The Magnus Carlsen v Sergey Karjakin world championship match has been confirmed for New York starting on 11 November and ending months of speculation with rumours that the 12-game series would be switched to Moscow. The global body Fide’s commercial partners AGON have announced that the €1m contest will be played in the redeveloped Fulton Market, a historic and scenic site in the South Street Seaport district of downtown Manhattan. The match sponsors have yet to be announced, although two seven-figure backers are said to be on board.
The Fulton Market was, for nearly 200 years, the site of the city’s fish market. At its peak the market was the second-largest in the world (after Tokyo), supplying 400,000 pounds of fish a day to restaurants and fish markets up and down the East Coast. In 2005, the fish market moved to the Bronx and the old market is being converted to a dining and entertainment complex.
Carlsen and Karjakin will play in an enclosed glass sound-proof area, still to be built and part of a 3,000 sq ft second floor area that will also house spectators, up to 300 paying from $50 a day, plus a media and commentary centre. The schedule will be leisurely, with a rest day after every two games, but there could be a real climax if the score goes to 6-6 and speed tie-breaks. That is possible though unlikely since Carlsen is a hot favourite to keep his crown by around a two-point margin.
It still remains to be seen whether the US public and media will warm to a match between a Norwegian and a Russian. Success would have been surer if the US champion, Fabiano Caruana, had defeated Karjakin in the final round of the candidates tournament in Moscow.
New York last hosted a world championship match in 1995, when Russia’s Garry Kasparov defeated India’s Vishy Anand at the World Trade Center. That series was rather low-key as a media event, lacking the professional back-up which will support Carlsen and Karjakin.
The vast majority of chess fans will watch the games on the internet. AGON have abandoned their ill-fated attempt at the Moscow candidates to copyright game scores and bar other websites from using the moves, though a crucial question for the organisers will be whether they can deliver the high-class game commentaries ordinary players now expect.
Some critics still remain sceptical about the entire project. Nigel Short is one of the most vociferous and the former world title challenger has dismissed AGON’s announcement as “sleight of hand” before the approaching Fide congress in Baku and the match as “without sponsors in an empty building”.
Meanwhile, the $150,000 Sinquefield Cup in St Louis has its final rounds this weekend. Carlsen is absent and the early rounds were inconclusive, with the Bulgarian veteran Veselin Topalov the unlikely leader and a high percentage of draws.
Here the seven-time Russian champion blunders a piece due to jetlag. Instead of 25...Rb4?? Rb3 holds. At the end Black loses his knight after 28...Nc1 29 Qb8+ and if Kf7 30 Qxc7+ or Kh7 30 Qb1+.
Veselin Topalov v Peter Svidler
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 a4 b4 9 d3 d6 10 a5 Be6 11 Bxe6 fxe6 12 Nbd2 d5 13 c3 Bd6 14 d4 bxc3 15 bxc3 exd4 16 cxd4 dxe4 17 Nxe4 Bb4 18 Bd2 Nxe4 19 Rxe4 Qd5 20 Bxb4 Qxe4 21 Bxf8 Rxf8 22 Rc1 h6 23 Qd2 Rb8 24 Qe3 Qd5 25 h3 Rb4?? 26 Qc3 Nxd4 27 Qxb4 Ne2+ 28 Kh1 1-0
3455 1 Qg7+ Ke8 2 Qxe7+! Kxe7 3 Rg7+ Ke8 4 Nf6 mate.
