World Championship in 145 days – book your tickets now

2008 World Chess Championship Anand vs Kramnik in Bonn

The 2008 World Chess Championship between the reigning Champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Vladimir Kramnik will be held in October in Bonn, Germany. Main info in brief:

Details

• Duration and time controls: The match consists of twelve games, played under classical time controls: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.

• Tiebreak: If there is a tie at the end of these twelve games a tiebreak will be played (on November 02, 2008). Four tie-break games will be played, at a rate of 25 minutes for each player and 10 seconds increment after each move. If the score is still level two five-minute games will be played with the addition of 10 seconds after each move. If the score is still level, the players will play a single decisive sudden death game: the player who wins the drawing of lots, chooses the color. White gets six minutes, black five minutes, without any increment. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is the winner.

• Prize fund: The sum of 1.5 million Euro (approximately 2.35 million US Dollars) including taxes and FIDE license fees, is split equally between the players.

• Patron and sponsor: The event will take place under the patronage of the German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück, who is himself an enthusiastic and ambitious chess player. The main sponsor is Evonik Industries, an industrial enterprise located in Essen, Germany. Evonik was the exclusive sponsor of the 2006 World Chess Challenge between Vladimir Kramnik and the chess program Deep Fritz.

• Sanctioning body and organiser: The World Championship 2008 in Bonn is being organized with the full cooperation of the World Chess Federation FIDE and its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The organizer is Universal Event Promotion (UEP), which is located in Dortmund, Germany, and has received all rights for the event from FIDE.

• The players: Viswanathan Anand (38) and Vladimir Kramnik (32) are the two outstanding personalities in chess today. The world championship match between them is part of a 120-year tradition of chess history, which includes matches like Capablanca-Alekhine, Fischer-Spassky, Kasparov-Karpov and Kramnik-Topalov. The reigning and undisputed World Champion Anand won his title in September 2007 at the World Championship tournament in Mexico City. Kramnik, who was undefeated in his three world championship matches, was second in this double round robin event.

  
  Viswanathan Anand vs Vladimir Kramnik at the 2007 World Championship in Mexico

Schedule

Tickets and accommodation

The advance booking for the World Chess Championship 2008 started on May 5, 2008. The tickets cost 35 Euro (= US $54.80) per round. They include the following benefits:

• entry to the playing hall;
• entry to the commentary room, where there is analysis and discussions with prominent grandmasters.

The tickets are available at all ticket agencies in Germany. You can also buy tickets for the match in advance via BONNTICKET, by email (tickets@bonnticket.de) or telephone (+49-180-5001812). Tickets for a possible tiebreak on November 02, 2008, will be available after the 12th game.

Exclusive VIP tickets:

In addition to the regular tickets the organizers are offering exclusive VIP tickets at the price of 280 Euro (US $438) per round. The VIP tickets are strictly limited and inclued the following benefits:

• exclusive seats in the playing hall, front row;
• entry to the VIP room, including catering;
• exclusive seats in the commentary room;
• official World Championship chess set in limited edition, including chess board and pieces (wood), signed by Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik.

The advance booking of the VIP tickets is only possible at the organizer Universal Event Promotion. CEO Stefan Koth: stefan.koth@uep-worldchess.com.

Hotels

The organisers have cooperation agreements with the President Hotel and the Derag Hotel Kanzler, which are both offering special rates for visitors and journalists during the event. Please indicate that you will be in Bonn to visit the “World Chess Championship 2008” in order to get the special rates.

Links and contacts

Official World Championship web site of the organizer: www.uep-worldchess.com

Press contact:

General links: