UEP makes bid for Candidates Tournament 2010 and WCh Match 2011

A brief note that had been on the FIDE website for a few days was followed by an official press release by UEP today: Universal Event Promotion, who were responsible for the Anand-Kramnik World Championship match in October last year, have made an official proposal for the organisation of the forthcoming World Championship cycle.

PRESS RELEASE

Create unforgettable events out of great competitions: UEP makes bid for World Championship 2011

In conjunction with the ongoing discussion concerning the future of the World Chess Championships UEP makes the following statement:

UEP made a proposal for the organisation of the forthcoming World Championship cycle. According to FIDE, UEP is the exclusive applicant for the Candidates event in 2010 and the World Championship Match in 2011.

For the Candidates tournament, which will take place with eight players in September 2010, UEP guarantees a prize fund of 650.000 Euros inclusive all licence fees and after tax. The net prize money for the players is 430.000 Euros. UEP favours for this event a classical match format. In the quarter and semi-finals there shall be four games plus possible tiebreaks. In the concluding Candidates final six games are planned with a possible tiebreak.

The winner of the Candidate Matches will compete against the current World Champion in September 2011. UEP has also made a bid for this event and proposes a prize fund of 1.500.000 Euros inclusive all licence fees and after tax.

In consideration of the well-known standards and high quality of UEP events, the entire bid totals an amount of 3.5 to 4 million Euros inclusive all costs for the whole package.

CEO of UEP, Josef Resch

„In principle the organisation of the events could take place anywhere in the world“ says UEP President Josef Resch. The decisions about the venues will be made at a later date. „We will of course first hold talks with our partners, who contributed to the outstanding success of the World Championship in Bonn in 2008“, adds Resch.

Prior to all these decisions there will be negotiations with the World Chess Federation FIDE during the next weeks. Carsten Hensel says: “We are waiting for the written confirmation of our bid from the World Chess Federation. Thereafter we should discuss the details of a contract.“ Hensel, who was the manager of the ex-world champion Vladimir Kramnik for many years has been consultant to UEP since the 1st of January 2009.

A review of the World Chess Championship 2008 in Bonn The World Chess Championship 2008 was a great success. The match between Viswanathan Anand (India) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) experienced huge worldwide public interest. Millions of people all over the world followed the games in the internet. 427 media representatives from 28 countries were accredited at the venue in Bonn (Germany) to cover the match for the most important news agencies, print media, tv-stations and internet portals. According to independent experts the World Chess Championship 2008 was the best ever organized chess event. UEP owes this compliment to the support of strong partners like Evonik Industries AG and OAO Gazprom as well as the patron and the German Minister of Finance, Peer Steinbru?ck, the World Chess Federation FIDE, the city of Bonn as well as the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Kramnik, Resch and Anand at the opening press conference of the World Championship match in October in Bonn, Germany

Philosophy of UEP: „Chess is our passion“ UEP, based in Dortmund (Germany), was founded in 2005 and is a leader in chess event management for premier competitions. The emphasis lies in outstanding international chess events which are presented to the highest level. UEP undertakes all tasks which are required for a perfect event: Overall concept, design, organisation, execution, press and public relations management as well as marketing. In 2006 UEP organised the World Chess Challenge between Vladimir Kramnik and Deep Fritz (chess computer) that took place in Bonn. An outstanding chess event, which experienced high media and audience feedback. With this performance UEP made their first move in becoming a significant event agency.

UEP reached their highest achievement as organiser of the World Chess Championship 2008 in Bonn and looks back with great pride to this historical chess event. The match between World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany fascinated people and the media.

Josef Resch outlines the philosophy of UEP: „Chess is an intelligent and fascinating sport. Chess is our passion. We want to continue making exceptional and unforgettable events for premier competitions“.

In general, the ongoing interest of UEP for chess should be welcomed in a chess world where corporate sponsorship is scarce and big events have been financed out of the FIDE President's own wallet for so long. However, we're already talking about the next World Championship cycle here; at the moment FIDE is still looking for an organizer for the 2009 World Championship Match...