FIDEOn Tuesday, FIDE, the World Chess Federation, issued a statement responding to questions and accusations that have been made about the location of the upcoming World Championship Chess match. The event is currently scheduled for Chennai, India but some people, including the challenger, Magnus Carlsen, were unhappy with that plan.

The statement in full can be read on FIDE’s website, but the essential points were:

  • Chennai was granted an option to host this year’s tournament at the time Moscow was selected to host last year.
  • FIDE rules do not require open bidding for World Championship matches, though it is required for others.
  • The previous three matches were also located without competitive bidding.
  • Because a sponsor for the championships must be secured before the identity of the challenger is known, it has often been the case that the event has been organized in the home country of one of the participants.
  • The current champion, Viswanathan Anand, was also in the past forced to play in his opponent’s home country.
  • At one point, FIDE approached the Indian sponsors with the idea of splitting the event between Norway and Chennai. However, the Chennai plan had already been approved by the Tamil Nadu government. Both FIDE and the sponsors then felt obligated to meet their commitments.