Anand: will he, won't he join the dance?

12/27/2013 – "Viswanathan Anand shows cold feet for Candidates", said the Times of India headline on December 21. "Most likely I won't play," the newspaper quoted the deposed World Champion saying. Then, two days later, the tone changed to ""I haven't decided yet". And now one billion fans can take heart: "Most probably I will play," said Anand a few days ago. Press reports.

Candidates Tournament 2014: Announcement

FIDE announces that the deadline for player's participation in the Candidates Tournament is 20 January 2014. The event will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from 11 March (arrivals) to 1 April 2014 (departures) and the qualifiers are:

1. Vishy Anand (IND, former world champion)
2. Vladimir Kramnik (RUS, world cup 2013 winner)

Federation's strange decision

Svidler to Play in Candidates
By GM Mikhail Golubev

Today, fide.com has informed that "GM Peter Svidler is the Organiser's nominee for 2014 Candidates Tournament 2014" and remained that [the] "Candidates Tournament will take place from 12th March to 30th March 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia".

Peter Svidler is currently ranked 13th in the world as of now with an ELO of 2752. Another Russian player who was considered by organisers, Alexander Grischuk, is 5th in the world, having an ELO of 2785.

In an interview in Russian for chessnews.ru the head of the Russian Chess Federation Ilya Levitov, explained that the painful choice was made, mainly based on Svidler's good performance in the last Candidates tournament.

In 2012, Svidler was not included on the Russian national team to play in the Olympiad, and was, rightfully, unhappy with that. Now it is Grischuk who has reasons to be unhappy with his federation's strange decision.

Source: ChessToday.net