Anand-Kramnik in Bonn, Germany
19 December 2007 3:02 PM | Last modified: 22:55
Breaking News: in a press release United Event Promotion (UEP) today announced that the 12-game World Championship Match between World Champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Vladimir Kramnik will take place 11-30 October 2008, in the National Art Gallery in Bonn, Germany.
PRESS RELEASE
World Chess Championship to be held in Germany:
Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik battle for the highest chess title in October 2008
- When: From October 11 – 30, 2008
- Where: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn
- Overall Prize fund: 1,5 Million Euro
- Patron: German Finance Minister Peer SteinbrĂĽck
- Main sponsor: Evonik Industries AG
The World Chess Championship will be held from October 11 to 30, 2008 in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, between Viswanathan Anand (India) and Vladimir Kramnik (Russia).
Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany
The match will consist of twelve games, played under classical time controls, in the period from October 11 to October 28, 2008. If there is a tie at the end of these games a tiebreak will be played on October 30, 2008. The prize fund, which will be split equally between the players, is 1,5 million Euro (approximately 2,1 million US Dollars) including taxes and FIDE licensee fees.
Viswanathan Anand (37) and Vladimir Kramnik (32) are the two outstanding personalities in chess today. The world championship match between them is keenly anticipated by chess fans all over the world. It is part of a 120-year tradition of chess history, which includes matches like Capablanca-Alekhine, Fischer-Spassky, Kasparov-Karpov and Kramnik-Topalov.
The reigning and undisputed World Champion Anand won his title in September 2007 at the World Championship tournament in Mexico City. Kramnik, who was undefeated in his three world championship matches, became second in this double round robin event.
The World Chess Championship 2008 takes place under the patronage of the German Finance Minister Peer SteinbrĂĽck, who is himself an enthusiastic and ambitious chess player.
The main sponsor of the World Championship is Evonik Industries. This industrial enterprise is located in Essen, Germany, and was the exclusive sponsor of the 2006 World Chess Challenge between Vladimir Kramnik and the chess program Deep Fritz.
The World Chess Championship 2008 in Bonn will be organized with the full cooperation of the World Chess Federation FIDE and it’s President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. FIDE has its main office in Athens, Greece, and is the head of 161 national chess federations with 40 million active chess players, making it one of the world’s largest sporting organizations.
The organizer of the World Championship 2008 is Universal Event Promotion (UEP), which is located in Dortmund (Germany) and has received all rights for the event from FIDE. UEP staged the World Chess Challenge between Vladimir Kramnik and the chess program Deep Fritz in 2006, an event that drew worldwide media attention and was very successfully commercialised.
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I guess Anand dropped his “neutral country” plea. Wonder what happened to change his mind…
maybe he just demanded to play in a “neutral” cuntry not as something he really wanted, but to use it to force something else…it would be a good negotiations technique.
Germany is a neutral country, well, Kramnik played already in Bonn but Anand speaks German (I heard he also speaks a local dialect (Hessisch)) and is a lot of time in Germany… so it’s a good place for both players.
Bondsrepubliek Duitsland ? Volgens mij sinds 1989 niet meer… [mooie site overigens, ga zo door!]
Nou en of de ‘BRD’ nog steeds bestaat! De Bondsrepubliek bestaat onafgebroken vanaf 1949. Alleen is het in 1990 wat groter geworden door de opheffing van de DDR. Het territorium van die republiek is bij dat van de Bondsrepubliek gevoegd, waardoor de staat behoorlijk wat groter was en sindsdien als het herenigde Duitsland (’Wiedervereinigung’) geldt.
Hoe dan ook, Bonn is nog steeds net zo dichtbij Nederland, goed nieuws dus als we het evenement willen bezoeken.
@Macauley
Yes, and it was also reported that Vishy wanted to restore the right of the champion to claim victory if the match ends in a tie. Another plea that was dropped, apparently.
Anand will bite the dust. Kramnik zal zeer zeker winnen.
deze confrontatie is toch onmogelijk een wk match te noemen?
de uitdager (kramnik) krijgt zijn zitje gratis en de winnaar moet straks opnieuw aan de bak (kamsky-topalov).
It is surprising that the negotiations were so quick and the details announced so fast. Hope the match too progresses as smooth as this.
Any idea if the Kamsky vs Topalov match is to be held before or after this ? or at the same time
?
If all these games start on time, we are going to have one heck of a time high-quality games everyday for a good part of the year. Its nice to see top-level chess activity starting in earnest.
With the Grand Prix tournaments, the Grand Slams, one gets the feeling that chess is going to get a lot more visibility now. Its a strange coincidence that all this is happening when Karpov and Kasparov are out of the main scenes of action
Talk about politicians ruining sports !
@ Jagadish: I’ve read somewhere that the match Kamsky-Topalov should be played after this one. But I think it shouldn’t overlap or be too close to the Olypiads (Nov. 12-25), so I guess December?
Anand has stated clearly that “neutral country” was never an issue since that was already in the contract. In an interview some days before the match announcement, he said very clearly that he would be glad to play in Germany. And why wouldn’t he? It is well known that he enjoys playing there.
As for his draw odds demand — well, I suppose he had to give in sooner or later.
@Frans: uiteraard, officieel, maar daar ging mijn opmerking niet over. Wie heeft het anno nu nog over ‘Bondsrepubliek Duitsland’? Dat viel mij alleen op. Ik heb er zelf gewoond vóór dat de muur viel, vandaar.
It’ll be real close, but I guess Kramnik will win.. Can’t wait!