The FIDE, world chess governing body, has revealed that it tried its best to convince India to allow Norway to stage one half of the 2013 World Chess Championship match but India has refused. accusing the body of "lack of transparency."
Following criticism by many European chess officials for awarding the World Championship final to Chennai, FIDE issued a statement from Baku.
On the issue of neutral venue, FIDE pointed out that in the past, both Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov have played in their opponent's country.
It also said that according to its rules the World Championship cycle is not included in the list of events, for which the world body is obliged to have a bidding procedure as in the case of Olympiads.
FIDE also revealed that the Paris bid was higher than Chennai's bid, but the world body went ahead with the Indian city as it wanted "to respect its obligation".
The statement said,"Since the Candidates' Tournament ended, and GM Carlsen became the challenger of the coming World Championship Match. There have been several developments, mails exchange between all parties (Carlsen, Anand, FIDE), questions asked, and also speculations.
"FIDE would hereby like to put forward the current situation regarding this event.
"Directly after the 2012 match was awarded to Moscow, FIDE agreed to grant an option to Chennai. The PB and its meeting in Armenia in January decided that FIDE and AGON, who hold the rights for organising the whole cycle of the World Championship, were advised that India would take up its option to organise the World Championship match," the statement read.
