Zonal Qualifiers C22-C24

Using the basic techniques developed for Zonal Qualifiers C25-C26, I applied the same to the three preceding cycles:-

• C22: Zonal Qualifiers 2004-2005 (*)
• C23: Zonal Qualifiers 2006-2007
• C24: Zonal Qualifiers 2008-2009

(*) The data format for C22, the first World Cup, is less friendly than the others. FIDE released the base data in pieces and I'm not sure I have the final edition -- many names are missing. On top of that, the data is in CSV format, which is nice for software processes, but not so nice for people. I'll try to improve the presentation for this cycle when I'm done with the initial round of data population.

Let's Hear It for C19

A month or two ago, after I added cycle numbers to the labels for this blog, I noticed that I had nothing for C19: 2000-01 (*). That's the cycle where Anand won his first World Championship by beating Shirov in the final at Tehran. The first six rounds were played at New Delhi in his native country.

The full record of Anand's victory is on my page 2000 FIDE Knockout Matches, and I have links to contemporary accounts from Hindu.com on another page, Reports from The Hindu. Although the domain for those reports changed between 2000 and 2011, it is remarkable that the originals are still available on the web. The following table shows that the year 2000 is the earliest where we have such reports.

2000:   679 results
2001: 1010
2002: 1300
2003: 1950
2004: 4400
2005: 3600 (San Luis, won by Topalov)
2006: 2830
2007: 5690 (Mexico City, won by Anand)
2008: 5740 (vs. Kramnik)
2009: 6020
2010: 5680 (vs. Topalov)
2011: 2050

(Source: About 40,200 results : site:hindu.com chess anand.)

I can't explain the big drop in 2011, but the numbers still work out to more than 5.6 reports per day. Is there any other country with so much interest in its top chess player?

(*) Re the 'C19: 2000-01' terminology, there is no good reason why it shouldn't be labeled 'C19: 2000'. Most of the zonals took place in 2000, and the last round of the final match was played before the end of that year. The zonals for the next cycle, C20: 2001-02, were played in 2001, and the first six rounds of the next FIDE knockout championship were played near the end of that year. The final, where Ponomariov beat Ivanchuk, was played in 2002.

Kramnik on Kramnik

In the first decade of the new millenium, three world class chess players -- Kasparov, Kramnik, and Anand -- in that order, ruled the roost. Kasparov was the dominant split-title World Champion going into the decade, Kramnik was his hand-picked heir apparent, and Anand flew FIDE's flag at the beginning of the decade gaining the unified title near the end.

Over the past few months, we've been treated to a steady stream of Kramnik interviews, most of them posted on the relatively new site Whychess.org. In No Nose for Navigation on my main blog, I criticized the site for technical reasons, but there's no question that content is its strong point.

After the 2011 Candidates Event, we listened to the top players sound off in Interviews Past and Present, where Kramnik was eliminated in the semifinal round. A little later he won the annual Dortmund tournament, and has been holding forth ever since. Here he talks mainly about Dortmund and a little about Kazan (links to Whychess.org unless otherwise noted).

• Kramnik: "It’s unlikely I can compete with Carlsen long-term", 4 August 2011
• Video interview Vladimir Kramnik, 3 August; Chessvibes.com

He was less successful in the Russian Championship Superfinal, finishing in a tie for 3rd-5th.

• Kramnik to retire in four years?, 16 August
• Kramnik: For me chess is a great love, 18 August

Then, in the longest interview I can remember him giving, he touched on many subjects, including three important title matches: 2000 vs. Kasparov, 2006 vs. Topalov (unification), and 2008 vs. Anand. His comments on the Topalov match brought responses from both Azmaiparashvili and Makropoulos, central figures in FIDE's bungled handling of the cheating accusations.

• Kramnik on chess, Anand, Topalov and his future, 31 August
• Azmaiparashvili responds to Kramnik, 31 August
• 30 years after, 27 October; 'Makropoulos responds to Kramnik’s accusations'

Later he had much more to say on the 2000 Kasparov match.

• Kramnik on the Shirov and Kasparov controversies, 13 October

He then won the Univé tournament in Hoogeveen, and came back to the subject of the current World Championship cycle.

• Kramnik: "I’m a little more concerned about ratings just now", 25 October

That's a good show for a man who has often been indifferent in his attitude toward the chess public. It's clear from the comments to many of those intervews that he remains enormously popular with chess fans.

More Feedback on Zonals

Returning to A Feedback Loop for Zonals, ebutaljib responded with a number of additional points which I've added to the appropriate zonal clippings (all marked '[Ref. BI220357]').

• C03 : 1954-57
• C05 : 1960-63
• C10 : 1975-78
• C12 : 1981-84

In Svidler, Grischuk and Ivanchuk qualified for... what exactly? [Chessvibes.com], where he copied my post on FIDE's Got a Secret, ebutaljib stirred the pot some more and revealed that FIDE had indeed changed its mind on the format of next year's Candidates event (see also RIP Candidates Matches? on Whychess.org). It appears from the comments on Chessvibes that the events behind the unification process in 2002-2006 have faded into the haze of history. Is there a good summary somewhere on the Web?

Dvoretsky on the World Championship

On my main blog (see Recently Spotted - Blog Carnival & Soviet School), I mentioned The Big Dvoretsky Interview on Chessvibes.com. Part 1 isn't particularly relevant to the World Championship, but the two other parts are. Dvoretsky, a world class trainer and 'the strongest IM never to make GM', touched three times on the importance of the endgame.

Part 2: Bronstein didn’t win his World Championship match against Botvinnik; it ended in a draw. Botvinnik hadn’t played for three years, he was absolutely out of training and his openings were worse at this moment than Bronstein’s openings, but still Bronstein didn’t win. Both players won five games. So Bronstein lost five games; three of those five games he lost from equal, drawn endgames. So if he had been better in endgames he would have become World Champion. Three out of five games were drawn endgames; I believe that it is quite impressive.

In 1995 grandmaster Topalov was very weak in endgames. His manager Danailov told me that he doesn’t feel confident in endgames and even avoided profitable endgames sometimes and so he would lose points in endgames, and so on. So we arranged a training session in Moscow; we worked just twelve days. After this session Topalov won the majority of tournaments which he played during the next year. He won, if I remember correctly, eighty rating points and took third place on the rating list. So, you see, he was a very strong grandmaster at this moment but even for such a level it was very important because it was his weak side.

Part 3: Tal wasn’t good in the endgame when he was young. Fortunately for him at some moment players couldn’t use it but in his second match against Botvinnik, Botvinnik used it several times.

He also touched on a subject that pops up in just about every interview I've seen for the past month.

Part 3: What is your opinion on Magnus Carlsen’s decision to withdraw from the Candidates? • You know, everybody can make any decision. I don’t know his motivation, his real reasons and so on, so it makes no sense to discuss it not with Magnus himself. On the other hand of course this decision was made because he had some problems with the modern World Championship. It’s true, there are really serious problems which are very interesting to discuss, but it’s a big topic, a separate topic, perhaps we shouldn’t do it now. For example he mentioned the great privileges of the World Champion – I absolutely agree with him. I know that Kramnik, Gelfand and some others disagree, Kasparov, Karpov. But many players agree with this position and I also agree.

