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| photo: chessblog.com |
New York will host from 11 to 30 November next match for the world title, in another attempt to "westernize" chess and attract the American public, now that the United States is once again a power . Magnus Carlsen will defend his crown against winner of the Candidates tournament , which begins in Moscow next day 11. the Norwegian challenger will emerge from this select group of great masters: American Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana , Russian Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin , the Indian Viswanathan Anand , the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov , Dutch Anish Giri and ArmenianLevon Aronian .
The International Chess Federation ( FIDE ) has announced a prize for the World "at least one million euros" , without giving too many details or specifying sponsors, beyond their agreement with AGON. Nothing new. One more year, the duel is planned twelve games , far from the classic clashes to 24 or the winner of six.
FIDE hopes to attract more than one billion fans through Internet and television. His dream would be that one of the two American candidates, Nakamura and Caruana, will face the champion. Not reach the audience of the Super Bowl, but ...
The note of the International Federation collected a first reaction elected mayor, Bill de Blasio : "All New Yorkers welcome the World again in New York. What better place than a city where parks are full of chess enthusiasts. " After Bobby Fischer , champion in 1972, the last American who approached the title was Gata Kamsky , who lost the final against Anatoly Karpov in 1996.
In the Candidates Tournament, the eight players a spread bag 420,000 euros , though the jackpot is the ability to challenge the champion. While theUnited States hopes to see its flag alongside the Norwegian, Anand and Topalov keep his (pen) last bullets in the chamber, the Russians seem born - again, Aronian should finally give what is expected of him and Giri will want to show that the future has arrived.
