Anand travelling to Sofia for the World Chess Championship
Postponement decision to be announced officially later today or tomorrow
April 18th, 18:30 CET: The latest news regarding the situation around the World Chess Championship is that Viswanathan Anand is traveling to Sofia. The organizing committee issued several statements and opinions earlier this afternoon, and after meeting with FIDE they announced, “Our latest information is that Anand is traveling to Sofia. We will have official statement later tonight or tomorrow.” No more information was shared, nor what type of vehicle Anand is using to get to the venue.
Here is a time line of the events which led to tension in the afternoon of April 18th.
Stay tuned for updates with Chessdom.com!
Wednesday, April 14th
On the 14th of April it was confirmed that Anand should arrive in Sofia by the 16th of April, all according to regulations and contract. However, the Chessdom.com journalists asked the organizers if they knew the exact arrival time and date of Anand, they received negative answer. The OC had no letter of confirmation or call from Anand and practically zero communication from his team.
Thursday, April 15th
The playing hall was shown to the journalists photos here. Still no communication with Anand’s team was received.
Friday, April 16th
The organizers of the World Chess Championship held the first press conference, where the Minister of Sports Svilen Neikov confirmed Anand’s team has taken all the rooms in Hilton Hotel, thus Anand is already in Sofia (video here). The organizers were still disappointed there was no communication with Anand, but respected their wish and asked journalists not to bother him at the hotel.
At the same time Chessdom.com issued first warning to the chess fans coming to the World Chess Championship.
Saturday, April 17th
Topalov was actively giving interviews for media, the count of them reached over 20 for the day. You can read translations of the most interesting here. At the same time organizers again confirmed that Anand’s rooms are being in use, according to Hilton officials, but there was no contact with him.
Later in the evening Chessdom issued second warning, as airspace over Bulgaria started closing.
Sunday, April 18th
At 12:00 CET the AICF contacted the Chessdom headquarters, transferring Anand’s wish to postpone the match (full story, statement, and letter here). The organizers were very surprised from the development and disappointed Anand has not contacted them earlier (statement of Sergiev at the end of this article)
While the latest news arrived that Sofia airport is again open for flights, FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos called an urgent meeting at 17:00 CET.
My memory says—though I can’t find a Web reference so it may be wrong—that Anand was given an elephant ride after he defeated Kramnik 2008, same festivities in which he met the Indian PM. Since the regular roads are also clogged, and no rental cars can be had, that’s probably his best transport option. It worked OK for Hannibal, and previous FIDE President Campomanes approved.