Hello everyone and welcome to the live countdown to the Carlsen – Anand 2014 World Chess Championship match on Chessdom.com!
Today is the opening ceremony day and we will follow it with live minute by minute updates as well as video from the playing area.
We start at 12:00 CET. Refresh the page for the latest news. The updates appear in reverse chronological order.
Live countdown: World Chess Championship 2014 (3 days left) / World Chess Championship 2014 (2 days left) / World Chess Championship 2014 (1 day left) / Opening ceremony day live / Carlsen – Anand World Championship News
Live games: Live with commentary / Live with analysis and statistics / Live with chat
More: Carlsen – Anand daily GM analysis at Chess Insider pdf magazine
Chessbet: Predict Carlsen – Anand free and win up to 40 prizes!
21:30 CET
The drawing of lots was performed by a magician, in the presence of two players and chief arbiter Andrzej Filipowicz. Viswanathan Anand will play with white pieces in game one, scheduled for Saturday 15:00 local time.
20:00 CET
The press conference was given by World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former Champion and now Challenger Viswanathan Anand, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov, former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and match organizer Ilya Merenzon.
Chess legends Boris Spassky and Nona Gaprindashvili were in the audience.
Boris Spassky interviewed by Russian media (photo by Goran Urosevic)
Nona Gaprindashvili and match commentator Sopiko Guramishvili
18:00 CET
The press conferences with Carlsen and Anand live in less than 1 hour and you will be able to see it live here on Chessdom.com. Two hours later is the opening ceremony. See the photos from the venue so far and join the conversation on twitter
Scroll down for all updates of the day, and do not forget to make your prediction for Carlsen – Anand
Update on the starting times (again): Technical meeting with players at 18:30, press conference live at 19, opening remains for 20:30, all local times
Opening ceremony live
Replay the press conference
15:00 CET
Magnus Carlsen made the final inspection today, to check the board, pieces, chairs and light arrangements.
It's important to feel comfortable – @MagnusCarlsen #CarlsenAnand (photos by @NastiaKarlovich and @goranurosevic) pic.twitter.com/ozL9ina7G7
— Carlsen – Anand 2014 (@anandcarlsen14) November 7, 2014
More photos on the official twitter account
14:15 CET
WGM Soumaya Swaminathan made a review for Chessdom.com of last year’s most interesting game of Carlsen – Anand. To get a taste of what is coming, eeplay it with triple engine analysis and comments
14:00 CET
Tal Memorial has been one of the favorite events for the chess fans in the past years, and we have news about it from this week. Concurrently with the FIDE World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, the Russian Chess Federation will hold Mikhail Tal Memorial on 13-14th November in Sochi.
Mikhail Tal Memorial will be a 12-player double round robin tournament
13:23 CET
Today is a rest day at the Tigran Petrosian Memorial, but there is no rest for the silicone masters – the Top Computer Chess Championship continues and you can follow it live here, 3000+ ELO chess all day long!
TCEC will also have a special Carlsen – Anand broadcast with chat, free and open for everyone
13:15 CET
The list of guests invited and to be present in Sochi is long – Stefanova, Kosteniuk, Gaprindashvili have already arrived, while Spassky, Khalifman, and Kramnik are expected.
13:10 CET
One of the big curiosities for the opening ceremony and the match itself is the political involvement in the event. Vladimir Putin was the first to greet the two players upon their arrival via the Kremlin official website. The next day, Prime Minister of India Modi twitted best wishes to Vishy to 7,6 million followers
Wishes for Vishy were twitted to over 7 million followers http://t.co/7OE7EuAQqQ #CarlsenAnand @Wish4Vishy @vishy64theking
— Chessdom (@chessdom) November 6, 2014
Vladimir Putin congratulates Carlsen and Anand upon their arrival in Sochi http://t.co/buXa87f0j7 #CarlsenAnand #chess
— Chessdom (@chessdom) November 5, 2014
12:45 CET
While waiting for the real action to start: If you still do not have a copy of Carlsen – Anand daily GM analysis at Chess Insider pdf magazine get one, you will receive ALL games that Carlsen or Anand played from the Candidates until and during the World Chess Championship 2014 (Sochi, Russia) match with GM commentary. That includes Candidates matches, the top games of Norway Chess, Gashimov Memorial, Carlsen’s games from the Olympiad, Carlsen’s games from Sinquefield, Anand’s games from Bilbao, a total of 1000+ pages in pdf and pgn
Get your copy here for 19,99 eur
12:30 CET
Important update on the schedule: at 18:00 local time (16:00 CET) will be the first press conference of Anand and Carlsen. The opening ceremony will start after 20:00 local time (18:00 CET)
12:15 CET
Yesterday the inspection by the players was successful. The new chairs were approved by Anand and Carlsen’s manager Agdestein, while the teams and the organizers assured all is ready for the event. See the updated photo gallery here (page 1 / page 2 / page 3)
Anand was happy behind the board on the new chair (photo by @carlsenanand2014)
Agdestein tried the board and chair for Carlsen (photo @carlsenanand2014)
12:00 CET
Exactly 4 hours are left to the start of opening ceremony of the World Chess Championship 2014 in Sochi. The official start of Carlsen – Anand will be given at 18:00 local time (16:00 CET).
Update: 18:00 will be the press conference with the players, after 20:00 will be the opening ceremony.
The first game starts 8th of November at 15:00 local time (13:00 CET, 07:00 EST) see the full schedule and details here. The games will be shown live with triple engine analysis by the Top Computer Chess Championship engines Komodo, Stockfish, and Houdini at the Carlsen – Anand 2014 live games page and with chat at the Carlsen – Anand TCEC page
