Call of Interest (Bidding Procedure) for the 2020 World Chess Championship Match
World Chess, the official organizer of the World Chess Championship Cycle, in partnership with FIDE, the sport’s governing body, has today published the ‘Call of Interest’ to find a host for the 2020 World Chess Championship Match.
Chess federations, sport or commercial organizations, cities and countries are encouraged to apply. The World Chess Championship is the most important event in the sport, where the Challenger faces the reigning Champion in a fight for the title.
The last World Championship match, held in New York between Carlsen Magnus and Sergey Karjakin, in 2016, enjoyed record-breaking coverage with the total media audience for the whole event topping 1.5 billion. Ticket sales revenue topped $700,000.
World Chess is breaking with the tradition of ‘outsourcing’ the organization of chess events — a standard policy in the past. It will grant the winning hosting party the position of National Partner with specific sponsorship and commercial rights.
World Chess will collaborate with the National Partner but ultimately will be responsible for ‘look and feel’ of the Match and its digital presence, preserving and developing the brand of chess.
Ilya Merenzon, the chief executive of World Chess, said: “We are aware of high interest in the Match. We already visited Austria and had productive discussions with many more countries and believe that the Championship Match will continue being a premier event that captivates the World. All parties interested in bidding are invited to come to the upcoming World Chess Championship in London in November 2018”.
Visa eligibility, ease of travel, infrastructure, national sponsor interest, media presence and financial conditions will be considered as part of the criteria for suitability.
Bids should be presented not later than on March 1 2019, 13:00 GMT by email to: office@worldchess.com.
