World Chess Championship 2013 - Who will challenge Vishy?

World Chess Championship 2012 in Moscow generated enough excitement that chess lovers already want to know details of the next world chess championship! For now, the latest update is that the World Chess Championship 2013 could be held by Fide in October-November 2013.

The hot topic for discussion among chess lovers in India is would the venue be Chennai? In fact, the All-India Chess Federation (AICF) had bid to hold the Anand-Gelfand World Chess Championship 2012 in Chennai itself, but lost the bid to Moscow. Chennai is the home town of the reigning world chess champion Viswanathan Anand. Right after the conclusion of the last world chess match, Fide president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov had indicated that Chennai has the option to submit a proposal for the next world chess championship. The AICF has until August 30 to make the bid.

Next challenger to Vishy Anand

Fide has said the next challenger to reigning World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand would be decided through an eight-player chess tournament on the double round-robin format. The match is likely to be held from March 13-31 in London. According to various Fide rules, the eight players are likely to be:

1 Boris Gelfand (ISR) 2739 2 Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2835 3 Levon Aronian (ARM) 2805 4 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) 2801 5 Teimour Radjabov (AZE) 2773 6 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR) 2766 7 Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2761 8 Peter Svidler (RUS) 2749

A replacement to the list could be decided according to the official chess rating list if required.

Anand, AICF Comments

According to a report in Indian newspaper Times of India, five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand has said,

“Playing in India can be a big challenge. When the Chennai bid came up, I was thinking about the implications. When you are playing in front of your supporters and family, the demands are also greater. But you need to find a balance, to shut yourself away from the rest of the world and get into such a frame of mind.”

Anand was not sure whether the Indian bid was still on. However, World Chess Federation vice-president DV Sundar was confident that the 2014 WCC match would be held in India. “We have to re-confirm the Indian bid within July to Fide,” he said.