Magnus Carlsen will visit Chennai in August,a couple of months ahead of his World Championship match against Viswanathan Anand,to inspect the venue and the facilities. The contenders agent Espen Agdestein told a Norwegian website vg.no that Carlsens team would undertake the visit in order to get to know the city and the venue and also ascertain whether they need to bring in their own medical personnel during the match. This will be Carlsens first visit to India. The World Championship final is scheduled to begin on November 6 this year. We will discuss this further when Magnus comes back from Moscow. A lot of this fell in place in the middle of this week, Agdestein was quoted as saying. The news was also confirmed by Bharat Singh Chauhan,the Secretary of the All India Chess Federation. We have recieved a communication from FIDE saying that Magnus Carlsen and his representatives may visit the venue to inspect the facilities in August,but the dates arent confirmed yet, he said. DV Sundar,vice president of FIDE,said it was routine practice for the participants to inspect the venue before the final. He also said the final will take place at Hyatt Regency,a five-star hotel located in the heart of Chennai. Carlsen had earlier reluctantly agreed to go with FIDEs decision to award Chennai the match without going through a formal bidding process. He had said that the event would have generated far greater publicity had it been organised in one of the world cities like New York. Paris had even made a late bid to host the final while the the international body FIDE had even suggested that the tournament could be split between India and Norway. Unfamiliar climate The AICF,however,stood its ground and it was decided that Chennai would host the final. Carlsens team had also raised concerns over the Norwegians unfamiliarity with the climate and food in Chennai. On Monday,Agdestein said that Carlsen would bring with him Norwegian food. A few papers had also reported that there would be chefs flown down from Norway too. The manager clarified that Carlsen in fact liked Indian cuisine,but did not want to take chances with his health during the final. Carlsen finished the Tal Memorial in Moscow in second place on Sunday,while Anand finished a distant eighth. The Norwegian also claimed a confidence boosting result against the World Champion with a crushing 29-move win during the tournament in their last game against each other before Chennai.
