Anand v Topalov Coverage Update
The opening games of the 2010 World Chess Championship between Vishy Anand and Veselin Topalov have been so full of excitement, it makes me feel sorry for people who don't play chess! What a world of thrills they are missing!
After a disastrous start in game 1, the champion Vishy Anand (pictured) has recovered magnificently to win in games 2 and 4 to take the lead.
The players have another rest day tomorrow, so game 5 starts on 30 April at 12:00 GMT. Topalov will have the white pieces and will be hoping to level the match before he faces two consecutive games with black in games 6 and 7 (the order of colours changes at the half way point).
The coverage by Chess.com has been hugely popular so far, with over 1,000 members watching the live broadcasts on Chess.com TV.
The great popularity of the broadcasts has encouraged Chess.com to commit to cover ALL of the remaining games live. The schedule now looks like this:
| Game 5 | 30-Apr | GM Jesse Kraai | Free Access for All Members |
| Game 6 | 01-May | IM Daniel Rensch | Platinum and Diamond Members |
| Game 7 | 03-May | GM Josh Friedel + NM Arun Sharma | Platinum and Diamond Members |
| Game 8 | 04-May | IM Sam Shankland | Free Access for All Members |
| Game 9 | 06-May | GM Jesse Kraai | Free Access for All Members |
| Game 10 | 07-May | IM David Pruess | To be decided |
| Game 11 | 09-May | IM Daniel Rensch | To be decided |
| Game 12 | 11-May | To be decided | To be decided |
The only downside of the success of the broadcasts are the increased charges incurred by Chess.com for excess bandwidth usage! Therefore, as can be seen above, the extra games being covered will likely only be available to members with at least Platinum membership (a sneaky tip is that a 1 month Platinum membership is just $5.99 and will ensure you get to see all the remaining Chess.com TV coverage, as well as all the other benefits!)
Anyone who would like to advertise on (or sponsor) any Chess.com TV broadcasts please get in touch with David Pruess. If you would like to find out more about whether games 10,11 and 12 will be available to all members or not, read the forum discussion here.
