1986, and before that only once.

The Anand Topalov lifetime matchup is a LOT closer - 22.5 vs 21.5 .

Let the match begin, on one corner is Topalov backed by the entire country starting from the Prime Minister, on the other corner is Anand from the second most populous country in the world backed only by his wife. What pathetic apathy from his fellow countrymen.

But, if the World champion is not worried about this, then I suppose neither should his fans.

I think a better question would be, does this affect Anand enough to make a difference? I dont think so.

Why did FIDE allow the WC match to be played in Sofia? Surely there should be a rule about a neutral venue.

nqi, when funding is scarce, it is more difficult to go to a neutral venue.  Hosting the match in Bulgaria must have attracted extra sponsorship.

yes nqi, anand could have refused to play there w/o disqualification. So, he doesn't think it's a big deal. 

I will also say that the indian nationals on this site are very vehement in support of anand, and they have been arguing w/ the bulgarians a lot.