The Bulgarian Chess Federation on Monday declined Viswanathan Anand's request to postpone the first round of his World Championship match against Veselin Topalov by three days.
Anand, due to defend the world title in a 12-game match beginning on April 23 against Topalov in Sofia, had made the request on Sunday after being stranded since April 16 in Frankfurt on way to Sofia due to the closure of airspace in Europe following the explosive eruptive phase of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano that began on April 14.
Reacting to Anand's request, the Bulgarian Chess Federation's President Stefan Sergiev said in a statement, “We can postpone the press conference. Unfortunately, we cannot postpone the opening ceremony scheduled on April 21st at 6 p.m. according to the contract.
Serious penalties
The invitations to all the official guests, sponsors, politicians, TV stations and all the media was already sent long time ago. We have signed a lot of commercial contracts with serious penalties for us in case of some changes.
“The possibility to postpone the first game of the match for one day to Saturday April 24 need to be discussed with the Chairman of Organizing Committee — the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Mr. Boyko Borissov. This will take some time. We will inform you regarding our decision not later than latest afternoon of 20 April.”
In his letter, Anand had clearly mentioned the circumstances he faced.
“Trains to Sofia would take about 28 hours to reach and I would not be in a mental state to play immediately after travelling such distance. Further to play immediately would be unfair and unjust due to the fatigue given that the opponent has arrived a few weeks back. Under these circumstances the contest would not be equal and fair. In this current scenario I request you to postpone the First round by three days.”
Surprised by request
Surprised by Anand's letter on Sunday, Sergiev had reacted, “Topalov was also in Spain on an island, but managed to come on time, Anand is looking for excuses and reasons. No World Championship has ever been postponed. We believe Anand's team was here. If Anand had called or warned about the possibility, or at least the time of his arrival, we would have made everything possible to arrange alternative transportation to Sofia.”
