The FIDE World championships will be held at Las Vegas' Ceasars Palace Hotel in July and August. But this championships will lose much of its sheen due to Anand's withdrawal. Kasparov has not had anything to do with FIDE from the time he formed the Professional Chess Association in 1995 with Nigel Short. PCA is now defunct.

The Anand-Kasparov battle will be held over 16 games. Though New York and London are likely choices of venue, Prague may prevail, as Serge Girmaux and Bessel Kok, promoters of the event, are based there.

A major US computer company may be sponsoring the event. It may also be backing a qualifying candidates tournament to determine the next challenger for 2001.

Kasparov on net

New York: Garry Kasparov will take on theworld in a game on the internet. Chess players from all over the world will be able to go to Microsoft Corp's www.msn.com site to suggest their moves to a team of young experts who will guide the internet public in the interactive game against the Russian Grandmaster.

``I'm inviting everyone from all over the world with the slightest interest in chess to play me,'' Kasparov, 36, said in New York, where he will make his first move tonight with the white pieces in Bryant Park.

Kasparov will have 24 hours to make each of his moves. Each pair of moves will take 48 hours to complete. Once the Russian grandmaster has made his move, the experts will enter suggested moves for participants to consider for 24 hours. The move with the most votes will be played and the game will continue until one side resigns.

Kasparov said the assistance of computers eliminates potential for a serious mistake.