Anand is in Sofia for the World Championship
Opening ceremony, inspections, and events before the Anand – Topalov match
14:35 CET: The Bulgarian Chess Federation, more specifically the President Stefan Sergiev, commented in a telephone call to Chessdom, “We have information that Anand has arrived in the hotel through various sources. We have not been in touch with him, nor I am aware other people from the organizing committee to have been in touch with him. Probably he is resting in his room after the long trip.”
14:40 AICF issues official statement
World champion Viswanathan Anand has reached Sofia, the Bulgarian capital after a 40-hour road journey from Germany as flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash floating across European airspace resulting in cancellation of flights.
The 40-year old world champion and his wife are obviously very tired after such a long journey by road and hoped the organisers would accept their reasonable request of postponement of the game by three days. Anand is not used to travelling such distances on road and not giving a three day postponement could give challenger Veselin Topalov a significant advantage.
Anand had planned to reach the venue on April 16 which is one week before the first game on April 23. Now he arrived four days behind due to factors beyond his control and has wanted a three day postponement.
The road route selected to reach Sofia was done after a look into the visas they had on their passport.
Anand might miss the press conference but will attend the opening ceremony according to his wife Aruna Anand. Not rescheduling the games will mean Topalov could have the same advantage which Anatoly Karpov enjoyed in the World Title match at Lausanne in 1998.
“The news from us is that we reached here safely,” said Aruna Anand on the phone.
Had Alexander Alekhine been in Anand’s place, he would have sought a postponement of atleast a week as world champions ruled and challengers were at the mercy of champions. Such natural calamities had not occurred during world championships.
Sometimes a handicap is a better way to start a match and Anand can turn the disadvantage into a driving force in the 12-game series.
End of statement
17:00 Statement of the organizing committee
The Organizing Committee responsible for the organization of the FIDE World Chess Championship Match in Sofia got acquainted with the arising situation regarding the beginning of the match, because the world champion Mr. Anand arrived late in the city.
During the official FIDE congress in Kallithea (Greece) in November 2009, the World Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov was scheduled for 5th of April 2010. At the instance of Mr. Anand the starting date was changed to 21st of April 2010.
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.
All official guests and sponsors of the event have made their travel arrangements and plans so they can participate at the official Opening Ceremony on April 21st, 2010 and also at the first game on April 23rd, 2010. Possible change of these dates would deprive them of this opportunity.
For those reasons, is unacceptable to us to make any postponement of the match and change the program for its implementation.
End of statement
Note: The article will be updated upon new details from Sofia.
The official opening ceremony of the match Anand – Topalov starts at 17:00 CET on Wednesday, April 21st.
The opening ceremony will be preceeded by two important events. The organizers announced that at 10:00 CET on Wednesday there will be inspection of the playing hall, with the players and their teams. At 11:00 CET there will be a press conference with FIDE, the players, and the teams (photo of press conference room here). Some details of the opening ceremony are here.
The special curtain was tested and approved yesterday by both teams. It does not block the spectators point of view and has minor effect on the quality of photos and video. Chairs were tested and approved, but upon players request at tomorrow’s inspection they can be changed. The Chief arbiter Panaqiotis Nikolopoulos inspected carefully all details in accordance to FIDE regulations.
The only visible concern coming from Anand’s team was about the table of the match (photo here). It is the same one used during the Mtel Masters tournaments, but a more stable one was requested. The organizers will have the wish granted before tomorrows inspection.
yeah the table looks light and not stable
This helps Topalov quite a bit for the first couple of rounds. Because his team organized the bloody event, he knows when the games will start but they are still keeping Anand in the dark about the schedule by saying, “Maybe we’ll grant a postponement, maybe not.”
Yeah – yard sale table needs to go! When they put the table on a grand stage, does nobody notice that it looks odd? nobody thinks that it is flaky and does not go with the military base?
Can’t get the freaking basics right. And what is FIDE doing? No standards YET for this? No one audits? No one has a checklist to run through if it meets basic standards? It needed a guy to travel 40 hours to come and tell you your table has issues. Like he has nothing else to do. Cmon guys!