Turkey and Singapore submitted their bids which were later withdrawn when Sofia, Bulgaria announced that it would raise 3 million euros, or $4.5 million, in prizes, organizational costs and FIDE fees. In a unanimous vote, FIDE named Sofia as the host of the world championship scheduled for April 2010.
Bulgaria’s newly elected Prime Minister Boyko Metodiev Borissov sent an official letter to FIDE to “personally guarantee the budget of three million euros for the match [two million prize fund, 20 percent FIDE fees and the rest for organizational costs] and we will be ready to transfer the money and to sign the contract with FIDE in two months from now.” The PM added, “Neutrality would be guaranteed.”
According to the Bulgarian news site Standart, Anand has agreed to face Topalov in Sofia. “Had he not, he would have lost automatically. The Bulgarian state has guaranteed a $2 million prize fund in exchange of hosting the grandest World Chess Federation event. As initially announced, the event will last between April 5-24, 2010, but may be liable to change in order to fit better in the sporting calendars of both opponents. The negotiations for the individual contracts Anand and Topalov must sign with FIDE will be run in the few weeks to come. ‘I shall restrain to disclose any of my terms. This is a normal practice,’ Anand told chessdom.bg. Anand expressed his hope that this world championship match would win more fans for the game and be a great show.”
ChessBase contacted Anand’s manager and learned that nothing had yet been decided. “Anand’s official position is: ‘I can only say that contractual details are yet to be discussed and an announcement will be made once the contracts are signed. It’s still too early to comment. As of now only the bidding procedure has finished. So I will refrain from making any statements until the contracts are drawn up and signed. The contractual details are to be kept confidential in normal practice. We hope that the match will be entertaining and will be a good platform for the promotion of the game. In the end the games should be the highlight and that is what we will strive for.’ ”
Stay tuned.
Game of the week.
In this game annotated by IM Malcolm Pein, Topalov “played a remarkable sacrificial attack to defeat Dmitry Jakovenko, taking enormous risks in the process. Black has a very reasonable position from the opening and a lot of choice but Topalov elects to sacrifice a piece for rather unclear compensation.”
White: D. Jakovenko (2742)
Black: V. Topalov (2813)
Gruenfeld Defence
Nanjing 2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qb3 dxc4 7.Qxc4 0-0 8.Bf4 Na6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 Nh5 11.Be3 cxd4 12.Qxd4 Bc6 13.Be2 Qa5 14.0-0 Nb4 15.Qh4 (15.g4 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Bxe5) 15…Nc2 (15…Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Bxe5 17.Bxh5 Bf6 18.Qe4 gxh5; 15…Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Bxe5 17.Qxe7 Nc2 are also fine) 16.g4 Nxe3!? (16…Nf6 17.exf6 Bxf6 18.Qg3 Nxa1 19.Rxa1 and 16…Nxa1 17.Rxa1 Qb4 18.gxh5 Qxb2 19.Rc1 Bxf3 20.Bxf3 Rac8 21.Ne2 Rxc1+ 22.Nxc1 Qxe5 both look reasonable) 17.fxe3 Bh6 18.Nd1 Kh8 19.gxh5 Rg8 20.Kf2 (20.Rf2 gxh5+ 21.Kf1 Rg7) 20…Rad8 21.hxg6 Bxf3! (21…Rxg6 22.Rg1) 22.Kxf3 Rxg6 (White’s vulnerable king and Black’s dark square control makes this position unclear but it’s remarkable how quickly White subsides) 23.Qe4 f5 24.Qc4 Qd2! (What the late John Littlewood described to me once as “in your guts move.” No specific threat but just increasing Black’s reach. Now Rf2 or e6 with the idea of Qc3+ was best but Jakovenko blunders) 25.Rc1?? (25.Rf2 Rg4 26.Bf1; 25.e6 Kg8 26.Rc1) 25…Rc6! 26.Qh4 Qxc1 27.Qxe7 Rg8 28.e6 Qd2 29.Kf2 f4 and 0-1.
Puzzler.
White — Ka4, Ba6, Nb8, Nc6, Qc1, pawns on e3 and h4
Black — Kd5, Nd6, Rf7, Bh7, Rh3, pawns on b3, c4, c7, d4, e6 and f3
White to play and mate in four.
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