Sergey Karjakin, the challenger for Magnus Carlsen’s world title later this year, has announced in Bilbao, where he is contesting an elite tournament, that he wants to launch his challenge ‘anywhere but the USA!’ His stance poses an awkward problem for the World Chess Federation, which does not seem to have even contemplated an alternative venue, though no final arrangements have yet been announced.
Disagreements over world championship venues have bedevilled former contests, and although we do not know the precise reason for Karjakin’s complaint, once one of the two protagonists digs in his heels it can be hard to shift them.
So I propose that it is high time London hosted a world championship match. The most recent was Kasparov-Kramnik back in 2000. Since then, London has been mooted as host city but negotiations with World Chess Federation president Kirsan Ilumzinov fell through. Now he appears to be disgraced and in danger of impeachment at the Federation congress in Baku later this year. With Ilumzinov out of the picture, bolting on the world championship to the well-established London Classic set for December could be an attractive and cost-effective option for players and officials alike.
In any case, Karjakin has his work cut out to defeat Carlsen, as this week’s game, played a few days ago in Bilbao, amply demonstrates.
Carlsen-Karjakin: Bilbao 2016; Sicilian Defence
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3 Nf6 4 Be2 Setting a transparent trap. 4 … Nxe4 naturally failed to 5 Qa4+ forking king and knight. 4 … g6 5 0-0 Bg7 6 Bb5+ Nc6 7 d4 Qb6 8 Ba4 cxd4 9 cxd4 0-0 10 d5 Nb8 A new move in this position. 10 … Na5 has previously been played while if 10 … Ne5 then 11 Nxe5 dxe5 12 Nc3 followed eventually by Be3 gives White an excellent position.
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