Ilyumzhinov states Candidates will start in London in October
Mark Crowther – Friday 10th February 2012
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has told Yuri Vasiliev of “Sport Express” (his usual outlet when he has chess related announcements) in an Article of 10th February 2012 that the FIDE Candidates tournament will take place in London October 23rd to November 13th 2012. He adds that the rights to entire cycle will be transfered to a new company called Agon run by a US businessman Andrew Paulson who according to Business Week is building a growing Internet empire in Russia. The players are set to be Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik, Svidler, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, wildcard Radjabov and the loser of the Anand-Gelfand World title match in May.
If it goes ahead this is very good news for chess fans in the UK. However the announcement through a short interview rather than official press release does not suggest to me that the deal has been done yet. There are also the reservations of Ilya Levitov of the Russian Chess Federation who it seems to me has barely disguised his contempt for the deal. This all follows the Presidential Board meeting in Al Ain in the UAE. More information below.
The announcement that London was first of all in the running for the World Chess Championship Candidates tournament along with Bulgarian and Azerbaijan, then the favourite and then that it was a done deal all came as a bit of a shock to those in the UK who thought they would have at least heard something if there was a UK bid. But in fact this is a Russian based bid and London has been chosen as it is a major world city.
The first news came via a tweet from Berik Balgabaev the Executive Assistant to FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and was directed at Ilya Levitov the Russian Chess Federation delegate and a FIDE Vice President.
Berik Balgabaev
Ilya, why give false info? If you hadn’t rushed away from the Presidential Board me meeting you’d have learned the dates and location of the Candidates Tournament: London, 23/10-13/11.
Levitov himself had an extensive say on the Russian Chess Federation website. It is fair to say that he is not a believer in the deal. Some of his objections to Agon included “complete lack of experience in organizing chess competitions” and about Andrew Paulson “His motivation for these investments remains unknown, as you can’t accuse him of a love of chess.”. He described Agon’s bid as “virtual”. If this was a diplomatic account of the meeting one shudders to think what his real views are.
More here.
They should hold it in Crossville, TN. The rich folks at the USCF can bid for this and have Nakamura in as a wild card.