On the other hand he told that the World Champion shouldn’t have any advantage, any privileges, and this is also wrong. When we play a World Championship it should be a system, not a single match or tournament, it’s a system. So everybody starts at some stage and it’s natural that some players came to the next stage by winning or keeping some results in previous stages and some of them get the right to play just because of their previous successes, it’s absolutely natural. The win of the previous World Championship is also something we can consider the win of some previous tournament, so the winner should have some privileges, but of course not so fantastic as he has now. Also in the case of Carlsen: why should he play in the Candidates, he should start in the semi-final of the Norwegian championship, because maybe some younger generation can beat him. He should also play several steps and don’t have privileges.

He got in because of rating of course... • Rating is also a previous result, it’s not ‘this set-up of competitions for this World Championship’, it’s previous results, it’s also a success like winning a previous World Championship, so it gives some privileges but not absolute privileges, like now. But it’s a topic for a serious discussion and perhaps we have no time for it. Some other problems he mentioned are also connected to modern FIDE and their policy, their strategy… In many areas he is absolutely right – FIDE is a horrible organization now but again it’s a topic for a separate discussion.

The comments on the 1951 Botvinnik - Bronstein match and the 1961 Botvinnik - Tal match are worth pursuing.

FIDE Presidential Candidates and the World Championship

With the successful completion of the 2010 Anand - Topalov World Championship match, the confusing situation that I documented in Two Overlapping World Championship Cycles has finally been resolved. Where does the World Championship go from here?

Although it's too early to expect details about the 2010 Candidates Event, its qualifying event 2008-2009 Grand Prix just having finished in May this year, I had expected to have some information by now about the shape of subsequent World Championship cycles. The FIDE Calendar for the year 2011 lists 'Candidates Matches 2011; Baku, Azerbaijan /; 1-Mar-2011; 31-May-2011' (is something missing after the slash '/', like a second venue?), but there is no entry for a World Cup in December 2011 and nothing but junior events in 2012.

The last time I reported on FIDE's plans -- 2009 FIDE Executive Board : Whither the World Championship? (December 2009) -- I wrote that I had two main interests: (1) Successful completion of the two current cycles, and (2) Plans for the subsequent cycles. Assuming that the current, ongoing cycle ends in a title match sometime in 2012, what happens then? Given that we will have a FIDE election in a few months, what do the two candidates have to say about the World Championship? Here is an excerpt from Ilyumzhinov's site (onefide.com/achievements):

World Championship: A stable structure is in place for the World Championship cycles, through a system of Zonals, Continental Championships, Grand Prix, World Cup, Candidates Matches and the World Championship Match. The current system offers more opportunities for hundreds of players, around the world, to participate in high level official competitions, with prize money for all the events exceeding 7 million USD. Furthermore, it is a comprehensive system that produces the best player.

It's easy to take issue with the term 'stable structure'. Stable would mean two consecutive cycles run using the same format. FIDE hasn't yet been able to deliver a single cycle run using the structure announced at the beginning of that cycle. Here is an excerpt from Karpov's site (karpov2010.org/platform):

4.2) The World Championship. For well over a century, predating FIDE itself, the crown jewel of the chess world has been the World Championship. Few titles are as hallowed in the history of sport. Even a mainstream, non-chessplaying public that has heard little of chess in the past dozen years has an instant and profound respect and fascination with the game of chess and our champions. This invaluable mystique has been damaged greatly during the last 15 years, as attempts to randomize results and a failure to promote events has dramatically reduced the profile of world championship matches. We will lead the way toward rebuilding the World Championship aura that captivated the world when Bobby Fischer took the title in 1972 and when Karpov and Kasparov battled through five consecutive world title matches.

4.2.1) The world champion, the championship title, and the championship cycle will be promoted consistently and treated with respect. Championship events must be scheduled well in advance so that proper promotion is allowed. This is essential for any serious sponsor and for the players.

4.2.2) The world championship match, as well as the qualifying and candidates events that lead to it, must be accorded special attention and respect. This means, but is not limited to, scheduling candidates events to allow for promotion as well as for preparation and recovery by the players, and holding matches of sufficient length to produce victors who will be credible world champions.

Here it's easy to take take issue with this revisionist view of recent chess history. It's not that the World Championship's 'mystique has been damaged greatly during the last 15 years', which just happens to coincide with Ilyumzhinov's term as FIDE President. In fact, the 'damage' started in 1993 with the Kasparov - Short match. Furthermore, we don't have to go back to the 1980s with a goal of 'rebuilding the World Championship aura'. The four most recent World Championship events -- 2005 San Luis, 2006 Kramnik - Topalov, 2007 Mexico City, and 2010 Anand - Topalov -- all attracted considerable interest. As for 'scheduling candidates events to allow for promotion as well as for preparation and recovery by the players', the most glaring example was the 1998 Karpov - Anand match, where a well rested Karpov played a tired Anand who just a few days earlier had battled to success in the 1997 Groningen knockout matches.

Neither Ilyumzhinov nor Karpov seems to have any idea where the World Championship is going, so neither do I.

A Pre-Match Interview with Anand

My previous post, Two Post-Match Interviews with Anand, featured two video interviews with the World Champion. At about the same time Chessbase.com ran a three part series on an interview conducted in December 2009 by Jaideep Unudurti. • The Delhi Interview with Viswanathan Anand: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. Here are some excerpts that are particularly relevant to World Championship matches.

On Psychology:

Q: You are going [to Sofia] expecting a state of war?

A: I'm going to go there expecting anything. You have to be prepared for everything. I'm not expecting bad, I'm not expecting good. World championships are traditionally about bad-mouthing your opponent a few months before, press interviews, stuff we have seen for several matches already. That simply comes with the territory. Beyond that I don't want to focus on whether its going to be dirty or its going to be clean. We will be ready for anything but there are good rules and I expect FIDE to uphold them.

Q: Have you ever used psychological tricks?

A: No. This match I have to get ready and get ready for lot of these things. It is clear that the kind of match, where things are quiet, it's not going to be that sort of a thing. I have to get ready for it. Myself, I don't feel like I'm doing it, but always the question is to ask your opponent (smiles). It is my experience that in these areas you can start to see psychological tricks even when there are none. Because the tension in a match is so high that inevitably you feel that everything is being directed against you and vice versa. Matches are very special in that sense, they become very personal. I have no doubt that at the end of the match if you ask, both of us will say 'Yes, the other side did something'.

Q: Have people used psychological tricks against you?

A: Sure. Kasparov and the slamming door. In fact that is the only thing I really think I should have stopped at some point. For a while Karpov was trying to come late every game and try to get his time back on the clock. Couple of things like that. I've experienced it a few times. I would say the peak of these was the Fischer era, the Cold War era and the Kasparov - Karpov matches. I think subsequent generations generally let go of it. With Kramnik, we had a go at each other in the press. Before the match you get ready for it. Basically I didn't expect every day some door slamming or things like that (in Bonn).

On Opening Preparation: (See also my post on World Championship Opening Preparation in 2010.)

