World Chess Championship 2014
The World Chess Championship 2014 was a match between the world champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Viswanathan Anand, to determine the World Chess Champion. It was held from 7 to 25 November 2014, under the auspices of the World Chess Federation in Sochi, Russia.
The match was decided after eleven of twelve scheduled games. On 23 November 2014 Carlsen retained his title, winning three games, losing one and drawing seven.
Candidates Tournament
The challenger was determined in the 2014 Candidates Tournament, an eight-player double round-robin tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 13 March to 31 March 2014. The participants, in order of rules announced by FIDE, were:| Qualification path | Player | Age | March 2014 rating | Rank | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 World Championship runner-up |  ResultsIn the event of a tie, the following tie-break methods were used, in order of precedence:
Numbers in parentheses indicate players' scores prior to the round. Championship matchThe Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand was held from 7 to 28 November 2014 in Sochi, Russia, under the auspices of FIDE.Previous head-to-head recordPrior to the match, from 2005 to 6 November 2014, Anand and Carlsen had played 40 games against each other at classical time controls, out of which Carlsen won six, Anand won six, and twenty-eight were drawn.Historical notesBoth Carlsen and Anand appeared in the 2013 Championship, Anand as the reigning world champion and Carlsen as the challenger. This marked the first time the same two opponents met in consecutive World Championship matches since Garry Kasparov played Anatoly Karpov five times between 1984 and 1990.Anand is only the second former champion to win a Candidates tournament. At 44, Anand is the second oldest person to win a Candidates tournament, behind Viktor Korchnoi in 1977 and 1981. World championship organizationThe match organizers faced several significant hurdles in organizing the event. The match venue was not finalized until June 2014, because the formal application from Norway, which was expected to host the title match at the time, was not forthcoming. FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced in June that the match would be held in Sochi, Russia, in November 2014, disclosing an agreement to host the match signed with the regional governor of Russia's Krasnodar Region, Aleksandr Tkachyov.In the third week of August, Carlsen requested that the match be postponed because he was not satisfied with the choice of venue. However, Anand agreed to play versus Carlsen in Sochi on the proposed dates, and in early August, Carlsen signed the agreement to defend his title in Sochi. This left the organizers, Agon Limited, the holder of rights to holding FIDE international tournaments only two months to prepare and organize the event. However, Agon successfully met its obligations, organizing the event to everyone's satisfaction. Nevertheless, the minimum prize fund of 2 million euros specified in the FIDE-Agon contract was not met, failing by 50%. Gazprom and Summa Group were the main sponsors of the match. According to the world championship's website, the 2014 title match broke global audience records, drawing more than one million viewers every day. The total number of unique visitors to the website during the match was 10.5 million, with 2 million people visiting the match website on the final day. VenueThe match was held at the Olympic Media Center located in the Adler City District of Sochi, Imeretinsky Valley, on the Black Sea, next to the Sochi Olympic Park houses and the main Fisht Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Media Center served as the main media hub during the 2014 Winter Olympics.Andrzej Filipowicz was chief arbiter for the match. The FIDE press officer and photographer was Ukrainian Woman Grand Master Anastasiya Karlovich, who previously officiated at the World Chess Championships in 2012 and 2013. SecondsBoth Carlsen and Anand had a team of to aid in their match preparation. During the opening press conference, Anand revealed his seconds to be Krishnan Sasikiran, Radosław Wojtaszek and Grzegorz Gajewski. Carlsen's seconds were Peter Heine Nielsen and Jon Ludvig Hammer.Although after the closing ceremony, in an interview with chief FIDE press officer Anastasiya Karlovich Carlsen revealed that also Laurent Fressinet and Michael Adams were helping him from home. Carlsen was also in touch with Garry Kasparov before the match. During the match Garry Kasparov was regularly in contact with Peter Heine Nielsen to give advice. During the match, the Carlsen's seconds team was located in the Norwegian resort of Kragerø helping him remotely, while Nielsen was present in Sochi. FormatThe Championship match consisted of 12 games and, if necessary, tie-break games. The winner of the match would be the first player to score 6.5 points or more. The time control for the "classical" portion of the match was: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting after move 61.Had tie-breakers been necessary, four rapid games would have been played at a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move. If the score was still equal, up to five 2-game blitz matches would have been played, before a final "Armageddon" game. In that game, white would have received 5 minutes, black 4 minutes and a 3-second increment after move 61 for both; in the event of a draw, the player of the black pieces would have been declared champion. The games were played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess prior to 1 July 2014, in order to keep uniformity throughout the entire championship cycle. Prize fundThe prize fund was 1 million Euros. This is the minimum prize fund stipulated by FIDE in the official regulations. However, the FIDE-Agon contract had required a 2 million euro minimum. If the match ended within the 12 regular games, 60 percent of the prize fund would go to the winner, while the loser receives the remaining 40 percent. If the match went to tie-break games, the winner would receive 55 percent and the loser 45 percent.ScheduleThe opening ceremony was held on 7 November 2014. The drawing of colours was held also at the opening ceremony. Unlike the 2013 match, Anand played with the white pieces in the first game.The games started daily at 15:00 MSK.
As the match was decided after game 11, the closing ceremony was rescheduled to 25 November and game 12 was not played. Results
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Magnus Carlsen|Norway