Magnus Carlsen’s next world championship defence is likely to be in Dubai. The global chess body’s president, Arkady Dvorkovich, said in an interview in Gibraltar that Fide is close to signing a contract with Expo Dubai to stage the €2m, 14-game series there in November.

Carlsen’s opponent will be decided by the eight-man candidates’ tournament which starts at Ekaterinburg, Russia, on 15 March, and where the United States world No 2, Fabiano Caruana, who tied the 2018 championship series with Carlsen before losing a speed play-off, is the favourite.

There could yet be obstacles arising from the Norwegian’s controversial new two-year sponsorship deal to promote the sports betting firm Unibet and wear its logo.

Carlsen’s agreement is with the Malta-based Kindred Group, which owns Unibet, where chess is one of its specialities. Unibet sponsored the 2014 Stavanger elite tournament but, because promotion of foreign gambling companies is illegal in Norway, they did so under the banner of ‘No Logo Norway Chess’.

Carlsen will be the Unibet ‘global ambassador’, wearing its logo and promoting it everywhere except at home due to Norwegian law. Indications from reader comments on major chess websites are that many fans view the choice of a gambling firm as lacking in gravitas for a world champion.For several years previously Carlsen’s uncontroversial sponsor was the Norwegian investment bank Arctic Securities.

Chess: Caruana lining up another title shot after eclipsing Carlsen at Wijk Read more

Fide’s international director, Mohamed al-Mudahka raised an immediate red flag. The Qatar grandmaster, whose wife, the former world woman champion Zhu Chen, is Fide treasurer, issued a tweet saying: “You can forget about this logo in Fide events”. The implication is that Carlsen could be on a collision course with the global chess body if he tries to promote Unibet during his world title match in November.

However, al-Mudakha’s tweet also suggests a split within Fide, where Dvorkovich is an all-powerful and respected president.

Carlsen has not signed a Fide contract for the championship match and there is an unspoken implication that in extreme circumstances, with no agreement, he could go it alone.

However the world champion’s father Henrik appeared to give his support this afternoon when he said “If this is correct, I’d say that Dubai is a very suitable place for a world championship in November”.

Meanwhile, Caruana has closed his rating gap to Carlsen to 20 points by his runaway victory at Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee. Since Carlsen has announced that he is taking time off ‘to break and regroup’, Caruana will have a serious chance to capture the No 1 rating if he wins by a clear margin over 14 games in Ekaterinburg.

Coronavirus spooks China’s world title candidates

Six weeks to go before the opening round of the eight-man world championship candidates at Ekaterinburg, and the coronavirus epidemic is causing serious problems for China’s Wang Hao and Ding Liren, who will be competing against rivals from Russia, the US, Azerbaijan, and the Netherlands.

Wang Hao, who took second prize at the Gibraltar Masters last week, had a training camp in Beijing arranged for himself and his aides this month, but that event has now been cancelled. Instead, the 30-year-old will stay in Tokyo for a month before travelling to Russia.

This was one of Wang’s best games in Gibraltar. Taking the initiative as Black in a 3 Nd2 c5 French, his rook and pawn systematically outmanoeuvre White’s pair of bishops.

Chess: Fabiano Caruana leads Magnus Carlsen by a point as Wijk end nears Read more

The situation is worse for Ding Liren, the world No3 and second favourite in Ekaterinburg after Caruana. Ding lives with his parents in his coastal home city Wenzhou, which has nine million inhabitants and 300 hospitalised virus cases.

He had intended to meet his aides for training sessions, but now everything has to be done via Skype. Movement in Wenzhou is restricted, and even if Ding just wants to go out into the street he has to inform the manager of the building and have his temperature taken.

Nearer the tournament, which starts on 15 March, there could yet be visa problems for both Ding and Wang, while their inward flights from China are only permitted to arrive at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, 900 miles west of Ekaterinburg in the Urals.

China’s No3, Wei Yi, has also been affected and has just withdrawn from the Prague Masters starting in 12 February where he was the No2 seed. He is not ill, but “the sudden coronavirus happened in China, and as the situation became worse and worse, it was impossible to make this journey”. Alireza Firouzja will replace him.3657 (a first prize winner by Fritz Giegold,1957) 1 Bd4 g3 2 Bb6! axb6 3 Kc1! Kxc3 4 Ne2 mate