FIDE has announced that the 2000 World Championships (men's and women's) will start November 25 in New Delhi, India, with the locale of the finals scheduled for Tehran, Iran. The announcement was made May 13 at the FIDE Presidential Board meeting in London.
The format will reportedly be a two-game match knockout. The men's prize fund is $3 million while the women will play for $500,000. India has previously held the quarter- and semi-finals for the men's championship.
FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has supposedly guaranteed the $3 million
through his World Chess Foundation.
The inclusion of Iran has sparked widespread controversy, primarily because Israeli players will not be able to receive visas to play there should any make it to the finals. If some of them do, other arrangements will be made.
Israel is the home of a number of prominent world-ranked players.
Chess had been banned for several years in Iran until recently, so their organizational skills for a competition at this level may be questionable.
In other news, the Olympiad planned for Istanbul, Turkey, from October 27 to November 13, will take place as scheduled, according to the chairman of the organising committee. There had been doubts about the organisation of the event since invitations had not been sent out as expected. A bank guarantee was shown at the meeting as evidence all is under control.
100 rating points were deducted from all Myanmar (Burma) players rated over 2100. This adjustment was made after it became apparent some of the strongest Myanmar players boasted ratings well above their true strength.
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