World Chess Championship 2013 - Anand VS Carlsen
The Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) Championship, or World Chess Federation Championship 2013, is scheduled to go on 9-28 November between five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand (India) and young and prodigious Magnus Carlsen from Norway. Being hosted at Anand's hometown - Chennai, he sure will begin his moves with that extra edge.
Carlsen has the advantage of playing white in the opener but that may not count much as both players get six white and black games in this 12-game November 9-28 contest.
Anand, who has won World Championship matches in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012, is used to open with black pieces in World Championship matches.
In all, 12 games will be played in the match under Classical System in which both players will get 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 and the 15 minutes for the remaining game with an increment of 30 seconds per move effective from the 61st move.
The first to score 6.5 points will win the match and the remaining games will not be played should it happen before the 12th game. The winner will take home 60% of the prize fund.
In case of a tied score after twelve games, games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner. However, if the tiebreak stage is reached the winner will get 55% of the total prize at stake.
The players will play two games on the trot followed by a rest day till 10th game and for the last two games, there is rest day after each game. If needed, the tiebreak games will be played on November 28 followed by the closing ceremony.
There is a special illness clause which can delay the match. In case a player reports sick, he has the right to postponement for a day. However, chances of it being used are minimal unless, health wise, something drastically goes wrong for either player.
The match was officially opened on Friday by Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha. The Tamil Nadu Government is the official sponsors of the match and have given a cap of Rs 29 crore as the total budget which is inclusive of a prize fund of around Rs 14 crores.
Meanwhile, the final preparations for the much-awaited clash were almost done and the players will be behind a glass cube when the first game begins at 3pm IST on Saturday.
Glass cube was first introduced in the Masters Chess tournament in Bilbao, Spain. The idea is to keep noises from the spectators away from the players. This effective technique does not even let the sound of a huge sneeze sneak in.
The games will be beamed live through internet as well as on Doordarshan's sports channel. The commentary team has the likes of former world champion Susan Polgar, International Master Lawrence Trent and Tania Sachdev.
