@Thomas: Is it now everything fear? Is one day enough for WC or not? Im waiting for your answer in one word YES or NOT. Thanks!

What er the times of the schedule in CET?

Not bad. At least FIDE acknowledged the extraordinary situation and didn't give in to the pressure of the organizers. Could've been worse I suppose.

One day postponed? -Sound fair and square to me!

I think Anand is being a gentleman again. Naturally, he is involved in this scheme, and he will play. I hope that his approach will turn out to be positive on his chess-playing behaviour.

Let the games begin!

Hurray for common sense!

Let the best man win ... over Topalov!

Why not to postpone 1 day and half???

Yep, common sense prevailed, but isn't it interesting that there are two versions on how this compromise was reached?

The official one: FIDE (Makropoulos) imposed a delay, referring to several articles of match regulations and WCh agreement ... and subtly mentioning that the organizers themselves didn't stick to the contract (the playing hall wasn't available for inspection at the specified date)

Off the record: Based on one source that seemingly prefers to remain anonymous, Borisov showed common sense. However, he doesn't want to "lose face" by saying so in public!?
The fact that travel problems of FIDE officials may have played a role is Peter's (plausible) interpretation!?

Let the games begin.

Looking forward to this. Hope the Volcano clears up and the Bulgarians get lots of visitors to the WCC. Planned to go there myself, but must confess I'm keeping an eye on the travel mess in Europe.

As Anand says in the video linked to yesterday, he has mentally prepared himself for anything, and has practiced rising above it. (If he prepared himself for the consequences of a continent-wide aviation ban in Europe, I'm impressed. :-)

Fair decision. Now let's concentrate on chess only.

Live source - press conference anand-Topalov
mms://chess.spnet.net:8080

http://reports.chessdom.com/news-2010/world-chess-championship-postponed Anand speaking nicely

Can't reply now but I'll get back once we have 50+ replies again.

One more to the tally...

@Sergio - at 14:00 CET

It's nice to see that Anand was proved right. Maybe we can actually hope that FIDE will ensure that the match is fought on fair ground. I guess they really don't want to endorse another scandal from Danailov's team with the FIDE elections approaching.

@Sherman: Leaving "c'est le ton qui fait la musique" issues aside (you are not a native speaker, so you simply don't know how to write politely in English?), the obtained compromise seems to be acceptable for Anand, so the short answer is "Yes".

However, it is not acceptable how this compromise was reached, no matter which version is correct:
- FIDE had to remind the organizers that they should be neutral, _or_
- Borisov showed common sense and goodwill, but doesn't want to say so ("admit it") in public. Indeed he would contradict the (rest of) the organizing committee that came up with a rude and categoric "no postponement, period" statement before.

Let's hope that Anand's press conference statement ("The main thing I came here for is to play chess") will hold, and that there won't be further problems during the match. Because then the story would start over again:
- How biased are the organizers?
- Would FIDE interfer again?

Some more bits and pieces from the Chessdom report on the press conference:

11:00 CET
Press conference should have started by now, however, there will be a slight delay. The FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is at the hotel. He will probably not be able to attend the press conference after he had a very long trip and he is probably tired.

later: "The time schedule changes with one day, the only thing not sure for now is the time the first game will start. It can be changed depending on the schedule of the Prime Minister Boiko Borisov, but this is to be discussed additionally. "
At least it's not Kramnik playing, who is anything but a morning person. In that case, the organizers would probably claim that the game needs to start at 8:00AM, because Borisov HAS to make the ceremonial first move and has other commitments the entire day? :)

Anand testing the chairs and inspecting at these photos http://photo.chessdom.com/thumbnails.php?album=241

Article updated with some photos and a quote from Anand.

Fascinating....

There is no mention of, or by, Sergiev in the letter. Makro is now taking the horns and all official statements seem to be coming through him.

Somehow the Organizing Committee has got smacked down. Perhaps now the FIDE heavyweights are starting to arrive in Sofia and taking charge from the local know-nothings, who had free run before. Awful as the FIDE people are, they have more experience being diplomatic and in the public eye than Sergiev et. al.

Would love to know the behind-the-scenes gossip to do with the smackdown, because you know there is that.

Making them change the light was a nice move by Anand. He needs to get on top of the situation. :-)

Hope we'll focus on chess now...

@Peter (if you want to answer that question ...): Did you (have to) pay the 15,000 Euros for those photos? And, fingers crossed, have a nice flight in a few hours!

Some funny captions in the Chessdom photo report:
#26 "The FIDE Deputy President handled perfectly the difficult situation at the World Chess Championship, now both sides are satisfied with the decision"
When did the organizing committee say that it would be impossible and unacceptable to postpone the first game? Ah, that was yesterday .... .

#28 and 29 mention Danailov's birthday today. How come they copy FIDE - which just removed their "Happy Birthday Mr. President" message on the front page with some nes won the world championship ?

I really dont see how this was a compromise on the organizing committee's part.
Didnt someone early on in all this mess mention that a 1 day delay was a possibility?
All the BCF did was posture and act tough then get what they offerred in the first place.
I see a lot of attention on the needs of the Bulgarian PM and delays because the FIDE president is tired but zero consern other than from media and the fans about the world champion Anand.

