World Chess Championship Set: Anand v. Topalov in April '10

In Sunday's Chess column in the Los Angeles Times International master Jack Peters revealed the dates and location of next year's World Chess Championship match between defending champ Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov.

The World Chess Federation (FIDE) announced that the 12-game world championship match between champion Viswanathan Anand of India and challenger Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria would take place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Tentative dates are April 5 through 24.

The Bulgarian prime minister, Boiko Borisov, promised that the Bulgarian his government would pay the prize fund of 2 million Euros (about $2.96 million) and organizational costs. He assured that "neutrality would be guaranteed."

It is somewhat curious that the match would occur in the home country of one of the combatants, and even odder that India did not bid to host the event.