A reluctant Magnus Carlsen finally signed the player contract to defend the world title against challenger Viswanathan Anand at Sochi, in Russia, in November.
On the last day of the extended deadline ending September 7, Carlsen faxed the contract to FIDE (the world chess federation) from St. Louis in the US, where he was playing the premier Sinquefield Cup, and ended the suspense.
Carlsen’s manager Espen Agdestein said, “It has been a difficult decision for him. We have tried to move the match from Sochi and postpone it (to January 2015) because of the difficult and unstable political situation (in Russia).
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“We got a little extra time to make the decision, but otherwise they (the officials of FIDE) haven’t been willing to budge on the issues we think have been important.”
FIDE’s vice-president Israel Gelfer said, “He had a lot of questions that were answered by FIDE, myself and the (FIDE) president (Kirsan Ilyumzhinov). We are very glad that he understood it was not logical to postpone (the match). I’m very satisfied that he signed.”
The match, comprising 12 games and, if required, tie-break games, has been scheduled between November 8 and 27. Mr. Ilyumzhinov will be inviting the Prime Ministers of India and Norway, besides all World champions, to attend the Opening Ceremony on November 7.
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The prize-money will be $1.5 million which is a million less than what Chennai offered last year.
Carlsen’s reluctance to play in Sochi was also because of the Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, not very far from the proposed venue of the world-title match.
Moreover, in the recent FIDE presidential elections in Tromso (Norway), Carlsen had openly supported Garry Kasparov who eventually lost to Ilyumzhinov, known to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When asked about leaving the decision to the last day, Agdestein said, “We do not think it took long to decide. It was not until during the Olympiad that it was clear when the match would be played and we’ve spent the time until now to make the decision. It was a difficult choice.”
“This hasn’t turned out the way we’d hoped, but now Magnus wants to put that behind him, build up positive energy and positive feelings before the match. He has to feel like he’s in great shape when he comes to Sochi, that’s what’s important now.
“There are only two months to the match — it is small, but it is probably good. Magnus is pleased to have signed and now he’s going to focus on being in absolute top form when the match starts — it is, in fact, a real effort.”