I also find it amusing to think about the welcome Anand had into the country.

A border guard that laughed...... welcome to Bulgaria ...

I hope that Kramnik is the surprise member of Anand's team THAT would shock Topalov!

hey tony, you're absolutely right! should former world champion kramnik appear on anands team it will shock us all n probably scare the living ••it out of topalov; another toilet scandal? lol.

respect Anand,

follow the rule,

try to find fair

Kramnik was actually Kasparov's second in his match against Anand in 1995, and Topalov was Ponomariovs second when he played Ivanchuk in the final of the FIDE knock-out in - I believe - 2002.

One day postponed is ridiculous. FIDE, a discredited organization ruled by incompetent opportunists, gave in to the sinister danailov and his low-class cohorts.
Let's hope Anand will be ready to play and crush topalov.

Some people here desperately try to construe a scandal where there is none. Delaying the championship would have cost the organizers ten thousands of dollars. It is quite natural that they were reluctant to accept Anand's initial request. May be their tone was a little bit harsh, but so what? Anand has four days to acclimate.
The decison of FIDE strikes me - contrary to what we are used to - as very salomonic. Both players behaved very politely at the press conference today. There is no reason to let ourselves be distracted from chess.

A fairly recent short e-mail interview with Anand is available at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/chess/You-hibernat...

Topalov has white in the first game. Just saw the video of opening ceremony

@Harish: Do we have a link for this opening ceremony video?

I expect that if Topalov will be WCC then the next WC-championship will be (may be) in +5 years and Toaplov team will create problems and refuse any offers to play.
That is a well known strategy, and it has been employed by Kasparov who did not play a WCC match from 1995-2000 !!!

"Le roi est mort ... vive le roi." Kasparov replaced FIDE by a new similar FIDE.

Topalov World Champion = Reich of 1000 years

Sorry I dont have a link, it was telecasted live and now the link is no more on the official site. But there were so many journalist taking video (as I saw live ), so I am sure it will be made available somewhere shortly.

@?Najjeev : Vladimir , are you on blog with us?

My flight is boarding right now. Should be in Sofia in a few hours. Behave while I'm gone, OK? ;-)

Peter, all anarchy you'll ever see in Sofia is nothing compared to what will happen on this site while you're gone :-)

There was no news on Anand and Topalov's full team. Anyone else knows more than below

Topalov:

Jiri Dufek ( Person for for Rybka 4 opening book)
Cheparinov
Dominguez

Anand:

Nielson
Kasimdzhanov

Thats about what I know.

Sherman; I am Topalov fan as a chessplayer.

Question: How do you do in order to be an eternal world champion?
Answer: 1) to become WC and
2) never play a single game.

Anand:
Samwise Gamgee
Meriandoc Brandybuck
Peregrin Took
Gandalf the Grey
Aragorn
Legolas
Gimli
Boromir

Topalov:
Sauron
Saruman
Witch-king of Angmar
the Balrog

L'Ami and Smeers were working with Topalov in Linares 2010. Maybe they still cooperate.

By the way, @ "cheesfan" or "chessfan".

Yours anti-thesis (i.e with respect to the commun thesis post in this blog) are not completely wrong. That is,

1/postpone is not as easy as it seems.
2/One has to admit that without the Bulgarians, it is very very difficult to organize a WCC.
3/ The lack of money to sponsor chess events is basically due to the fact that the chess community (in particular the public) belong the "class" (i.e. intelegencia) and not the mass (such that Foorball community).

4/ the stress of making a decesive move in chess = the stress of shouting a penalty in a final Footbal World championship

5/ if Anand planified to prepare during 1 week in Sophia then this means that he needs 1 week, no matter what he will do.

We have to recall that evey thesis even if it is true and obvious needs an anti-thesis.

I know L'Ami is working with Topalov again, read it somwhere in an interview. Isn't Ganguly still working with Anand, he tought Anand the Grunfeld, maybe he will play this in Sofia!

A sigh of relief, for now. For the safe of Caissa, this is a world championship match. I hope all parties respect that fact (as Anand does). If the report is true, Bulgarian PM does respect that as well. That thought gives me a hope of a good and fair match coming. Let us all hope that will be the case!

http://sportni.bg/?tid=40&oid=2543166&cid=525

Headquarters Topalov wants to sue FIDE

The manager of GM Veselin Topalov - Silvio Danailov, expressed his dissatisfaction with the decision to postpone the first round in which Indian Viswanathan Anand will face the Bulgarians in dispute for the world title.

"The decision to delay the match by one day to me is illegal and disrespectful to the organizing committee," said Danailov. "Lawyers have already investigated the matter and reserve the right to file a case against the International Federation ( FIDE ) for loss of earnings.

Danaillov = Gollum

Its amazing how Danailov manages to always target someone somehow. Just when everything seemed settled down, now he wants to sue FIDE. Its almost like saying "how can everything be fine and normal as long as I am there. "