2011-12 World Championship cycle

The 2011 Candidates Matches are supposed to begin in March in Kazan, Russia.  This is FIDE; we'll see.

Gata Kamsky is the American representative in the field of eight. If Topalov withdraws (as seems likely), he'll be playing Alexander Grischuk.  Carlsen, Kramnik, and Aronian are the other top seeds.

Once again, Ivanchuk is passed over.

letter from Kayseri

Sevan Muradian is an arbiter for the 2010 World School Individual Championships in Kayseri, Turkey.  He sent his impressions to Chessdom.

Edit: check out the cool venue!

Has anyone here used sports arenas for events with (say) 300 participants?  I'm thinking these might paradoxically be easier to get than hotels....  More pix at ChessBase.