Dubai to host Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov world title fight
ABS-CBN News
October 13Dubai has agreed to host the $1.2 million World Chess Championship reunification match in January next year, it was revealed in an Internet report Wednesday.
According to the Database News website, World Chess Federation (FIDE) president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov clinched the deal with Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The FIDE chief is expected to announce the deal formally at a press conference on Wednesday in Moscow (Thursday in Manila).
It will be recalled that Ilyumzhinov forged an agreement in Prague in 2001 with Kasparov, rated No. 1 in the world, and classical chess champion Vladimir Kramnik, to reunify the world chess crown.
Kramnik is currently defending his title against challenger Peter Leko in Brissago, Switzerland, and the winner of the match is to face the winner of the Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov duel next year. Both bouts are within the reunification agreement.
Kasimdzhanov, of Uzbekistan, won the FIDE world title in Tripoli. Kramnik won the classical chess crown from Kasparov in London four years ago, while Leko topped the candidates’ tournament in Dortmund in 2001.