New Delhi, November 25: At last, the world knockout chess championship to be held in New Delhi from Novemebr 26-Dec 16 has attracted a title sponsor. NIIT, which had brought Viswanathan Anand into its commercial campaign, will be the main sponsor for the world championship.With just one day left for the first move to be made in the championship, most of the players, slated to start their first round games on Monday, have arrived at Hyatt Regency, the venue of the championship. The world chess federation’s commercial concern (Fide Commerce) has started its operations for live internet coverage of the event at Fide.com. The lobby of the hotel is virtually a meeting place for all chess players greeting one another. Among them were Alexei Shirov of Spain, former world women’s champion Nona Gaprindahsvili of Georgia and GM Eugene Torre of Philippines. Viswanathan Anand, who will be the cynosure of the media when he finally comes here, has not yet given details of his arrival. It is as much a secret as what variation he is going to play when he starts his second round campaign on Nov 30. Anand needs to come to Delhi only on November 29 but considering the fact that the event and the person have the same sponsor, the Indian Super GM could be in the city even tomorrow. Though he might as well want to avoid public attention, he would be required to make a few appearances because the players, as per contract (playing conditions) they signed with the organisers (Fide), should make themselves available for short interviews after the games. The complete draw of the world championship was released today. Anand is to meet the winner of the first round match between Viktor Bologan of Moldova (Elo 2641) and H.Stefansson of Israel (2557). The other favourites in his half of the New Delhi leg are Peter Leko of Hungary, Alexander Khalifman of Russia, Nigel Short, Michael Adams (both England) and Veselin Topalov (Spain). This means he will not at all meet Boris Gelfand of Israel in New Delhi. Krishnan Sasikiran is also in the same half but if he has to meet Anand, he will have to progress till the semifinals. Boris Gelfand is not a hot favourite in his half but because of his Israeli connection the temptation is to start with him and then look at names like Morozevich (Russia), Ivanchuk (Ukraine), Shirov (Spain) and Bareev (Russia), who are in the same half. So theoretically, a final between Anand and Gelfand is possible, in which case New Delhi could very well be the venue for the final too as Iran will not issue visas to Israelis. In the women’s section, Vijayalakshmi Subbaraman will run into Nana Ioseliani (Georgia) in the second round if the Indian wins in round one and if she repeats her Istanbul performance and beats the Georgian, then there is another Georgian former wolrd women’s chamion Maia Chiburdanidze waiting for her in round three. In short, it is a difficult draw for her.
