2007 World Championships
Topalov's dead body is barely cold, but we JUST CANNOT WAIT to get the conversation rolling on something other than ToiletGate.
The candidates
Four players in the chess World Championship in Mexico City qualified by finishing in the top half of the last event, held in 2005 in San Luis, Argentina. They are the reigning champion, Veselin Topalov, plus Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, and Alexander Morozevich. Veselin Topalov, by virtue of his defeat in the 2006 World Chess Championship Match against Vladimir Kramnik, should be replaced by Kramnik himself. The remaining four players are as yet unknown. They will come from these sixteen candidates, who will face off in two series of matches until the four finalists are found.
The candidates
Four players in the chess World Championship in Mexico City qualified by finishing in the top half of the last event, held in 2005 in San Luis, Argentina. They are the reigning champion, Veselin Topalov, plus Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler, and Alexander Morozevich. Veselin Topalov, by virtue of his defeat in the 2006 World Chess Championship Match against Vladimir Kramnik, should be replaced by Kramnik himself. The remaining four players are as yet unknown. They will come from these sixteen candidates, who will face off in two series of matches until the four finalists are found.
The Matches
Comments
The reasonig behind avoiding a rematch between Kramnik and Topalov in Mexico may be the infusion of new blood at the top.
If Kramnik loses, at this point I do not believe he will be equally boycotted, as there are several players in 2007 that played in 2005.
But, I think we just have to wait and see as the detail emerge. FIDE has a long history of changing it's mind right up - and during - tournaments.
As you said elsewhere, it is dumb to construct a qualifying procedure that excludes the previous challenger. If the format for the next championship is a tournament, not a match, then it is OK for him to compete and lose (ie not come first).