Q: For a match of this magnitude it would take 6-8 months of lead-time?

A: I think here again work expands to fill the time. If you have more time you can chortle away. You have to get the right discipline. When the match comes you stop worrying about whether you done enough and get on with what you have done. You can always feel incomplete and work more. I think there it depends on how much time you have for these things. In the 90s and so on match experience counted for more. And maybe having played earlier matches counted for more as you tended to have a lot of background material. A bank of ideas you used then. That you had for the match, didn't get to use and carried over. For instance, Kasparov when he was playing Short or me, he had notebooks full of ideas that he could draw on. Nowadays that cushion is vanishing much faster. Almost all the variations played in matches people soon explore in tournaments and catch up.

Q: For every game you have to remember all the openings, all the variations. Is your memory infallible or do you have black-outs occasionally?

A: You have lapses for sure. It's funny, you may remember every single thing. But if you don't remember that you remember that is also a problem. There are quite a lot of players who remember every single detail of their preparation but they are not sure that they remember. And the effect is the same as not remembering. Or not having analyzed. With the volume of information that is growing, that is clearly a challenge. It is something you have to keep a grip on. It is really the amount of information that is out there. A computer allows you to generate a hell of a lot of work and lots and lots of analysis. Then to remember all your conclusions very efficiently is a good part of what I would call peaking before the match.

Q: You don't have to memorize it, you just have to look at it, like a photographic effect?

A: Well, you try to remember what is important. It should make sense to you. It should fall into a picture. If it's like an exam and you remember this answer, this answer and this answer and the teacher has changed one or two details. It has got to fall into some sort of picture. What you can't remember you should be able to work out very easily. It is a mix between understanding, familiarity and memory. The junction of all three. You can't hope to remember everything either but clearly forcing yourself to do all the work at the board is suicidal in these circumstances.

On Match Length: (See also my post on Intermediate Scores as a Match Predictor.)

Q: You have played a 20 game match. Now it's down to 12 games. What are your thoughts on that?

A: I find it hard to imagine how people once upon a time played even 24 games. Not to speak of the ones which went to 32 and 48. I find them completely absurd. In our modern era that you can spend 4 months on something - it's beyond belief. I think, already, 12 games is the maximum. It shouldn't get any longer. In that era, especially between two Soviet opponents, they didn't really have to worry about spectators. Then again, interest in their country was very high so they managed. Nowadays to get two teams and put them in a city for months on end doesn't make sense to me. [...] Also with the amount of computers involved in preparation, to play 24 games I think is madness. So in our modern era we should be trying to make it shorter. 8 games is pushing it, for already the effect of one defeat becomes much higher. You fall a little bit behind and suddenly there are only so many games you can reverse it. You don't want a situation where one early game sets the course too strongly. So maybe 12 is an ideal compromise. I don't feel it should go any longer.

On Tiebreaks:

Q: The one important difference is that earlier the champion retained the title in the event of a tie. The challenger had to at least win one game more. Now you have rapid tiebreaks. How have the dynamics changed?

A: I think this system is fairer. Essentially the old system kept perpetuating itself on the basis that it was once unfair for the challenger so he should be compensated when he is champion. Almost all the privileges you could justify this way.

On the Schism:

Q: You mentioned the era of chaos [1993 to 2006]. Do you have any regrets that the bulk of your playing years was in this era?

A: No, it doesn't get you anywhere. In the years of chaos, I got onto other things, I had some good years. I got on with enjoying chess. In a non-clichéd way I think that's what really it's all about. Maybe that's why my desire in 2007 was so strong. In 2005 also I was motivated but it doesn't always have to happen ia the first instance. But in 2007 I was very motivated and I had a very good year. Maybe there was some pent-up hunger and you just leave it at that. I wouldn't say I never resented it. Maybe in 2002 I resented it a bit. But at some point it stops being an issue, you get used to it and you move on. Maybe a year or so it bothered me. [...] Between 2002 and 2005 there was no real chance to play for the title. Even before, 1995 to 1999 there wasn't a convenient way. Groningen – but you had Karpov with all these ridiculous privileges. So there was some time you lost. It pushed me. The second time I became world champion I was 37, which is late. It's just the way it is. I wouldn't say I am a late bloomer. Clearly I came very close to the world title at a much earlier age. That was simply the way it worked out. I became world champion at 30 which isn't too late.

***

Also relevant is commentary from Chessninja.com's They Give Interviews: Anand.

Two Post-Match Interviews with Anand

From EuropeEchecs:-

Anand's Exclusive Interview (6:22) • 'The World Championship after the game'

Live Indian TV Show (7:41) • 'Anand answers by telephone on air!'

What a Match!

I added the crosstable and PGN game scores to my page on the 2010 Anand - Topalov title match. What a fantastic match it was! Everyone associated with it in any way -- the organizers, the officials, the commentators, the journalists / bloggers, and, especially, the players and their teams -- deserves a warm congratulations and a hearty handshake.

Special congratulations to World Champion Viswanathan Anand! To overcome such an incredibly strong player as Topalov is no small achievement. And a special handshake to GM Veselin Topalov who showed that he is a superb fighter and one of the great champions.

My only regret about this match is that it did not reach the tiebreak phase. It would have been a special treat to watch these two masters of the chess struggle go head to head at increasingly faster time controls. Now we have to wait at least two years for the next match, Anand vs. ???, to see more chess at this rarefied level.

FIDE Ethics Commission Judgement 04/06

I added the July 2007 statement of the FIDE Ethics Commission to my page on the 2006 Kramnik - Topalov Unification Match. The section titled 'CHRONOLOGY OF THE FACTS' is an excellent, objective, third-party account of the events that came to be known as Toiletgate.

The original document published by the Ethics Commission can be found on Fide.com's Judgements by the FIDE Ethics Commission (29 August 2007) under the link 'Judgement 04/06'. A translation of Topalov's interview with a Spanish newspaper, the source of one of Kramnik's two complaints, is on Chessbase.com's Topalov: Kramnik will never admit that he cheated... (19 December 2006).

Anand - Topalov News Sites

Since the opening ceremony for the Anand - Topalov match takes place today, it's a good time to post a note on useful news sources for the match. First, there is the official site Anand-Topalov.com. Unfortunately, my reservations as to the site's impartiality and fairness that I expressed shortly after the site first opened (see Holding Your Breath) haven't decreased.

A glance at the site's home page reveals two news items -- 'Communication from the Organizing Committee' and 'Official answer of the Bulgarian Chess Federation' (BCF; I've circled the items with an oval) -- related to Anand's travel difficulties and his subsequent request for a postponement. Both items are negative responses by Bulgarian officials to Anand's request. The request itself is buried as an attachment to the BCF document.

A more balanced site would have presented one news item on Anand's struggle with the volcano's impact on travel followed by one with statements from match responsibles. Furthermore, both responses by the Bulgarians are as unaccommodating as they can be without being openly hostile. There is absolutely no sympathy shown to Anand for his travel situation, a case of force majeure that stranded many thousands of travelers around the globe and affected millions more. The Organizing Committee said,

This chess event has exceptional meaning not only for the chess community all over the world but also for Bulgaria as a country. Therefore the whole organization of this event is under the direct leadership of the Bulgarian Prime Minister - Mr. Boyko Borisov who is also the Chairman of the Organizing Committee.

