The World Chess Championship 2012 was staged in the Tretyakov Gallery
in Moscow, between the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and
the winner of the Candidates tournament Boris Gelfand of Israel. The match was
over twelve games plus tiebreak, and lasted from May 11 to 30. It was won by
Anand in the tiebreak. The prize fund was US $2.55 million, the winner getting
$1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).
Closing ceremony of the FIDE World Chess Championship
The ceremonial closing ceremons took place on 31 May in the Engineering Building
of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The establishment date of the Tretyakov Gallery is generally considered
to be the year 1856. It was then that Moscow's noted art collector, merchant
and industrialist Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898) acquired his first paintings
by contemporary Russian artists and set himself the goal of forming a
collection that could develop into a museum of national art in the future.
No such museum existed in Russia at that time. The overwhelming majority
of paintings by Russian artists was dispersed among numerous private collections;
a few – the most famous and officially acceptable – found their way into
the Imperial Hermitage and the museum of the St. Petersburg Academy of
Arts.
Today the State Tretyakov Gallery is the national treasury of Russian
fine art and one of the greatest museums in the world. It is located in
one of the oldest directs of Moscow Zamoskvorechye, not far from the Kremlin.
The Gallery's collection consists entirely of Russian art and artists
who have made a contribution to the history of Russian art or been closely
connected with it. The collection contains more than 150,000 works of
painting, sculpture and graphics, created throughout the centuries by
successive generations of Russian artists. Russian art works, ranging
in date from the 11th to the early 20th century, are on the show in Gallery's
historic building on Lavrushinskiy Pereulok. |
Attendees were first treated to a documentary film about the match showing
video highlights from the games to the accompaniment of an inspired Denis Matsuev.
Video stream of the closing ceremony of the World Championship
You can maximise this report and watch it in HD. It
contains scenes
from the past three weeks of the World Championship in Moscow. |
The ceremony was hosted by Russian Chess Federation Chairman Ilya Levitov,
with the opening speech being given by Vice President of the Russian Olympic
Committee and Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Alexander
Zhukov.
Russian Chess Federation Chairman Ilya Levitov, also the main organiser
of the event
Speech by Alexander Zhukov
Alexander Dmitriyevich, 56, is a Russian economist and politician, member of
the State Duma (1994–2004). He is the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian
Federation since 9 March 2004. He is also Vice President of the Russian Olympic
Committee.
Irina Lebedeva (above), General Director of the State Tretyakov Gallery was
next to take the stage, and was followed by a speech from FIDE President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov (below).
It was then time to invite the participants in the match – Viswanathan
Anand and Boris Gelfand – onto the stage.
The Indian grandmaster was awarded the golden Championship Trophy by the
FIDE President...
...as well as another equally beautiful trophy from the Tretyakov Gallery
Note that all the games are engraved in the golden cup
Kirsin Ilyumzhinov also presented both players with FIDE medals
The match winner was also crowned with a champion’s ribbon and a
laurel wreath
This was followed by a speech from the initiator and sponsor of the match,
Andrey Filatov. He presented a painting by Yury Krotov as a gift to the Tretyakov
Gallery. The painting depicts Denis Matsuev playing at the opening ceremony
in a packed Vrubel Hall.
A second painting, depicting Anand and Gelfand at war over the chessboard under
the watchful eye of the “Seated Demon”, was presented to the World
Champion.
Alexander Zhukov then invited journalist and television presenter Sergei
Makarychev
to the stage and awarded him an honorary title in recognition of his services
to culture.
This was followed by Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand stamping envelopes
issued by the Ministry of Communications in honour of the match.
The closing ceremony was followed by the final press conference of the World
Championship and featured both grandmasters, as well as the Chairman of the
Russian Chess Federation, Ilya Levitov, and the initiator and sponsor of the
match, Andrey Filatov.
Before the press conference got under way, commemorative pens were awarded
to the four journalists who wrote the best articles about the Tretyakov Gallery
and the relationship between chess and the world of art. The images on the wooden
part of the pens were produced by Veronika Chibisova and other artists and Palekh
miniature experts.
Relaxed at the press conference: Boris Gelfand and Vishy Anand
At the press conference, Anand and Gelfand talked about their
meeting with President Vladimir Putin that morning.
The grandmasters also answered many questions about chess
and other things, including their backgrounds and even football.
Andrey Filatov (above) explained that he had kept a close eye on every game
and also stated that his childhood dream to take part in the World Chess Championship
had come true, even though it was as a sponsor rather than a player.
Ilya Levitov expressed his satisfaction with the organisation of the match
and did not rule out the possibility of the Russian Chess Federation once again
putting in a bid to host the World Championship if one of the three Russian
participants in the Candidates Tournament emerges victorious.
All photos by Eteri Kublashvili, Vladimir Barsky and Alexey
Yushenkov
World championship match by the numbers
The match for the title of FIDE world chess champion generated considerable
interest from chess fans and the media. On some days, the auditorium’s
400 seats were unable to accommodate all the people who wanted to watch the
game. As part of the children’s programme, 20 sessions were held involving
some 500 young chess fans. The sessions were hosted by former world champions.
More than 400 journalists were accredited for the match. Two television companies,
NTV+ and VGTRK (the Russian 24 channel) covered the events of the match on a
daily basis. All the main Russian television stations worked at the match along
with representatives of several major global television companies – the
BBC, France Press, Associated Press and others.
The official tournament website received some two million unique visitors
during the tournament and more than six million hits. A video broadcast of the
match, which was not only available on the official website but also on other
Internet resources, was viewed by approximately three million people. An average
of 200,000 users watched each game online using the video broadcast. The most
entertaining game came on the final day of the match, when an all-time high
of more than 50,000 simultaneous connections to the server were registered.
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