 Vladimir Kramnik has now signed to play Garry Kasparov in a $ 2,000,000 match. At 8 pm Moscow time on Monday, April 3, 2000 the 24-year-old Russian signed up for the challenge of a lifetime. In addition to sharing first place with Kasparov in Linares 2000, the Wimbledon of chess, Kramnik is riding an undefeated streak going back to January,1999 and is well known to be Kasparov’s toughest opponent. The duration of the match will be of 16 games, with Kasparov retaining the title in the event of an 8-8 score. The purse for the match will be two million US dollars, with $1,333,333 for the winner and $666,666 for the loser, plus $50,000 to each player for expenses.
This will be the first world title match since Kasparov defeated Anand 10.5-7.5 in New York,1995. Another Kasparov-Anand match was arranged for late 1999 before sponsorship fell through at the last instant. For this reason the offer currently being made to Kramnik was first to made to Anand. However, after a month and a half of discussions Anand decided to reject the offer, leaving the door open for Kramnik. Details about exactly how the negotiations with Anand fell through are forthcoming.
Hot from his success in Iceland, World Champion Garry Kasparov flew into London for a Press Conference on April 5th, 2000, where he confirmed that he will be playing Vladimir Kramnik in a match for his World Championship title, to be held in London later this
year. The match, contested over sixteen games, will be starting October 9th, 2000 and will last one month. The exact London venue is still to be announced but there was talk of Simpson's in the Strand as a possible candidate and the Millennium Dome was also mooted. The prize fund of $2 million has already been raised. John Gunn and Julian Parker of Williams De Broe organized a group of private investors who are backing the new 'Brain Games' company
www.braingames.net
which includes Grandmaster Raymond Keene, Don Lubin and Don Morris, with Sir Jeremy Hanley KCMG as its Chairman. It was Sir Jeremy who chaired the press conference and welcomed Garry Kasparov, but it was Garry Kasparov himself who made the longest speech and fielded all the questions.
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