PoPChess

That according to the Bulgarian news agency and a few folks in FIDE. The news release gives April 5-24 as the dates for the 12-game world championship match, but FIDE says that’s not official yet. No bank guarantee, but the Bulgarian government apparently gave its word instead. Not sure what the players and the other bids from Turkey and Singapore might say about that. Not that they have any say in Ilyumzhinov World, of course. Rules, schmules. In olden days a player could practically veto playing a match in his opponent’s home country. That was stupid. Professionals need to play where the money is; beggars can’t be choosers. As any boxing fan knows, the challenger’s home town is usually eager to host a bout and see their man take the crown.

Corus just announced it’s full A and B fields. The former includes Anand but not Topalov. Unlike the efficient Dutch, Linares is always seat of its pants with invites and announcements. It is supposed to split with a site in the Arab Emirates this year, likely Dubai or Abu Dhabi. It seems a little unlikely either Topalov or Anand would play there so close the start of their match. But Bilbao didn’t hurt Anand against Kramnik last year, that’s for sure.

Early betting line on the match? We haven’t seen all that much of either player this year. Anand will play at the Tal Memorial in a few weeks, along with every other member of the top ten except for Topalov and Radjabov (and plus Svidler and Ponomariov). He hasn’t played a classical tournament since Linares, where he finished fourth.