There is not a word about the 'exceptional meaning' to Anand, who is World Champion and one of two central persons in this drama. Are Bulgarians such hard-hearted people that they react to Anand's trials without any note of sympathy? I don't think so. There are many ways to say 'No!' without being nasty about it.

If the official site continues with its unofficial bias, where can we go for unbiased news? Another site with strong ties to the Bulgarians is Chessdom.com. They frequently have news from Bulgaria before other sites, are less overtly biased, and have an index page with links to all stories related to the match:-

• Chessdom.com: Topalov - Anand 2010.

The site hasn't learned that good journalism requires reports to be dated, but we can always hope. A few other important news sites often have index pages related to major chess events, which are presently missing for the latest match (I'll add them if they become available).

• Chessbase.com (Later: Eventlist - World Championship Sofia; see my post ChessBase.com Eventlists for other index pages).
  
• Chess news by ChessVibes
  
• The Daily Dirt Chess Blog

Those last two are particularly interesting because they always have tons of comments by the game's keenest fans. Besides the main chess news sites, many good chess blogs will have informed commentary on all aspects of the match. The blogs I follow are listed on my Blogger Profile, also linked as About Me on the top right corner of all pages on this blog.

With all of that ace reporting to look forward to, it should be a real spectacle. Enjoy the match!

Holding Your Breath

I added the URL of the official site to my page on 2010 Anand - Topalov. Here are some of the most important regulations from the FIDE Handbook: 10. Rules & Regulations for the FIDE World Championship Match (FWCM) 2010.

2. Schedule

2.1 Match System: The World Chess Championship Match Anand - Topalov will consist of 12 games and if necessary, tie-break games.

3.4 Drawing of colors

3.4.1 The draw for colors will be conducted during the opening ceremony. The colors shall be reversed after game 6. (The player getting the white color in game 1 shall play game 7 with the black color).

3.4.2 For tie-break games, there shall be a separate drawing of lots conducted by the Chief Arbiter of the match.

3.5 Time control

3.5.1 The time control for each game shall be: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting after move 61 has been made.

3.5.2 The games shall be played using the electronic clocks and boards approved by FIDE.

3.6 Conditions of victory / Replacements

3.6.1 The WCM shall be played over a maximum of twelve (12) games and the winner of the match shall be the first player to score 6.5 points or more. A tie shall be broken according to Article 3.7 below. If the winner scores 6.5 points in less than 12 games then the organizer can re-schedule the Closing Ceremony for an earlier date.

3.6.2 If a player refuses to participate in the World Championship Match, he will be replaced as follows: GM Vladimir Kramnik replaces the World champion Vishy Anand and GM Gata Kamsky replaces challenger GM Veselin Topalov. In case any or both players refuse to participate when invited, the rating list of January 2010 will be used to determine their replacements.

3.7 Tie-breaks

3.7.1.a If the scores are level after the regular twelve (12) games, after a new drawing of colors, four (4) tie-break games shall be played. The games shall be played using the electronic clock starting with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds after each move

3.7.1.b All tie-break games shall be played according to the following: 1. Play is governed by the World Championship Technical Regulations (annex 1), which apply with the exceptions mentioned below in (2), (3) and (4). [...]

3.7.2 If the scores are level after the games in Article 3.7.1a, then, after a new drawing of colors, a match of 2 games shall be played with a time control of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment after each move. In case of a level score, another 2-game match will be played to determine a winner. If still there is no winner after 5 such matches (total 10 games), one sudden-death game will be played as described below in Article 3.7.3.

3.7.3 If the score is still level after five matches as described in Article 3.7.2, the players shall play a one sudden death game. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the player with the black pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an increment of 3 seconds from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.

13. Prize Fund

13.1 The prize fund of the match, provided by the organizer, should be a minimum of 1,000,000 (one million) euros, net of any applicable taxes. The prize fund will be divided . 60% for the winner and 40% to the loser if the FWCM ends within the 12 regular games. In case the winner is decided by tie-break games, the winner shall receive 55% and the loser 45%.

13.2 The organizer shall pay to FIDE an amount of 20% over and above the total prize fund, net of any applicable taxes.

13.3 If the match is played in the country of one of the players, then the opponent shall receive 100,000 (one hundred thousand) euros from the Prize Fund. The balance of the Prize Fund shall then be shared in accordance to Article 13.1 above.

How much is the prize fund? From the official site, Veselin Topalov: Interview by Yuri Vasiliev for Sport Express:-

Q: I read, that that prize fund sets a record for all World Chess Championship matches, barring the so called 'rematch of the 20th century', Fischer - Spassky [1992], where 5.000.000 US$ were at stake.

A: The prize fund in our match is 2 million Euro – about 3 million US$ - but if Anand would have made even a minor attempt, it could easily go over 5 million. India is a vast market and Anand is very popular in his homeland. But the World Champion preferred that someone else does all the work and even play the victim. 'Well, you see, I prefer not to play in Bulgaria, but there are no other options.' We were prepared to play in India half the games or even the whole match, but Anand didn't make even the slightest effort to arrange anything about this. Even 3 million US$ aren't bad at all, if we remember Kasparov being ready to play his matches – against Shirov, Ponomariov or Kasimdzhanov – for a mere 1 million and no sponsor was found for any of them.

Topalov has been widely criticized for those remarks about Anand and they are certainly inappropriate on the official site. I would have thought that after Kasparov's record with the GMA, PCA, WCC, and Braingames (am I missing any?), top chess players had learned that they should stick to playing, not organizing.

The last World Championship match where Topalov was involved, the 2006 Kramnik - Topalov Unification Match, aka Toiletgate, left chess with a nasty stench. Let's hope that the Anand - Topalov leaves us holding our collective breath in suspense, not our noses in disgust.

Catching up on Maintenance

No one, especially me, likes doing maintenance, but once in a while it's worthwhile taking the time to get various odds and ends out of the way. I changed the following pages (listed in reverse chronological order).

• 2010 Anand - Topalov • I brought this page up to date with the various FIDE announcements from the last quarter of 2009. The match starts in less than three months.
  
  
• 2004-05 Unification • This had links into About.com which were broken since 2008; I converted them to Archive.org.
  
  
• 1998-99 World Chess Council • I added a small crosstable for the 1998 Shirov - Kramnik match.
  
  
• 1979-81 cycle : Candidates Matches • I added the months when a match was played to the description for each match.
  
  
• Index of FIDE Events 1948-1990 • I had one of the first Interzonals listed as Stockholm and another listed as Saltsjobaden, even though both were played in Saltsjobaden. I corrected this on the index and on the pages for the two events. (While I was doing this I noticed that four of the first five Interzonals were played in Sweden.)

A few more maintenance items on my TODO list will have to wait until I can research certain details.

