Contract Anand-Topalov signed
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, representing the World Chess Federation and Stefan Sergiev, representing the Bulgarian Chess Federation, yesterday signed the contract for the organization of the Anand-Topalov World Championship match. The prize fund for the match is 2 million Euros and the dates are April 23rd (game 1) to May 12th, 2010 (possible tiebreaks).Photo: FIDE.comAccording to a brief report on the FIDE website the signing of the contract took place yesterday in Sofia, Bulgaria where the next World Championship match will be held. "For 140 years of chess championship there have been 19 such world title matches, and all of them turned into historic battles. Why is it important for us that Bulgaria and Sofia were picked to host this historic event? We can just imagine that the opponent of our representative Topalov is a representative of India, a nation of over one billion people, vs. tiny Bulgaria of 8 million. It is an honor and pleasure for us to become a center of global attention with this match” Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said during the ceremony, as reported by Sofia News Agency Novinite. We assume the signing of the contract means that FIDE has received a bank guarantee from the Bulgarians, which was not the case yet on October 16th when FIDE accepted the bid.
Besides, the match will start later than was suggested back then. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had in mind to celebrate his birthday (April 5th) with the start of the match, but now the date of the first game has been set to April 23rd, 2010. The World Championship match will consist of 12 games and if necessary, 4 tiebreak games on May 12th, 2010 so we presume a similar schedule as in Anand-Kramnik:| Apr 23 Game 1 | May 03 Game 8 |
| Apr 24 Game 2 | May 04 rest day |
| Apr 25 rest day | May 05 Game 9 |
| Apr 26 Game 3 | May 06 Game 10 |
| Apr 27 Game 4 | May 07 rest day |
| Apr 28 rest day | May 08 Game 11 |
| Apr 29 Game 5 | May 09 rest day |
| Apr 30 Game 6 | May 10 Game 12 |
| May 01 rest day | May 11 rest day |
| May 02 Game 7 | May 12 tiebreaks |
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