World Chess Championship facts day
Details and information from Sofia LIVE!
Welcome to the fun facts day at Chessdom.com. Today besides the live commentary of game 9 we will be providing fun facts from around the playing hall, trying to represent the atmosphere in Sofia. You will learn details from before, during, and after the game, which will be updated every 15 minutes on this page.
12:30 CET
6th of May was supposed to be a rest day due to the initial schedule of the competition. It is the official holiday of Bulgaria’s military and is traditionally celebrated in the Military Club. The volcano in Iceland caused a force majeure situation and the schedule of the Wolrd Chess Championship was changed.
Now they will celebrate on the pavement in front of the Military Club, where parade with tanks and other military divisions will march from 6 pm.
13:30 CET
Half an hour before each game reporters start gathering in front of the stage in the playing hall and try to find the best spot. Some of them even bring ladders to become taller and be able to use their telephoto lenses. As usual, today there are journalists from all continents in the press room, except Africa and Antarctica. As today is the national holiday, the Bulgarian media presence is less than usual.
13:45 CET
15 minutes before each game on the stage are only the arbiters and maybe the official photographer. Today no big guestss are expected, so the crowd of photographers is eager to get a shot of Aruna Anand, who passes on the stage right side (as every day) and finds her place at the back raws of the audience.
Photo shot of this situation during round 3 here.
13:50 CET
Several minutes later, Anand comes in, shakes hands with the chief arbiter and goes directly to the resting area, where he pours a cup of tea and waits. Meanwhile, the journalists can see on the surveillance cameras that Topalov is being checked before the game and know to expect his appearance soon. These survailence cameras give 4 shots of all the corridors and spaces the players have to walk through to come on stage. Some of the wiser photographers use them to know exactly when the players are going to show up and this way not to miss taking a photo of the handshakes with the arbiters.
13:53 CET
In about 3 minitues Topalov arrives and after the handshake with the chief arbiter, goes to the resting table to pour a glass of water. With his glass he approaches the playing table and puts down the information on the score sheet. Then, with great courtesy to the journalists, he sits back, looks at the audience and allows everyone to take a good photo of him.
13:55 CET
About 5 minutes before the game Anand joins Topalov on the playing table, one of them standing during the handshake for the round.
Nice game today.