NEW DELHI: The
All India Chess Federation
(
AICF
) has submitted a bid to host the
World Chess Championship
match between the young Indian prodigy
D Gukesh
and the current world champion
Ding Liren
from China.
The event is scheduled to take place from November 20 to December 15 in Chennai, subject to AICF securing the hosting rights.
According to Emil Sutovsky, the CEO of FIDE, the global governing body of chess, India is the only country to have submitted a bid so far.
However, the deadline for submitting bids is May 31, and Singapore is expected to enter the race, although they have not yet officially submitted their bid documents. The decision on the hosting rights will be made by the
FIDE
Council after the deadline and following due procedure.
If AICF is successful in its bid, it will need to provide a budget of approximately Rs 71 crore and pay a facilitation fee of around Rs 9 crore to FIDE. The tournament will span 25 days, and the regulations will be finalized by July 1. FIDE will award a total prize money of around Rs 20 crore, an increase from the previous year's prize pool of Rs 17 crore.
Gukesh's remarkable achievement at the Candidates Tournament has ignited a renewed interest in chess in India. The young player, who has been guided by the legendary
Viswanathan Anand
, broke
Garry Kasparov
's 40-year-old record by becoming the youngest Candidates champion at the age of 17. Kasparov was 20 when he qualified to face Anatoly Karpov in 1984.
India have a history of hosting the World Chess Championship, with the country hosting the event in 2000 and 2013.
In 2000, Viswanathan Anand won his first world title in a tournament format featuring 100 players, defeating Alexei Shirov in the final. However, in 2013, Anand lost to the Norwegian challenger
Magnus Carlsen
.
(Inputs from PTI)
English (US) ·