1 March 2016
New York City to Host 2016 World Chess Championship
The 12-game match will take place on November 11-30.
The World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and his challenger, which will be determined in the Candidates tournament in Moscow, is going to be played in New York City. For the first time since 1995, when Garry Kasparov played Vishy Anand in one of the World Trade Center buildings, the most important match of chess calendar will be held in New York.
Total match audience, including internet and TV broadcasting, is expected to exceed a billion viewers. The prize fund will be more than a million dollars, with at least a million guaranteed to the winner.
The most recent World Chess Championship match took place in 2014 in Russia, and had a record-breaking audience of 1.2 billion viewers (including news coverage). Carlsen defended his title against the ex-World champion Vishy Anand.
The venue of the New York match is yet to be announced. Agon Ltd, the commercial partner of FIDE and the organizer of the World Chess Championship, will announce it in the coming months. The organizers and planning to build a special studio for the match broadcasting, like it is usually done in Norway, where chess became the most popular sport. The match will also be broadcast on Agon’s website, www.worldchess.com.
