Anand to Play FIDE Candidates

PeterDoggers

Jan 21, 2014, 1:17 AM | 40 | Chess Event Coverage

Soon after his lost World Championship match he wasn't completely sure, but today it became official that Viswanathan Anand will play the FIDE Candidates tournament in March in Khanty-Mansiysk. The other participants are Vladimir Kramnik, Dmitry Andreikin, Veselin Topalov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Levon Aronian, Sergey Karjakin and Peter Svidler. The news was brought out today by the World Chess Federation.

Today on the FIDE website the following was posted:

FIDE announces that all qualifiers for the Candidates Tournament 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk have confirmed their participation:

1. Viswanathan Anand (IND, former world champion)
2. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, world cup 2013 winner)
3. Dmitry Andreikin (RUS, world cup 2013 finalist)
4. Veselin Topalov (BUL, grand-prix 2012-13 winner)
5. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE, grand-prix 2012-13 runner-up)
6. Levon Aronian (ARM, rating list 2012-13)
7. Sergey Karjakin (RUS, rating list 2012-13)
8. Peter Svidler (RUS, host nominee)

The pairings will be announced by 13 February.

The exact schedule of the event:

11 March: Arrivals
12 March: Opening Ceremony & Players Meeting
13-15 March: Rounds 1-3
16 March: Free day
17-19 March: Rounds 4-6
20 March: Free day
21-23 March: Rounds 7-9
24 March: Free day
25-27 March: Rounds 10-12
28 March: Free day
29-30 March: Rounds 13-14
31 March: Tiebreaks / Closing ceremony
1 April: Departures

Detailed technical regulations are published in the FIDE handbook: http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=145&view=article

After he lost the World Championship match to Magnus Carlsen in November, Anand said that he wasn't sure if he would participate in Khanty. The 44-year-old Indian wanted to make up his mind after the Zurich Chess Challenge, which is played in the first week of February, but FIDE set a deadline on January 20th. If Anand had said no, Fabiano Caruana would have been his substitute.

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