Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday announced that the World Chess Championship 2013 would be held in the city between November 6 and 26, in a first for an Indian city. Making a suo motu statement in the State Assembly, the Chief Minister said she had granted `29 crore for the event.
The match would be between defending world chess champion Viswanathan Anand and world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Carlsen, with a FIDE rating of 2,872 points, had earned the right to set up a showdown with Anand after he edged past former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia last week in the Candidates Tournament.
Recalling how the president of the World Chess Federation FIDE (Fédération internationale des échecs), Kirsan Illyumzhinov, had called on her requesting her to host the World Chess Championship 2012 in Chennai, Jayalalithaa said she had allocated `20 crore for it then. However, it was Russia, which quoted the highest amount in the auction, and bagged hosting rights in 2012.
This year, therefore, the World Chess Federation allotted the event to Chennai without holding an auction.