2009 FIDE Executive Board : Whither the World Championship?

In mid-December, FIDE published the 80th FIDE Congress Executive Board Minutes and Annexes on Fide.com. In recent years, FIDE only issued these documents three or four months after the Executive Board (EB) met. This year they appeared two months after the meeting. The documents cover all aspects of FIDE's operations and are therefore key to understanding the world federation's priorities and directions. What do they say about the World Championship? I have two interests in particular:

• Successful completion of the two current cycles (see Two Overlapping World Championship Cycles), and
  
• Plans for the subsequent cycle(s)

Here are extracts from relevant portions of the EB's minutes. I include the section on SportAccord, because I wasn't familiar with the subject. Maybe it's relevant, maybe it isn't.

• 1. Report of the President.
  
• [...]
  
• 3.8. Directors' Reports.
  
• 3.8.1. Global Chess.
  
• 3.8.2. Development Department.
  
• 3.8.3. PR and Marketing Director.
  
• [...]
  
• 5.10. World Cup 2009.
  
• 5.11. World Cup 2011.
  
• 5.12. World Chess Championship Cycle 2009-2011.
  
• 5.13. FIDE World Challengers' Match V. Topalov vs G. Kamsky.
  
• 5.14. Match V. Anand vs V. Topalov, 2010.
  
• 5.15. Grand Prix 2008-2009.
  
• 5.16. Women's World Chess Championship 2010.
  
• 5.17. Women's Grand Prix.
  
• [...]
  
• 8.3. SportAccord report.
  
• [...]

Ilyumzhinov's report is usually the single most important document coming from the EB.

1. Report of the President.

President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov presented his annual report. [...]

Recently, the FIDE Secretariat has received a contract on the organization of the Candidates Matches in Azerbaijan. Mr. Makropoulos shall inform you in detail about this as he, together with Mr. Balgabaev, visited Baku where they held successful negotiations. These were not so simple, considering that GM L. Aronian's reservations about playing in Azerbaijan, being an Armenian, and considering relations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, a compromise was reached. [...]

In the first half of the year he had held a number of meetings with the leadership of Bulgaria: first meeting was held in February during the Topalov-Kamsky match, then in April in Moscow with the Bulgarian Prime-Minister Sergey Stanishev, followed by a meeting with President Pyrvanov during the M-Tel super tournament in May. The Bulgarian side is ready to participate in the bidding process announced by FIDE for the World Championship match Anand-Topalov. The chess federation of Bulgaria is very active not only in the organization of chess events, but in popularization of chess in their country. And each chess event gets the widest coverage of mass media. In the match in February he had counted 15 TV-cameras. [...]

During this period the Grand Prix stages for Women's tournament were organized in Istanbul and Nanjing. The remaining 4 stages shall be organized in 2010 in Russia, Armenia, Mongolia and Chile. The initiative after the last Congress was very good and all is going smoothly. So we will satisify the wish of our leading women players.

Immediately, after the Dresden Olympiad and Congress [November 2008], we managed to prepare and organize the Men's stage in Elista instead of Doha. In 2009 the tournaments were held in Nalchik (Russia) and Jermuk (Armenia). There have been some uncertainties with the last and final stage, but today he would like to announce that the last stage of the FIDE Grand Prix shall be organized in the city of Astrakhan in Russia. Mr. Geoffrey Borg shall report on this later on. The governor, Mr Zhilkin, told him about this on the phone and he confirmed this to Mr. Borg. He had appointed arbiters to this tournament and the contract shall be signed shortly. Then we will start a new cycle of Grand Prix tournaments. [...]

In March the FIDE delegation participated in the SportAccord meeting in Denver, where we have met again with the IOC representatives. Mr. Makropoulos will brief you in detail about SportAccord. After Denver he was contacted by the SportAccord President (SportAccord is the new name for GAISF [General Association of International Sports Federations]), Mr. Hein Verbruggen. He asked us for a sub-lease of our premises in Lausanne. We agreed to this request. As a result we reduced our expenses on this office, and have left only a postal address in Lausanne. [...]

The FIDE delegation led by Mr. Makropoulos has visited Khanty-Mansiysk in May and September where they checked the preparation for the World Cup and the 39th Chess Olympiad. The contract for the World Cup 2009 was signed for the period 20 November – 14 December 2009. We have touched upon this subject, but today he wanted to announce that the balance of 1,261,000 USD was transferred to FIDE this week. Now we shall concentrate on the proper preparation of the next Olympiad and Congress.

As it is known to the members of the Executive Board, we did not succeed in signing a contract for the 2010 Candidates Matches and the 2011 World Championship match with the German company UEP. Mr. Makropoulos will inform you of the situation.

He informed the Executive Board members that during his visit to Baku he had a meeting with the Azerbaijan Minister of Sports and President of their Chess Federation, who had expressed a firm interest in the organization of the Candidates Matches in their country. As he had already said, they have sent a contract already. In case their representative performs well, they are ready to organize the World Championship match, despite any financial conditions.

World Champion Viswanathan Anand has requested to postpone the World Championship match to the spring of next year. We have announced a bidding procedure which was completed on 30th September. We are in receipt of three bids – Turkey, Singapore and Bulgaria. The Bulgarian delegation is here and he was sure they would speak on the point. Bulgaria's was the only bid with financial guarantees. The challengers' match for this final event, between Topalov and Kamsky took place in February in the capital of Bulgaria. [...]

Members of the Executive Board had been presented with a draft contract between FIDE and Chess Lane which has been on our agenda for the last six months. He had received a lot of feedback from the Presidential Board members and he was thankful for members' active attitude and remarks. He praised the active involvement of the FIDE delegation – Messrs. Freeman, Makropoulos, Gelfer, Kelleher and Mazouz. Many important points are covered in this document and more will be heard about this later. [...]

Section '3.8. Directors' Reports' might best be subtitled 'The Demise of Global Chess'. I'll leave that discussion for another time.

Section '5. Presidential Board' has many subsections, but the discussions are generally brief. Subsections 5.1 through 5.9 (future Presidential Board meetings and FIDE Congresses; 5.8 is missing) contain information about future top-level FIDE meetings. [NB: There are potential problems with Chess Olympiad 2010.]

5.11. World Cup 2011.

Annex 26 is letter from the Estonian Chess Federation . Mr.B. Balgabaev visited Tallinn. He said that two days ago he spoke with Mr. Olde who told him that at the beginning of November there will be elections in the city of Tallinn and then they are ready to sign the contract with FIDE.

Annex 26 (undated): 'In 2007, the FIDE Presidential Board gave us the right to organize the 2011 World Cup Tournament in Tallinn. [...] We sincerely hope that we can sign the contract already in the beginning of July 2009. Looking forward to hearing from you, Carmen Kass, President of the Estonian Chess Federation'

World Cup 2011 would be the first event in a new World Championship cycle, the format of which has not been determined. It would be the fourth World Cup in the series and the first not held in Khanty-Mansiysk.

As for the current cycles, the following is somewhat confusing. The title World Championship Cycle 2009-2011 means the cycle that commenced with the Grand Prix 2008-2009 and which includes World Cup 2009, Candidates' Matches 2010, and World Championship 2011.

The Anand - Topalov match mentioned in the second paragraph will be the last event in the previous cycle that started with World Cup 2007. The Grand Prix mentioned in the same paragraph ('We are not intending to have Grand Prix') would be for the cycle starting World Cup 2011.

