The governing body of chess believes it may have finally found a host city for this year's world championship match, less than three months out from the opening game.
The match has been under a cloud of uncertainty for months since reigning champion Magnus Carlsen announced he would not be defending his title in 2023.
The fallout from that announcement seems to have had a major effect on the International Chess Federation's (FIDE) ability to organise this year's match.
FIDE announced last year that the match — between Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi and China's Ding Liren — would be held from April 7 to 30.
But FIDE has not announced a host city for the match nor the prize fund on offer.
With time running out, popular chess personality and International Master Levy Rozman brought the issue into the spotlight this week.
"The World Chess Championship, our most prestigious event, is three months from now," Rozman said on social media.
"No city, no venue. It must be insane being a top chess player. Organisation and communication seems like a catastrophe."
But FIDE now appears to have some clarity about the sport's most prestigious match.
FIDE's chief marketing and communications officer David Llada told the ABC an announcement was hoped to be made early next week.
"Our events team is currently in South America, making an inspection visit to the potential venue of the last bid we have received," he said.
"Upon their return, we will make a decision, and we tentatively aim to announce it on Monday, January 16."
Mexico was recently touted as a possible host, but that has fallen through for 2023 at least.
Mr Llada said FIDE was prepared to wait until the "last moment" to ensure they find a suitable host and can secure the sponsorship needed to offer a 2 million euro ($3.1 million) prize pool.
"Finding funding and a reliable host to co-organise with us a flagship event like the World Championship Match, is not an easy task," he said.
The last world championship match was held in November 2021 between Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi. That match was delayed by 12 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to a shorter turnaround during this championship cycle.
War in Ukraine having an impact on chess
A championship match where the favourite is a Russian player ordinarily means FIDE would not have an issue finding a host city or sponsorship.
Russia is still a dominant force in chess and Nepomniachtchi has a tremendous chance to add to the legacy of Russian world champions.
But the invasion of Ukraine made it impossible for FIDE to partner with Russian organisations for the match.
"The pandemic and then the war have caused tremendous disruption in the world of sports," Mr Llada told ABC.
"In our case, the war has had a much bigger impact than in other sports, as chess is still tremendously popular in Russia — and we decided to terminate all existing or potential partnerships with Russian sponsors.
"That was a principled decision that obviously created additional difficulties."
Russia has historically been a financial boon for FIDE, but the strong stance against the war in Ukraine has made funding for this year's championship match much harder.
FIDE is now hoping they can finally announce a host, with Mr Llada telling the ABC that cities on three different continents had expressed an interest in holding the match.
However, if FIDE can announce on Monday a host and a sponsor for the match, it will be hoping it has given itself enough time to hype the match.
