Chess lovers in Qatar will have an opportunity to witness two greats of the game — current world champion Magnus Carlsen and five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand — next week.
The two superstars of the board game will participate in the FIDE World Chess Rapid and Blitz Championships, which will run between December 26 and 30 at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena.
Carlsen, who won Qatar Masters last year in Doha, had defeated Anand to become the World Champion in November 2013 at the World Chess Championship in Chennai. The Norwegian repeated the feat against the Indian in 2014 to defend his title.
In May 2014, he reached his peak rating of 2882, which is the highest in the history of world chess.
The 47-year-old Anand has won the World Chess Championship in 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2012.
Anand recently finished fourth in the Grand Chess Tour, which means that he doesn’t have a direct qualification for the 2017 edition. He also doesn’t have a spot in the next Candidates Event that will determine the challenger to 26-year-old Carlsen.
The Championship, organised by Qatar Chess Association and the Qatar Olympic Committee, is expected to host over 200 players from 75 countries.
Apart from Carlsen and Anand, Russian GM Sergey Karjakin, whom Carlsen defeated to win his third world title in a dramatic tie-break this month in New York, will also make the trip to Doha.
SCHEDULE
26 Dec: Day 1 - Rapid
27 Dec: Day 2 - Rapid
28 Dec: Day 3 - Rapid
29 Dec: Day 1 - Blitz
30 Dec: Day 2 - Blitz
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen (left) and India’s Viswanathan Anand.
