Viswanathan Anand likely to skip World Cup in Sochi

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand is likely to give the upcoming edition of the chess World Cup, scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia from July 10 to August 6, a miss. The 51-year-old would have earned a direct qualification for the event by virtue of his ranking, but he won’t be featuring in Russia since he is set to take part in the Sparkassen Chess Trophy in Dortmund. The tournament in Germany is slated to take place from July 10 to 18. 

“Anand won’t be playing in the World Cup. He committed to playing in Dortmund a long time ago. He will be going to Germany,” All India Chess Federation (AICF) secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan told this daily on Wednesday. 

Anand had also skipped the previous edition of the World Cup, which was also held in Russia, as he chose to play the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in Switzerland instead. While the finalists of the World Cup will get two slots for Candidates in 2022, the event in Dortmund offers no seats for the Candidates. 

With Anand skipping the World Cup, there are only two more tournaments that offer him a chance to make the cut for Candidates – the FIDE Grand Swiss tournament in October-November this year and the FIDE Grand Prix Series early next year. 

Meanwhile, AICF has learnt that Pentala Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi will be earning direct qualification for the World Cup based on their rankings. Harikrishna and Vidit are ranked 21st and 23rd in the world, respectively. It prompted Vidit to pull out of the ongoing AICF World Cup qualifier despite initially registering for the tournament. 

“We had asked FIDE about the qualification chances of the Indians based on ranking for the World Cup. They communicated to us that Anand, Harikrishna and Vidit will make the cut due to their ranking,” Chauhan informed.