5.12. World Chess Championship Cycle 2009-2011.

Annex 27 is Regulations for Candidates' Matches 2010.

Mr. Makropoulos said that the match Anand-Topalov is postponed from September 2009 due to the request of GM V Anand. There is a new cycle with a match which should be organised in September 2011. We are not intending to have Grand Prix, unless we have signed contracts by the end of this year following previous decisions of the General Assemblies and Presidential Boards.

Concerning the final match of the next cycle, we have received an interest from Mr. Malcolm Pein from England. They organise London tournament at the end of 2009 with the support of the London Mayor. In 2012 they will host Olympic Games, and they are ready to try to organise the match in London at the beginning of 2012 with the support of the municipality of London. Mr. Makropoulos proposed, after a discussion with the FIDE President, that the Organisers can have the option with the prize fund of not less than 2 mln euros. For FIDE it would be important to have the match in the city of the Olympic Games under the same authorities and sponsorship. The FIDE President had agreed. Mr. Pein had to reply by 15th February 2010. If the option is not exercised, then the bidding procedure shall be opened immediately. Mr. Makropoulos said it would be very important if they could organise the match in a Western European country with such a high prize fund. All other regulations will be based on previous decisions of the General Assembly. The Presidential Board can decide on any changes, or the President, if there is something extraordinary to be changed.

Executive Board approved, including the proposal of Mr Makropoulos regarding the possibility to amend the pairings if necessary and that at least one player from Azerbaijan should be in the matches played in Baku.

Mr. Makropoulos said we did not sign the contract with UEP as their way of approaching our needs for promotion of FIDE is different from our understanding. We are trying to organise the match in a different place. We succeeded to have a contract with Azerbaijan only for half of the Candidates Matches, because GM L Aronian cannot play there. We agreed that they will organise 2 out of 4 matches and the final match, if GM Aronian is not in the final match. We have already had discussions with two different organisers, for the other half of the Candidates matches. Azerbaijan will pay 300,000 euros out of the 500,000 euro including the FIDE share, and the other organiser will pay 200,000 euros. Azerbaijan will have the nominee according to the regulations. We need to make sure that one Azeri player will play in Baku. Then we may have to amend pairings and to make a respective decision here.

Executive Board approved.

While I sincerely hope that the title match -- between the winner of Anand - Topalov 2010 and the winner of the Candidates' Matches 2010 -- does take place in London, it represents a slip of more than a year from the schedule announced in 2007 (see my recent post on The New/Old World Championship Cycle).

5.13. FIDE World Challengers' Match V. Topalov vs G. Kamsky.

Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos informed the Board. Annex 28 is report of the Chief Arbiter I. Leong. Mr.Makropoulos said that in Dresden we managed to reach an agreement. We managed to have the match without any problems with the players. We did not have any complaints from the players. He said we can guarantee right conditions for both players, even if the match is organised in the country of one of the players. GM Anand was satisfied in Bonn, GM Kamsky was satisfied with the conditions in Sofia, even though he lost the match. GM Anand should play in Sofia and FIDE should guarantee right conditions in Sofia. We will start discussions with both sides to finalise the contract. Our people should be flexible and understand that FIDE will do its best.

FIDE often takes a negative, defensive posture ('We managed to have the match without any problems with the players. We did not have any complaints from the players.'), when a positive, congratulatory comment would be entirely appropriate. I'm baffled by the statement that 'Our people should be flexible and understand that FIDE will do its best.' Who are 'our people' if not FIDE?

5.14. Match V. Anand vs V. Topalov, 2010.

Deputy President G. Makropoulos said the match will take place in April 2010 following the request of World Champion V. Anand, who was playing every year either a match or a tournament for the title. We accepted his request. Three bids were received; one from Turkey, for a prize fund of 1 mln euros, another from Singapore for 1.288 million euros, and the other one is from Bulgaria for 2 mln euros. No financial guarantees were received by the 30th September, so we extended this by 2 weeks.

Mr. Yazici said organisers are humans and due to his adrenalin he thought it would be fantastic to organise the match in Turkey. He had tried to organise Kasparov- Kasimdzhanov match also. He did not do his homework but was upset that his bid is not enough, but glad that there is such a good bid from Bulgaria. He withdrew the Turkish bid. He congratulated Silvio Danailov and his team but said Turkey will organise one day such a match and hope a Turkish player will be on one side of the board.

Mr. Leong said Singapore also withdraws and congratulated the Bulgarian Chess Federation for a very good bid.

Mr. Danailov, Vice President of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, took the floor and said that his country during the last 5-6 years organised 5 super tournament MTel masters and recently this year the candidate match Topalov-Kamsky in Sofia. We have a lot of experience of organising big events and we have bid for the upcoming World Championship match Topalov-Anand. Recently there is a new Government in Bulgaria and we are proud that the Prime Minister, Mr. Borisov, shall be chairman of the Organising Committee. The prize fund is 2mln euro plus 20% to FIDE plus the organising costs for the event. The letter from Mr Borisov is dated 12th October 2009 and is an official guarantee and personal guarantee. They will be ready to transfer the money, not later than 10th December 2009, with 3 mln euros budget.

Annex 66 is letter from the Prime Minister addressed to the FIDE President and the delegates. Mr. Freeman read the letter to the delegates.

Mr. Makropoulos thanked Silvio Danailov and Mr. Sergiev for their efforts. Strictly speaking we should have a bank guarantee, but he thought the letter from the Prime Minister should be accepted and the discussions for the organisation contract should start here. He proposed to award the event to Bulgaria.

Executive Board approved the award of the World Championship match V. Anand vs. V. Topalov to Bulgaria.

Mr. Makropoulos said that the offer is excellent. He said that the dates are not exact yet, we would like to start it on 5th April 2010. Negotiations shall be started.

Anand - Topalov 2010 was subsequently announced to start a few weeks later in April 2010.

5.15. Grand Prix 2008-2009.

We have the tournament in Astrakhan, end of April 2010. There are discussions regarding the dates so as not to clash with any other tournaments.

The last of the Grand Prix 2008-2009 tournaments has still not been announced.

5.16. Women's World Chess Championship 2010.

The event shall take place in Turkey, 2-25 December 2010. Mr. Yazici said Antakia is a very interesting place with fantastic food. He said the players will like this city, it is the crossroads of various religions. The Mayor of the city will guarantee 300,000 euros, and the Turkish Chess Federation has found other sponsors. We are ready to start.'

Women's events often seem to be easier to organize than unrestricted (i.e. men's) events. Is this because the prize funds are lower? Or because the women are less demanding? Or because women's events are seen as a novelty? Or some other reason?

5.17. Women's Grand Prix.

Mr. Borg said the Istanbul event in March was very well organised. Then in Nanjing there also had been excellent organisation with a tremendous effort by the organisers. We had some work to make sure that we finalise the whole cycle. He thanked Mr. Makropoulos and Mr. Vega for assisting with Chile to finalise the contract. We will complete the whole cycle. The players know their schedules. Everything is fine and under way.

Mr. Makropoulos said to make sure that all Organisers deposit money.

