The lack of sponsorship for the next WCC has nothing to do with the predictability of the outcome. The reason why they are not rushing to bid for the WCC is due to the lack of marketability "value" of chess. Any country bidding on this knows that the return value for them is zero, and the net position will be a negative one. Not many countries will be interested in this unless "a son of the soil" is being represented. India did their part last time...unfortunately, Norway does not consider chess a sport. We will see who is willing to take this bullet for chess.
Nobody wants the Chess WC
Sort:
johnmusacha wrote:
Then you'd basically see the demise of top level competitive chess. Top players would be unhappy with the lower payouts, then would probably drop out of FIDE altogether. The invisible hand of the free market is a hard around the throat of worldwide chess.
Professional chess, maybe. I don't consider this a good or bad outcome, really. In terms of "top level" chess, humans are not providing that anymore anyway ;). So, chess theory will still advance just fine without big $$$ tournaments, or super GMs for that matter.
If no-one comes up with funding and the match does not happen I won't be too disappointed - particularly if it leads to a re-think on the idea of holding a candidates and a championship match annually.
It would be hard on Annand, though. He has won through with a brilliant performance in the candidates tournament and delay won't help his chances in the match, slim as perhaps they already are.
In the absense of one rich sponsor, a consortium of interests is what is needed. Which requires an entrepreneur to whip up interest. Maybe Nigel Short will have a go in England. There's Simpsons in the Strand, Chess and Bridge in Baker St., maybe the BBC could be interested in it, a local authority (maybe lobbied by local chess clubs and players). Lot of work but it might be doable.
In Norway they already have live coverage of chess on TV, that would surely be a good start. With guaranteed TV coverage sponsors would know they are going to get good exposure.
Or maybe Kasparov can do something. It might help his FIDE candidacy.
If noone else wants it, they can put it on in my house, I'll provide tea coffee biscuits even toilet facilities, but no phones allowed!!!
btickler wrote:
Maybe, just maybe, FIDE (and millionaire chess for that matter) should stop doing this backwards...line up the venue and sponsors, see how much money is there, then announce the appropriate and supportable prize fund.
If it's low, well, tough. That's the law of supply and demand.
+1 . It seems a tad unrealistic of FIDE to just expect some sponsor to come forward every year and stump up a multi-million dollar prize fund. I also agree that every year is too frequent and it devalues the event. Imagine if the football WC was held every year - people would just be like: "Oh, not that again already!"
The host should be Magnus' hometown in Norway - After all, Anand got to have his hometown hosting it last year... Fair is fair, yes?
Time4Tea wrote:
btickler wrote:
Maybe, just maybe, FIDE (and millionaire chess for that matter) should stop doing this backwards...line up the venue and sponsors, see how much money is there, then announce the appropriate and supportable prize fund.
If it's low, well, tough. That's the law of supply and demand.
+1 . It seems a tad unrealistic of FIDE to just expect some sponsor to come forward every year and stump up a multi-million dollar prize fund. I also agree that every year is too frequent and it devalues the event. Imagine if the football WC was held every year - people would just be like: "Oh, not that again already!"
It does sort of devalue the event, I suppose. Back in the cold war era, wasn't it every 4 years or something like that? But on the other hand, I will say that, at least in America, we hold "World Championship" events yearly (even though it's only Americans participating in all but Baseball championship, with a couple Canadian teams able to participate in the so called "World Series") - And those events have no problem raising great revenue for not just the host cities but the teams as well. Chess championships just aren't all that exciting to see except for those of us who love chess.
Major League Baseball recruits the best baseball players from all over the world. That's why there are many MLB players that can't speak English and have to have interpreters.
Theorectically, all Major League sports in the USA recruit from all over the world, but it's baseball where talent is most likely to be found outside the US (primarily in Latin America and Japan for now).
You do realize this right?
btickler wrote:
johnmusacha wrote:
Then you'd basically see the demise of top level competitive chess. Top players would be unhappy with the lower payouts, then would probably drop out of FIDE altogether. The invisible hand of the free market is a hard around the throat of worldwide chess.
Professional chess, maybe. I don't consider this a good or bad outcome, really. In terms of "top level" chess, humans are not providing that anymore anyway ;). So, chess theory will still advance just fine without big $$$ tournaments, or super GMs for that matter.
You're not one of those anarcho-capitalists are you?
I think Neeemohad had a good idea: Just have the government back the WCC. It's obvious chess can't compete in the free market. When you let the masses "vote" with their dollars then a lot of worthwhile things get left behind.
We don't have unlimited democracy, as the mob is untrustworthy, so why have unlimited capitalism? Western governments usually have arts & culture funding allocations so this shouldn't be a problem right?
on chessbase is an interesting article about this topic
That article highlights the problem being caused by fixture congestion; apparently Norway is already hosting, and paying for, an Olympiad and a major tournament.
The FIDE criteria are ridiculous :)...no wonder they got no bids. They foist every penny of financial responsibility on the bidder, demanding a guaranteed prize fund without any guarantee of the bidder making a dime in return. They probably would not even have gotten a serious bid for the last one if it weren't for Anand playing in Chennai...
If they keep using this method, it would be really surprising to ever see a bid that does not come from the champion's or challenger's home country at all. And holding the events in either of the players' "home bases" is just not what you expect from a legitimate sports organization; they should give all preference in the bidding process to neutral locations.
They should amend to demanding a $250k guaranteed prize fund with a FIDE match (a partial match if FIDE is too broke to seriously contribute), with a sliding scale percentage on top based on actual revenue generated, paid 100% by the bidder. At least FIDE would be pretending to absorb some of the risk this way.
Bidding procedure for the FIDE World Championship Match 2014
1. Following the success of last year's World Championship match in Chennai, FIDE and its commercial partner AGON are searching potential venues for the 2014 FIDE World Championship match, where the world champion Magnus Carlsen will defend his title against a challenger to be determined from the Candidates Tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk this March.
2. The World Championship Match 2014 shall take place from 6 November (game 1) to 25 November 2014 (possible tiebreaks/closing ceremony).
3. Each bid shall contain the following particulars as minimum:
a) Proposed venue of the event.
b) Proposed prize fund for the players (should be offered net of any applicable local taxes). The prize fund for the 2013 event in Chennai was 1,850,000 euros.
c) The contribution to FIDE (net of any applicable local taxes and not less than 20% of the prize fund), as stipulated in article 13.2, as well as the financial obligations stated in article 14 of the World Championship Match 2014 regulations.
d) Commitment to cover all the other financial obligations to FIDE, in accordance with the regulations of the World Championship Match 2014.
e) Commitment to cover all organizational costs, in accordance with the regulations of the World Championship Match 2014.
f) Category of official hotel (minimum 4 stars), and name if possible, with special room rates for visitors, including meals.
g) A statement that the applicant accepts the regulations of the match without any reservations.
h) An invitation for 2 (two) members of the FIDE Commission for World Chess Championships and Olympiads to inspect the proposed venue and examine the other conditions, with all travel/hotel expenses paid by the bidder.
i) The applicant's name, signatures and authentication.
4. In order for a proposed bid to be considered, it should be accompanied by a 9-month term bank guarantee covering the amount of prize fund (in Chennai 2013 this was 1,850,000 euros), the FIDE contribution (20% over and above the prize fund), 5% for WCOC budget and 5% for the commercial rights plus 32,500 euros covering stipends of Principals as described in article 14.5 of the match regulations. This guarantee should be from a bank that FIDE bankers, UBS of Switzerland, are able to confirm as acceptable.
5. Alternatively to the above paragraph, a bidder can deposit in FIDE's bank account the amount of 200,000 euros by the deadline of 30 April 2014 (refundable if the bid is rejected), another 50% of the prize fund before 31 May 2014 and the balance of all remaining obligations before 31 August 2014.
6. A bid is considered valid if it is accompanied with a non-refundable Bid Fee of 2,000 euros payable to FIDE.
7. No bidder can propose a sponsor which shall be in conflict with the regulations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
8. The bids, including all original documents and particulars, should arrive by registered post to the FIDE Secretariat, post address: 9 Syggrou Ave., 11743 Athens -Greece. The bidding process will close on 30 April 2014, 13:00 GMT.
9. When the deadline has expired, the FIDE President or his representative shall open the received envelopes in order to assess the bids. FIDE will inform the bidding parties of the results within 3 days after the deadline. The final contract with the successful bidder shall be signed within 10 days afterwards.
10. FIDE reserves the right to accept a bid based on the evaluation of all criteria under article 3 of the present bidding procedure and not only that of the prize fund. FIDE also reserves the right not to award any bid at all, however favorable it might be.
Released by the FIDE Secretariat, 9 January 2014
Updated by the FIDE Secretariat, 11 March 2014
Norway has a discussion about arranging the winter Olympics. Too expencive I think. The millions needed for Chess VM is only a tiny fragment compared to Winter-Olympics, that is public payd.
The Norwegian Chess-Assosiation are to small, and dont have money , so it must be on the public budget or payd for by sponsors. Maybe a mix.
Hosting the Olympics is also said to be a disaster:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19733_5-things-they-dont-want-you-to-know-about-olympics_p2.html
Though hosting the Chess world championship shouldn't even be anywhere near that scale. I think New York should host the event, but if it doesn't want it then...umm, maybe Tokyo?
Is Cracked magazine really a reputable source?
Cracked magazine is a rip-off of MAD Magazine, right?
Norway has money, but not for chess. Football and skiing are sports that are more important.
But things are changing. Chess is developing.
Magnus has made the press write about chess.
Here is a happening the 8 of may:
http://www.vg.no/sport/sjakk/carlsen-forsoeker-aa-unngaa-aa-bli-distrahert/a/10139759/
May 7, 2014
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#58
Chess isn't the only game having troubles.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/once-popular-sport-suffers-another-indignity/
Yes. Frank Borland is the man!
chess players and the chess community in general is just clueless about money and economics (millionaire chess? really?).