Anand v Kramnik Match For Rs.8.40 Crores
By Arvind Aaron

The World Chess Championship match between title holder Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik will be held from October 11-30 at Bonn in Germany. It will be a best of 12-game match and if the result is tied 6-6, there will be a tie-break. The prize fund for the match will be Rs.2.1 million dollars with the players sharing the amount.

This announcement was made in Germany. This announcement was waiting to happen and was no surprise. What was previously known to friends in Chennai is now made officially known. GM Helmut Pfleger of Munich was visiting Chennai in Sep 2007 told his friends R.R.Vasudevan and Arvind Aaron that the Anand v Kramnik match will be held in Bonn next year and that the German Finance Minister is a friend of Kramnik and would be backing the organisation. When he said that, Anand was leading in Mexico in the World Championship! Pfleger came to Chennai for his Yoga classes.

The venue in Bonn is the Art Exhibition Hall. The chief sponsor is Evonik Industries, a chemical company. In another function at Delhi, Anand has been quoted as saying that he is asking Kasparov to return to international chess.

Kramnik has won the Dortmund Tournament many times and Anand the Mainz Rapid Tournament many times. Germany is not new to both players. Kramnik has played for Berlin in the Bundesliga and Anand continues to play for champions, Baden Baden.

When Anand defeated Gata Kamsky in the Candidates Finals at Las Palmas in March 1995, the title match against Kasparov was officially announced to be held at Cologne in Germany. But as it is well known it was held in the World Trade Centre in New York in September-October 1995. It might not move out this time as the sponsor has put in Rs.8.40 Crores.

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Published on 20.12.2007