Mr. Yazici asked whether we are going to start a new Women's Grand Prix cycle.

Mr. Makropoulos said yes, we will concentrate on the women's Grand Prix.

Mrs. Kosteniuk thanked FIDE for the women's Grand Prix, it is a tremendous job, because from February until now it is clear that there is a cycle with dates and venues, which is very important for women players. She hoped that it will be continued. It will turn into one of the strongest chess events.

Mr. Yazici said their sponsor Bank is not happy that FIDE is changing the cycle for women. So they want to know in advance the whole cycle.

Mr. Borg said that Is Bankasi was caught in the position when we were pressing many countries, to finalise the venues. We concluded 7 cities in a period of 5 months. It is not easy, in respect of the prize money - there is a big problem of credibility, we have to win the credibility. We should maintain the product. He said that we now have a stable cycle for the women. We have to come down on prize expectations. We have to thank the President for his intervention and providing new venues.

The FIDE President said that for the Grand Prix series, both men and women Grand Prix for 2010-2012, they shall be taking place according to schedule. The venues shall be announced one year or six months at least in advance. Grand Prix is his baby as is the knockout World Championship, which despite all criticisms since 1995, everyone plays in it with great success and it is one of our flagship events. He said we will announce World Cup venues for 2011, 2013 and even 2015. As for the Grand Prix, the first cycle is ok, and the baby is healthy, and we will announce all the venues for the next cycle one year in advance. We discussed it with Mr. Borg. There will be some slight technical changes, first in respect of the prize fund and the second in respect of the number of the participants. We shall discuss this with the FIDE respective Commissions, ACP and professional chess players. He had in his hands the proposals from four venues for men's and women's Grand Prix. He wanted the Executive Board members and chess players to look to the future with assurance. Our calendar is guaranteed for the next seven years in respect of the World Championship and Grand Prix cycle. He was sure we will agree with the London Organisers. He agreed with his colleagues and chess players that the contracts for the organisation of the Grand Prix should be in place in advance and should be signed in advance.

Mr. Rajscanyi said in Budapest there will be a new Mayor so we can think of this possibility. He agreed with the President about the number of the participants in the Women's Grand Prix.

Mr. Makropoulos said we have women's Grand Prix for 2010 firm. New cycle is for 2011 so we have time to announce in 2010 all the tournaments for 2011. For men we have just closed the last city. The situation with the women is much better.

Mr. Yazici proposed that at the end of 2010 at the Women's World Championship December 2010, in Turkey, we can gather all the Grand Prix organisers for women, so they could sign contracts for the next cycle.

Note the long paragraph that starts 'The FIDE President said that for the Grand Prix series, both men and women Grand Prix for 2010-2012, they shall be taking place according to schedule.' This is more positive than section 5.12, where Makropoulos is minuted to have said, 'We are not intending to have Grand Prix, unless we have signed contracts by the end of this year [2009?] following previous decisions of the General Assemblies and Presidential Boards.'

8.3. SportAccord report.

Annex 41. Mr. Makropoulos said that we did very good work with the help of all FIDE people. He said that following the discussion with the IOC leadership we should concentrate on the youth Olympics. Its main principle fits with chess but the first games will include same sports as in Olympic Games. We should be determined on this event. We have good chances and we should really have a strategy to convince the IOC that they should include chess.

Annex 41 (undated): 'This year's SportAccord was held in Denver, USA. The FIDE delegation was led by the Deputy President, Georgios Makropoulos, and included the President's Assistant, Berik Balgabaev, Commercial Director, Geoffrey Borg, and the Executive Director, David Jarrett. [...] The International Mind Sports Association elected Jose Damiani (Bridge) as President, Georgios Makropoulos (Chess) as Deputy President, Thomas Hsiang (Go) as Secretary General and David Jarrett (Chess) as Treasurer. There was a review of the 2008 event and it was decided to hold a second edition of the World Mind Sports Games in either 2011 or 2013, to avoid clashes with the Chess Olympiad. [...] FIDE, led by the Deputy President, had a constructive meeting with representatives of the IOC. There was a review of matters since the previous meeting in Athens and new topics included a discussion of the relevance of chess as a discipline in the Youth Olympics. The Presidential Board in Krakow appointed Vice President Khalifa Al-Hitmi to take this project forward.'

NB: International Mind Sports Association, World Mind Sports Games 2008 (held in China), and Youth Olympics. Are the years of drug testing and other IOC oriented policies going to pay off? If so, it would open a major source of funding for chess.

The New/Old World Championship Cycle

Remember this chart? The caption says that it 'details the new cycle and long term intentions of the new World Championship cycle'.

It was originally published as a supporting document for Tallinn Presidential Board Maps New World Chess Championship Cycle, dated 24 June 2007. In a post from 27 June 2007, New World Championship Cycle, I used a portion of the diagram to explain where FIDE was going with the concept.

Let's look at each of the events by year. First, 2007:-

• 'Mexico 2007' was won by Anand.
  
• 'Previous WCH match' was the Kramnik - Topalov match held in 2006.
  
• 'World Cup 2007' was won by Kamsky.

2008:-

• 'UEP match' was won by Anand over Kramnik.
  
• 'Challenger match' was won by Topalov over Kamsky.
  
• 'Grand Prix 2008-2009' is ongoing with one more event, still unannounced, to be played.

2009:-

• 'World Cup 2009' will start next month.
  
• 'World Ch match' is the Anand - Topalov match to be held April 2010.

2010:-

• 'Challenger match' was scrapped end-2008 and replaced by a Candidates event, to be held end-2010.
  
• 'World Ch match' is not yet scheduled, but London has been given an option to bid on a 2012 match.
  
• 'Grand Prix 2010-2011' is not yet announced and its future is uncertain.

It's clear that FIDE has not yet managed to create a stable World Championship cycle. Will the Grand Prix endure? The Candidates event? What will the next cycle, post 2010-2011, look like?

2009-Q2 FIDE Announcements

Since my last summary of FIDE announcements (see Two Overlapping World Championship Cycles), FIDE has issued a number of communications. I added them to the relevant pages on my WCC site.

• 2009-04-24: Anand-Topalov Match bidding procedure • 'The FIDE Presidential Board, during its meeting in Istanbul 7-8 March 2009, decided to open a bidding procedure for the FIDE World Championship Match 2010 (FWCM 2010) between the current World Champion GM V. Anand (India) and Challenger GM V. Topalov (Bulgaria).'
  
  
• 2009-05-06: Meetings in Khanty-Mansiysk regarding World Cup 2009 and Olympiad 2010 • 'On May 6th, the FIDE delegation met the Organising Committee of the World Cup, which will take place this year in Khanty-Mansiysk, starting November 19th. Deputy President Mr. Makropoulos and Mr. Bondarev, Head of the Organising Directorate, signed the contract for this event.'
  
  
• 2009-05-12: FIDE Press Release • 'FIDE announces that the negotiations with Universal Event Promotion (UEP), the original bidder for organising the final stages of the World Championship cycle 2009-2011 (Candidates Tournament and Final Match), did not reach a final agreement. FIDE is already in contact with other organisers and sponsors interested in holding these events.'
  
