World Chess Championship 2014, Magnus Carlsen vs Viswanathan Anand: All You Need to Know

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The 2014 World Chess Championship will be a clash between defending champion Magnus Carlsen and the challenger Viswanathan Anand in Sochi, Russia. The event will be held from 7 November to 28 November.

IBTimes UK brings you all you need to know about this year's World Chess Championship.

Qualification

As defending champion, Carlsen will directly qualify for this year's World Chess Championship. However, his opponent Anand had to go through the Candidates Tournament to seal a place in Sochi.

The Candidates Tournament is an eight-player double round-robin tournament and this year's event took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 13 March to 31 March 2014.

Anand made it to the Candidates Tournament as the runner-up of last year's world championship. Two players each from the Chess World Cup 2013, the FIDE Grand Prix 2012–13, made it to Khanty-Mansiysk, along with the next two highest rated players who played in the Chess World Cup 2013 or the FIDE Grand Prix 2012–13.

In addition to this, there was a wild card entry for the Candidates Tournament and these eight players, including Anand, were fighting for a spot in the World Chess Championship.

2013 World Chess Championship Runners Up: Viswanathan Anand,
Chess World Cup 2013: Vladimir Kramnik and Dmitry Andreikin
FIDE Grand Prix 2012–13: Veselin Topalov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
The next two highest rated players: Levon Aronian and Sergey Karjakin
Wild Card Entry: Peter Svidler

The five-time world champion managed to come out victorious in the Candidates Tournament and became the second former champion, after Anatoly Karpov, to win the Candidates Tournament. The 63-year-old Russian had repeated the feat in 1987 and 1990.

Viswanathan Anand is the second former champion, after Anatoly Karpov to win the Candidates Tournament. Reuters

Overview

The Indian chess Grandmaster lost the world championship title to Carlsen after the Norwegian defeated Anand 6.5-3.5 at the end of Round 10 of the 12 scheduled games in Chennai last year.

The victory for Carlsen saw him clinch his first World Chess Championship title at the age of 22. He will be hoping to defend his title this year and win it for the second year in a row and is the firm favourite to win it at Sochi later this month.

This year's clash between Carlsen and Anand will see the same two opponents face each other in consecutive world championship matches since Garry Kasparov and Karpov last met in 1990.

Venue

All the matches will be held at the Olympic Media Center in Sochi, on the Black Sea, next to the main Olympic Stadium.

Drawing of colours

The draw will be conducted during the opening ceremony and will be reversed in Round 7. (The player getting the white in game 1 shall play game 7 with the black).

Time Control

The game will be played using the electronic clock approved by the FIDE. Each game will be of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves. From the 61st move, there will be an increment of 30 seconds per move.

Point System

A player who wins the game will be awarded 1 point and no point will be awarded in case of a defeat. If the game ends in a draw, both players will share half point.

Schedule

8 November 2014 Game 1

9 November 2014 Game 2

10 November 2014 Rest day

11 November 2014 Game 3

12 November 2014 Game 4

13 November 2014 Rest day

14 November 2014 Game 5

15 November 2014 Game 6

16 November 2014 Rest day

17 November 2014 Game 7

18 November 2014 Game 8