Chess's misfortunes: No takers for Magnus Carlsen vs Viswanathan Anand rematch

No hosts for World rematch between Carlsen and Anand

Nobody has come forward to host the rematch between Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen and Indian legend Viswanathan Anand that has been scheduled for November 6. Two deadlines have passed since bids for hosting the event were first invited, but so far zero interest has been expressed.

All time No. 1 chess champion Garry Kasparov has criticized the FIDE, the World Chess Ferderation, for failing to find sponsors for the event.

Kasparov, who is campaigning to become FIDE president, has slammed current president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for his inability to attract a host for the match, and blamed the fiasco on Ilyumzhinov’s poor public image. The world championships are becoming hard to fund as the prize money has increased dramatically from £100,000 in 1972 to £800,000 plus other substantial costs today.

India, who hosted the world championships in 2013, saw their candidate Vishwanathan Anand crushed by Carlsen without a single win and are unwilling to host again whereas Norway, the other prime candidate, has already committed to the 150-nation team Olympiad at Tromso and are desperately short of funds.

Carlsen and his manager reportedly met with Norway’s minister for culture and sports in order to get state aid to hold a Carlsen vs Anand series in Oslo with an estimated budget of £4m. If Norway falls through, then the match could be held in Siberian oil town of Khanty-Mansiysk, which hosted the 2012 Olympiad. Azerbaijan is also one of the candidates to host the tournament.

All of these venues are still up in the air though, as nothing has been confirmed yet.