  
• 2009-06-17: Presidential Board Meeting • 'The PB accepted the new regulations for the World Championship Candidate matches.' • 'In connection with the World Championship cycle, the PB emphasized that the continuation of the Grand Prix series can be approved only if all the contracts with the organizers of the 2010-11 GP events will be in place for approval before the Executive Board meeting to be held in October 2009'
  
  
• 2009-06-22: Regulations for the Candidates Matches 2010 • 'We are publishing the approved Regulations for the Candidates Matches 2010.'

I also added a link for the FIDE Grand Prix in Jermuk, Armenia. I'm expecting a flurry of new communications after the summer vacation doldrums end in a few weeks.

Catching up with Interviews

Besides playing World Champion level chess, most top chess players share a penchant for talking about playing for the World Championship. Too long has passed since my last roundup of interesting interviews (see 2010 Candidates), so it's time to catch up. I also include links to blog posts with relevant commentary from knowledgeable fans. To set the stage and provide some continuity, I'll start off by repeating a few links I used on that last post.

• 2008-12-22: Carsten Hensel and Vladimir Kramnik – no longer a team (Chessbase.com)
  
• 2009-01-01; January 1st 2009 (Magnuschess.com)
  
• 2009-01-05: Vladimir Kramnik on the World Championship Cycle, part one (Chessbase.com)
  
• 2009-01-07: Kramnik in from the Cold? (Chessninja.com)
  
• 2009-01-07: The new founding fathers in chess? (Carlsen & Kramnik w/ Shirov comment; Chessvibes.com)
  
• 2009-01-10: Shirov on the world championship cycle (Chessvibes.com)
  
• 2009-01-21: Interview with Vladimir Kramnik, part two (Chessbase.com)
  
• 2009-02-05: Topalov and his team under pressure before the match with Kamsky (interview with Danailov; Chessdom.com)
  
• 2009-03-03: Interview with FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos (Chessdom.com)
  
• 2009-03-08: Interview with Garry Kasparov (Chessdom.com)
  
• 2009-03-13: Kasparov on Anand (Chessninja.com)
  
• 2009-03-17: Kasparov: Anand’s reign will end soon (Chessbase.com)
  
• 2009-03-18: Svidler: I am a better player than my current results show (Chessbase.com)
  
• 2009-04-08: Veselin Topalov Interview (Chessdom.com)
  
• 2009-04-17: Vladimir Kramnik Interview (Chessdom.com)
  
• 2009-04-18: Nalchik GP - Interview with Boris Spassky (Fide.com)
  
• 2009-05-02: Interview with World Champion Viswanathan Anand (Chesstigers.de)
  
• 2009-05-04: Interview with Silvio Danailov (Chessdom.com)
  
• 2009-05-06: One on One - Vishwanathan Anand Interview by Riz Khan (jrobichess.blogspot.com -> YouTube video)

After negotiations failed between FIDE and UEP for the organization of the World Championship 2010-11 cycle (which I haven't yet covered in this blog), I expected more reaction from the top players. Is there another shoe ready to drop? In the meantime, UEP is running a series of innocuous interviews on their page www.uep-worldchess.com - News. The entry for 13 May mentions the FIDE negotiations.

Anand on Chess

The last time I featured interviews in a post was on the 2010 Candidates at the beginning of the year. Since then there have been many good interviews worth documenting, but the series on World Champion Anand that ran on Chessbase.com from February to April was exceptionally good. Here are links with excerpts that I particularly liked. • Location: Chennai; Date: 26th December 2008; Interviewers: Sriram Srinivasan and Jaideep Unudurti.

• From square one to the World Championship in Bonn • Q: How would an ideal chess economy look like? A: I think in general it’s a fairly good system. We have tournaments at every level. I think once you make your mark, some way or the other, either you become the best player of your country or you become one of the best in the world. In the case of Russia you could be number eight in Russia and could still have some work to do before you’d be the first choice. I think the system as it is now, as long as it stable, we are back to the system of having only one world championship; that is very good for the game. And now lots of new countries are turning up. There is a Norwegian, Magnus Carlsen, who is fourth in the world, there is an Italian, there is an Armenian, there is a Ukrainian. So already the top ten is looking very diverse and nice. Which is a very interesting face to present to the world. So I think the system is healthy. Now if we keep the stability of the world championship and grow it from here it will be very healthy.
  
  
• Chess as a profession and on computers • Q: When was the first time you started using a computer in your chess preparation? A: 1988. It was a computer I had here at home. At the end of 1988 I bought a laptop. [...] I would say I was there right in the very beginning. The first database appeared in 1986 but even then it wasn’t really useful. Maybe Kasparov beat me by a few months. He was world champion already so he might have beaten me by a few months to it. But I was there at the very beginning. So I have used computers from the time they appeared in chess.
  
  
• On intuition, creativity and blitz chess • Q: Botvinnik became the champion in 1948. You beat Kramnik, a student of his in 2008. There is no other comparable Russian star. Is the Russian era over? A: Far from it. I think they are going through a brief rough patch. But still by many measures they are the leading chess country on earth. That’s not bad, given they had so many bad years recently. I think simply the rest of the world is catching up. If you compare any single country with Russia they are still ahead on everything.
  
  
• On the World Championship in Bonn • Q: The biggest bombshell in the [Kramnik] match was you playing 1.d4. You have been a life-long e4 player. Switching to d4, they say that it requires a certain “feel” for the positions, an intuitive understanding. You don’t have that much experience in playing d4, so did you worry about that? A: It was a problem and I went into it with quite some trepidation. You have a feeling that you may make a complete fool of yourself. Every game you will play, you’ll play your preparation and then in the middle-game because of unfamiliarity with certain structures you will make errors of judgement. That fear was in the back of my head. Last November I decided to play d4 and not to revisit this decision. I’m going to play it, I decided, and told my team now you can start working on d4, this is the stuff you have to cover and I’m not going to second-guess it. It is very easy to start second-guessing and there can be no way to finish this discussion. I’m happy I stuck with it; it went much better than I hoped for. I had no difficulties, but somewhere in the back of my head I did have this worry.

Fischer once said of Euwe, 'There’s something wrong with that man. He’s too normal.' He could also have been talking about Anand.

Two Overlapping World Championship Cycles

It's never easy to keep up with FIDE's changes to the World Championship and the usual difficulty is compounded by the overlapping cycles that are currently running. I combed through my pages on the two cycles, made them consistent, and brought them up-to-date with everything that FIDE has announced until now.

Cycle terminating 2010:

• 2008-09 Matches
  
• 2010 Anand - Topalov

Cycle terminating 2011:

• 2008-09 Grand Prix
  
• 2009 World Cup (New)
  
• 2010 Candidates Event
  
• 2011 Title Match

How long will the pages be up-to-date? Not for long, I'm sure.

2009 Topalov - Kamsky

I added the results from the Topalov - Kamsky challengers' match to my page on the World Chess Championship : 2008 Matches. The page also has the crosstable for the 2008 Anand - Kramnik match, which was a title match. Topalov goes on to play Anand in a title match where the venue and dates have not yet been announced.