A press release from Universal Event Promo-tions (UEP) in Germany has announced that World Chess champion Viswana-than Anand (India) will defend his title against Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) in Bonn, Germany from October 11-October 30, 2008. The contract to play was signed by both players in December.

The match will consist of 12 games, played under classical time controls. If there is a tie at the end of the match, a tiebreak game will be played. The prize money of US$2.1M will be split equally between the players.

The match is part of a 120-year tradition of chess history which includes matches like Capablanca-Alekhine, Fischer-Spassky, Kasparov-Karpov and Kramnik-Topalov. The reigning and undisputed World Champion, Anand, won his title in September 2007 at the world championship tournament in Mexico City. Kramnik, who was undefeated in three world championship matches beginning with Kasparov in 2000, placed second in the 2007 double round robin world championship tournament.

The two contenders are equally ranked with ratings of 2799 each. The equalized ratings have begun to create an interest in the match long before its start. Added to that, the match takes place under the patronage of the German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck, himself an enthusiastic and strong chess player.

Sponsorship has been provided by Evonik Industries AG in Germany, and is organized with the full cooperation of the World Chess Federation, FIDE, and its President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. FIDE’s main office is located in Athens and is the head of 161 national federations worldwide with 40 million active chess players, thereby making it one of the world’s largest sporting organizations.

UEP had organized and sponsored the Kramnik-Deep Fritz match in 2006, an event that drew worldwide media attention and was successfully commercialised. In the six-game match, the computer defeated Kramnik 2-0.

Meanwhile, the Moreila-Linares Category 21 tournament takes place in Mexico and Spain from February 15. Anand is the top-rated player of the event, with Ivanchuk, Carlen, Topalov, Leko, Aronian, Shirov and Radjabov all participating.