World Championship in Bonn – checking the playing venue

by ChessBase
10/13/2008 – Just two more days to the start of the World Championship match between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik. On Saturday the two players, who have taken up quarter in the former German capital, inspected the playing site and the technical facilities. After checking the lights, testing the chairs and picking the chess set they even sat down for an informal game. We have the moves.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

World Championship in Bonn – checking the playing venue

Photo report by Frederic Friedel


A first impression of Bonn, the former capital of Germany: the Town Hall


The pedestrian street in the old part of the town


A group of costumed musicians do an open-air Saturday evening routine


Anand arrives at the playing hall to check the equipment


Vladimir Kramnik joins him at the table where the two will play their match


How low can I go, how far back can I lean? These chairs give you a lot of freedom


Anand has some problems with the tilt and swivel of the high-tech chair


Albert Vasser (Foidos) and Executive Match Director Josef Resch try to work it out


Josef Resch offers the players a choice of different chess sets


Are those pawns too large or too small? Are they too dark?


In the end the player opt for the original board with the smaller pawns


The players are behind a giant gauze curtain, which is almost invisible to the audience
but which does not allow the players to make visual contact with people in the hall


The organisers, arbiters and journalists surround the table


The two players do a handshake for the photographers


At the behest of the photographers the two start a mock game


Is that what we can expect: 1.g4 b5? I think maybe that is a little bit better for White,
says Kramnik, but the two agree to a draw.


The rest rooms where the players can retire during the games


An arbiter can watch the players while they are in their rooms


Vladimir Kramnik is satisfied with the setup


2008 World Chess Championship Anand vs Kramnik in Bonn

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

When: From October 14 – November 02, 2008
Where: Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn
Prize fund: 1.5 million Euro (= US $2.35 million)
Patron: German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück
Main sponsor:   Evonik Industries AG

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.

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.

Schedule

  • Tuesday October 14   Game 1
    Wednesday   October 15 Game 2
    Thursday October 16 Free day
    Friday October 17 Game 3
    Saturday October 18 Game 4
    Sunday October 19 Free day
    Monday October 20 Game 5
    Tuesday October 21 Game 6
    Wednesday   October 22 Free day
    Thursday October 23 Game 7
     
    Friday October 24 Game 8
    Saturday October 25 Free day
    Sunday October 26 Game 9
    Monday October 27 Game 10
    Tuesday October 30 Free day
    Wednesday   October 29 Game 11
    Thursday October 30 Free day
    Friday October 31 Game 12
    Saturday November 1 Free day
    Sunday November 2   Tiebreak

Tickets and accommodation

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).


World Championship live broadcast

FoidosChess is a live chess broadcasting application, based on the Mircosoft Silverlight technology, which will be used for live coverage of the the World Chess Championship match in Bonn. The system uses five parallel video streams to present the players and commentary by Grandmasters in German (Artur Yussupov, Dr Helmut Pfleger, Klaus Bischoff), English (Yasser Seirawan), Spanish (Miguel Illescas) and Russian. The games will be also broadcast live on Playchess.com, but without the videos and commentary.

Links


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register