Anand Arrives in Sofia
World champion Vishy Anand (pictured) has reportedly arrived in Sofia for his world championship match with Veselin Topalov, after an epic 40 hour road journey from Germany.
The report below is from the All India Chess Federation website.
The official opening ceremony will be broadcast live by the official website tomorrow (21 April) at 14:45 GMT.
Anand Reaches Sofia After 40-Hour Journey
By Arvind Aaron
World champion Viswanathan Anand has reached Sofia, the Bulgarian capital after a 40-hour road journey from Germany as flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash floating across European airspace resulting in cancellation of flights.
The 40-year old world champion and his wife are obviously very tired after such a long journey by road and hoped the organisers would accept their reasonable request of postponement of the game by three days. Anand is not used to travelling such distances on road and not giving a three day postponement could give challenger Veselin Topalov a significant advantage.
Anand had planned to reach the venue on April 16 which is one week before the first game on April 23. Now he arrived four days behind due to factors beyond his control and has wanted a three day postponement.The road route selected to reach Sofia was done after a look into the visas they had on their passport.
Anand might miss the press conference but will attend the opening ceremony according to his wife Aruna Anand. Not rescheduling the games will mean Topalov could have the same advantage which Anatoly Karpov enjoyed in the World Title match at Lausanne in 1998.
"The news from us is that we reached here safely," said Aruna Anand on the phone.
Had Alexander Alekhine been in Anand's place, he would have sought a postponement of atleast a week as world champions ruled and challengers were at the mercy of champions. Such natural calamities had not occurred during world championships.
Sometimes a handicap is a better way to start a match and Anand can turn the disadvantage into a driving force in the 12-game series.
