The Hindu : Sport / Chess : FIDE approves new World championship cycle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 25, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Chess

FIDE approves new World championship cycle

Special Correspondent

World championship to be held in Mexico City in September
Detailed regulation will be drafted in the next Meeting

NEW DELHI: Just when the chess world thought the confusion over the process of identifying the World champion was finally put to rest, the World Chess Federation (FIDE) has approved a new world championship cycle that inadvertently leaves the players and the followers of the game more confused than ever before.

In its Presidential Board meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, the FIDE cleared the way for the introduction of a new Grand Prix series as part of the World Championship cycle.

Grand Prix series will be held over two years with one leg every year in America, Asia and Europe. A player with the highest cumulative points will be declared the Grand Prix winner.

Detailed regulation for the Grand Prix series, starting in 2008, will be drafted in the next Presidential Board meeting in Mexico City.

As things stand, the World championship will be held in Mexico City in September this year. Reigning World champion Vladimir Kramnik is part of the eight-player field that does not include the dethroned 2005 champion Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov.

Challenger’s match

Interestingly, in the new scheme of things, Topalov has been included in the proposed cycle. He gets to play an eight-game ‘Challenger’s Match’ against the winner of the World Cup, due to be played in Khanty-Mansyisk (Russia) from November 23 to December 16 this year. The ‘Challenger’s Match’ that is likely to carry a minimum prize-fund of $150,000, will most probably be held in Bulgaria next year.

If Kramnik retains his world title in Mexico City, then he will play Topalov directly for the World championship in 2008 and there will be no ‘Challenger’s Match’. The 2007 World Cup winner will challenge the winner of the Kramnik-Topalov match in 2009.

But if Kramnik is dethroned in Mexico City, he gets to play the winner (of Mexico City) as a one-time right to challenge the new world champion.

The winner of this match will play against the winner of the ‘Challenger’s Match’.

If the scenario is not confusing enough, the challenger for the World championship will be ascertained by a match between the World Cup and the new Grand Prix Series champions.

Clearly, the last word on the subject is yet to be said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail