Make up your mind?

FIDE President Kirsan Ilymzhinov now says that the decision to implement Candidates Tournament is not final:

- Which rights will the winner of the FIDE Grand prix series 2008-2009 have?

- He will have a right to play an official match against the winner of the FIDE World Cup 2009. And the winner of this match will meet the winner of the match Viswanathan Anand-Topalov/Kamsky to further fight for the World Chess Champion crown. Therefore, it is obvious that the Grand Prix participants have good motivation to play. In this cycle of tournaments, more than 20 top-rated Grandmasters have participated, and in the World Cup 128 chess players from many countries have a chance to fight to the title.

- According to your statement, Mr. President, the Grand Prix winner will compete with the World Champion. It means that the previous conditions, declared before these series, are still valid? What about the decision of the FIDE General Assembly in Dresden, which states that instead of the match winner of Grand Prix vs. winner of World Cup, a Candidates tournament with 8 players will be held? Does it mean we misunderstood something?

- The FIDE General Assembly in Dresden opened a bid to organize the Candidates tournament started the discussions if this tournament should be organized or not. But the final decision on this issue will be made at the FIDE Presidential Board, which will take place in March next year. Now, we are collecting the bids.

Just to add, the World Champion Vishy Anand, the leading Grandmasters Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlslen are against the inclusion of the Candidates tournament in the cycle...

Elista Grand Prix website writes "that soon there will be an online video conference of the Head of Kalmykia and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov with the world’s top grandmasters including World Champion Vishwanatan Anand. The main subject of the conference will be the discussion of the questions regarding the development of the world chess as well as the World Championship cycle system. Besides Anand, other former World Champions will be invited to take part in this video conference such as Boris Spassky, Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, and other famous grandmasters including Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, senior FIDE officials and the CEO of Global Chess company Geoffrey Borg."