World Championship Match in Moscow (Maybe)

Earlier today, chess sites were buzzing with the announcement that the 2012 World Championship match would be held in Moscow next year. A few weeks ago, there had been a report out of Chennai that suggested the World Championship match between Boris Gelfand and Viswanathan Anand would be held there, but it later became clear that this may have been overly optimistic; the bid had been accepted, but the period for accepting bids had not ended. According to the FIDE press release today, the winning bid instead came from Moscow.

However, FIDE then asked sites to take the press release announcing this down, suggesting there's been some sort of change. How large the change might be and the nature of it are unknown -- it seems unlikely that there would be a sudden change in venue for the match, but with FIDE, you never know.

A story at TWIC has all the details, including the text of the original press release. Also of interest, the Women's World Championship match between Humpy Korenu and Hou Yifan appears to have been awarded to Tirana, Albania. Once things appear to be finalized, I'll post again with all the details on both matches!