India nominates Chennai to host the Anand - Gelfand match

India bids for the Anand - Gelfand 2012 match
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State Mme J. Jayalalithaa backing the proposal

As Chessdom already hinted earlier, India nominates Chennai to host the Anand - Gelfand World Championship match. This was announced yesterday afternoon in Chennai by the FIDE President and the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu State Mme J. Jayalalithaa.

Chennai is planning to invest 200 million rupees (approximately $ 4.5 million) in the match. It should be noted that by now FIDE has already received a bid from the Russian Chess Federation.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov also visited the Russian Cultural Center, where he gave the press conference which aroused great interest among the Indian mass media. It is remarkable that the eight-year-old Viswanathan Anand took his first chess lessons in this Center.

The World Chess Championship 2012 bidding procedure continues until July 31st.

The World Chess Championship 2010 between Anand and Topalov had an increase of interest by at least a full order of magnitude reaching to a large online audience (5 million unique visitors to official site, daily hundreds of articles plus main page appearance on Google news, main page appearance on Wikipedia, etc.), while official media partners covering the match scored fantastic results (ex: Chessdom.com received over 1,5 million unique visitors and 15M page views for the duration of the match). More details on the WCC 2010 media success here.

Chennai (known as Madras till 1996) is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in India and it is also the world's 41st largest metropolitan area. Chennai is on the southeast coast of India in the northeast of Tamil Nadu on a flat coastal plain. Its average elevation is around 6.7 m and its highest point is 60 m.

The Marina Beach runs for 12 km along the shoreline of the city. Chennai has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate. The weather is hot and humid for most of the year.

Excited to play at home

Anand excited about playing in front of home crowd
Posted on 13th July 2011

Chennai, July 13 (IANS) Viswanathan Anand is obviously excited at the prospects of playing a World Championship title match in his home town here next year when he faces challenger Boris Gelfand, Grandmaster from Israel who is currently 12 in World rankings.

‘I have been looking to play the match in Chennai. It is nice that Chennai is hosting a World Championship match,’ said Grandmaster Anand Wednesday after Tamil Nadu government offered support for the 12-match series in April-May next year.

‘Obviously, it is an individual’s responsibility and once I start planning and training, I need to be focused to play Boris Gelfand,’ said Anand, who last played a World Championship match here in 1991 when he defeated Alexey Dreev 5-4 in a Candidates tournament quarter-final.

Anand, who beat Vaselin Topalov of Bulgaria in 2010 to claim the World title, said he would soon begin his preparations for the next year’s match.

‘Once the FIDE (World Chess Federation) announces the schedule and timing of matches, I will start planning. As I said, I am really thrilled to be playing in Chennai. I will have to work extremely hard. It is going to be tough,’ he said.

Earlier in the day, FIDE president Kirsan Illyumzhinov along with some Indian chess officials met Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who assured the delegation of Tamil Nadu government support in hosting the event that is estimated to cost Rs 20 Crores.

‘I express my grateful feelings to Madam Chief Minister for her decision to have the match in Chennai. I look forward eagerly to play here. It will be a fantastic experience. It is a very tough match,’ said Anand.

A FIDE press release said: ‘Her Excellency Jayalalithaa responded affirmatively and considered the offer (of hosting the title match) of the World Chess Federation as an excellent opportunity to put Chennai at the centre of world attention. She subsequently instructed her Chief Secretary to finalise the offer to FIDE and the AICF (All-India Chess Federation).

Source: http://www.inewsone.com

Chennai to host World Chess Championship title?

Chennai to host World Chess Championship title
Published: Wednesday, Jul 13, 2011, 14:38 IST
Place: Chennai | Agency: PTI

Holder Viswanathan Anand will clash with Boris Gelfand of Israel for the 2012 World Chess Championship title, which will be held in India for the first time.

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has accepted a proposal to conduct the event either in April or May next year during a meeting with World Chess Federation (FIDE) president Kirsan Illyumzhinov, in Chennai today.

This is the first time that India would be hosting the prestigious tournament, which would be held at a cost of around Rs20 crore, a state government release said.

During the meeting, Illyumzhinov mooted the proposal to conduct the games in Chennai to which the Jayalalithaa agreed, the release added.

India is ranked seventh in the world, and of the 24 grandmasters in the country, 24 are from Tamil Nadu.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com