Anand v Topalov Preview

Starting on 24 April, title holder Viswanathan Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov will play a 12-game match for the official FIDE World Chess Championship.

The venue is the Central Military Club in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The Rules

The time control for each game will be 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in an hour, and finally 15 minutes to finish with a 30 second increment after the second time control.

At the opening ceremony the players drew lots to decide that Veselin Topalov will play white in the first game.  Colours alternate until the half-way point, when the order is reversed (so Topalov will play black in game 6 and 7).

If the scores are level after the 12 regular games, a 4-game rapid match will be played at a time control of 25 minutes per game plus 10 second increment.

If scores are still level after the rapid match, then 2-game blitz matches will be played (up to a maximum of 10 games).  If scores are still level, then a sudden death game will decide the result.

Players will arrive 10 minutes before each game to allow time for a security check.  Players will share the same toilet facilities.

The winner will receive 1,200,000 euros and the loser 800,000 euros.

The Background

After a schism in the World Chess Championship dating back to 1993, the title was finally unified again when Vladimir Kramnik defeated Veselin Topalov in an ill-tempered match in Elista in 2006.

The following year Vishy Anand (pictured above) took the title from Vladimir Kramnik in a World Championship Tournament in Mexico.

In 2008, Anand cast aside any remaining doubts held in some quarters about the legitimacy of his crown by beating Vladimir Kramnik in a match in Germany.

In 2009, Veselin Topalov (pictured right) convincingly beat Gata Kamsky to earn the right to challenge Anand for the title in 2010.

The Head-to-Head Record

Including games at all time controls puts Anand ahead with 23 wins, 14 losses and 49 draws.  Considering only games at standard 'classical' time controls, Topalov is ahead with 11 wins, 10 losses and 23 draws.

A sample win from each player...

The Schedule

The original schedule has been postponed by 1 day following travel problems suffered by the World Champion and other FIDE delegates due to the grounding of air flights by the Icelandic volcanic eruption.

All games start at 12:00 GMT.

The Coverage

The official website for the match is www.anand-topalov.com.

Chess.com will be covering the games live with expert commentary on Chess.com TV!