Fide Anthem Writer's Great Grandson wants to Design Chess Trophies

This artist-guitarist has his choices clear: On a carefree evening, he'd rather grab a game of chess than a cup off coffee! However, creative Frenchman Arnaud Berman loves old objects and finds coffee grinders "very pretty and elegant." So, he turns them into chess sets!Arnaud, as an artist, has focused on creating art works and sculptures, mainly in low relief, with chess as the theme, for more than five years now. His sculptures, particularly in bronze, stand out with a mystical depth and would surely make much-coveted trophies in the chess world! That's what he wants to do next. Marcel BermanArnaud's love for chess has a genesis. He is...

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India, France have Highest Number of Rated Chess Players in the World

India has just moved up to join France as the No. One ranked chess nation in terms of FIDE rated players. India rose to 35,200, and this number will be moving back and forth in the next few days until November when India is expected to be No. One.Strangely, 35,200 is the same as France, the leader for over ten years. But India is growing steeply and France moderately. This had to happen. This week, one can expect India to surge ahead of the French number and never look back! Asia set to rule world chess.About four decades back, India had just Manuel Aaron on the rating list. People still remember him since his name was the first entry in the...

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Fide Defends Chennai Choice

Baku 06.05.2013 Press release Since the Candidates’ Tournament ended, and GM M. Carlsen became the challenger of the coming World Championship Match there have been several developments, mails exchange between all parties (Carlsen, Anand, FIDE), questions asked, and also speculations. FIDE would hereby like to put forward the current situation regarding this event. Directly after the 2012 match was awarded to Moscow, FIDE agreed to grant an option to Chennai. The PB and its meeting in Armenia in January decided that FIDE and AGON, who holds the rights for organizing the whole cycle of the World Championship, were advised that India would take...

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Anand-Carlsen Match: Norway Protests

Norwegian Chess Federation president Jøran Aulin-Jansson has sent an open letter as a "formal complaint" to World Chess Federation (FIDE) on the selection of Chennai as the host of the 2013 World Chess Championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. The letter calls for a "fair and transparent procedure and competition for the selection of the organizer" while emphasising that the letter is not a campaign against Chennai organisers.  Also Read: World Chess 2013: Is it Chennai 100%? Dear Mr. Ilyumzhinov / Presidential board   With reference to the discussion that for some time has been going on between...

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World Chess 2013: Is it Chennai 100%?

by Zainab Raza Undulusi As a chess fan, I am totally confused. Is the World Chess Championship 2013 Match between reigning champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen really going to be held in Chennai this November? Should I book tickets and hotel room? In the popular 1988 Movie 'Young Guns', actor Emilio Estevez playing 'Billy the Kid' tells his band of outlaws in response to their concern of potential hanging, that if they are caught that they will most certainly get hanged, and then utters the phrase but "There's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip". In 2012, Fide told All India Chess Federation (AICF), after...

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Neutral Venue Please, Carlsen to NRK

by Zainab Raza Undulusi "In principle, I think it (World Chess Championship 2013) should be held on neutral ground. It has been the tradition in the past, and that is what seems most fair to me," says World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen. He was speaking to Norwegian website NRK. The Indian media has announced that the match will be held in Chennai this November. However, no formal confirmation has come in from the World Chess Federation (Fide). There is usually an open bidding for the match.  Magnus Carlsen's manager Espen Agdestein, said, "It is strange that this time they should skip the bidding process. There is great interest...

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WCCh: Carlsen yet to Confirm Chennai

by Zainab Raza Undulusi in New Delhi World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen is yet to confirm what the Indian media and chess association have already announced! World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand will get to defend his world title in his home city of Chennai this year from November 6-26. The Tamil Nadu government has agreed to sponsor the event. The world chess body (FIDE) will finalise the venue after Carlsen agrees to it. If Carlsen wants to avoid playing Anand in Chennai, he will have to find a sponsor and a place who would out-bid the one put up by Chennai. Anand will be playing in India for the first time in more than a decade. He...

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Media Blitz, Corporate Strategy to Make Chess Super-Popular!

Andrew Paulson - Chess Vision Leading design agency Pentagram has been hired to rebrand the World Chess Championships, after the World Chess Federation (FIDE) accorded the commercial rights to the sport to technology entrepreneur Andrew Paulson.Mr Paulson struck the deal with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of FIDE, to host the championships and provide long-term commercial structure for the game, with an increased prize fund of 5.4 million euros, according to a latest press releas...

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Breaking Chess News: Kasparov Committed to Ousting Fide Chief Ilyumzhinov

The legendary Garry Kasparov Garry Kasparov has confirmed to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (news not online yet) that he is firmly committed to push FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov out of office. (The interview was given to Stefan Löffler in Moscow.) The legendary world chess champion said he is likely running himself for Presidency at the next FIDE elections held in Tromsö, Norway, in August 2014, or otherwise, that he will support another candidate. He cites as his main motive the damage done to chess by Ilyumzhinov´s visits to dictators Saddam Hussein, Muammar al Gaddafi and, most recently...

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Istanbul Chess Olympiad: Turkish Chess Fed Bans Officials from 7 'Anti-Fide' Federations

The Turkish Chess Federation has banned arbiters from seven countries from officiating at the Chess Olympiad due to take place from August 27 to September 10 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Federation has announced that they would not allow arbiters from France, England, Germany, Georgia, Ukraine, Switzerland and USA because these federations "launched or supported court cases against FIDE" which led to financial losses to FIDE and loss of funds that were meant for chess developmen...

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