Whither the World Championship Match This November?

Word is floating about that the match may have to be held in a neutral venue other than the US. My suggestion would be Cambodia. Cambodia's #1 ranked player, Paul Truong, could make the ceremonial first move to open the event. 

On a more serious note, Iceland would be a good venue. That should be palatable to Carlsen's people. Spassky could make the official opening move. They could put Bobby and Lenin on display, Bobby being a stand in for Tzara in the first Dadist World Chess Championship.*

* Hommage to The Posthuman Dada Guide; Tzara and Lenin Play Chess by Andrei Codrescu

Problems In Venueland for Agon and New York City This November?

BILBAO (Dagbladet): June 7 came organizer of the World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin with a message to chess world through Dagbladet: A venue was found, only details remained to work with sponsors and publication of the full package would come within a few weeks.

It is now almost one and a half month ago and still nothing happened.Yesterday told Dagbladet therefore AGON-owner Ilya Merenzon about a clear answer on what the delay is due, and the match can be moved to Moscow as several experts suspect and how he sees the dialogue with players who both confirmed to Dagbladet that they are still waiting for their contracts.

http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/vm-arrangorens-nye-utspill-overrasker-carlsen-leiren---sa-de-det-det-er-ukomfortabelt/60323523

Here's a good summary from Wiki. Follow the footnote links for comments by Leonard Barden and others.

Resumed skepticism after Karjakin wins the Candidates[edit]

Almost immediately after Sergey Karjakin won the Candidates Tournament 2016 there were Internet rumors from persons such as Nigel Short that the host city was likely to be changed.^[33][34] These were later echoed by more substantial sources such as Dirk Jan ten Guezendam (editor of New in Chess) who stated to Norwegian broadcaster NRK (Apr 19): "I would like to travel to New York. But still I would be surprised if I had to go there for this match."^[18] Agon moved to quash such "tittle-tattle and gossip" by a public message on May 2.^[20] A month later they were proud to announce that a venue in New York City had been found, advising that in the next 2 weeks sponsor details and final paperwork would be finalized.^[21] However, the situation dragged into mid-July, at which time Agon seemed unsure of a venue (citing difficulties of a month-long arrangement in New York City), but insisted that sponsors were in line, proposing 3-4 more weeks before an announcement would occur.^[22] This time the comments came from Agon's press attaché (Andrew Murray-Watson) rather than Merenzon directly, and the comments were repeated to Leonard Barden and in the English Chess Forum.^[35]

Throughout the process, Karjakin saw no reason to hide the fact that he would rather play in Russia,^[34] and that anywhere in Europe would be superior to the USA.^[36] According to career information at Chessgames.com, it appears that Karjakin has never previously played chess in the USA.^[37]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2016#Resumed_skepticism_after_Karjakin_wins_the_Candidates

A Sponsorship Opportunity for AARP?

World Senior Team Championships just concluded.
http://en.chessbase.com/post/world-senior-team-championship-2016

The Magnus Steamroller Flattens Wesley So In Bilbao

[Event "IX Chess Masters Final 2016"]
[Site "Bilbao"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2855"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[Annotator "ChessBase"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventCountry "ESP"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "40/5400:3600+10"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Qe2 Qe7 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8.
h3 Bh5 9. a3 Nd7 10. b4 Bd6 11. Nc4 f6 12. Ne3 a5 13. Nf5 Qf8 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15.
O-O Qf7 16. a4 Nc5 17. Qe1 b6 18. Nd2 Rxa4 19. Nc4 Bf8 20. Be3 Kd7 21. Qc3 Nxe4
22. Nxb6+ cxb6 23. dxe4 Qc4 24. Qd2+ Kc7 25. g4 Bg6 26. Rfd1 1-0

http://en.chessbase.com/post/bilbao-rd-4-another-impressive-win-by-carlsen

Chess Does Not Directly Increase a Child's Academic Ability

It appears that chess does not improve academic abilty, but it may have more indirect use as an educational enhancement like music and art.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/07/12/playing-chess-doesnt-make-your-children-any-smarter-study-finds/

Nakamura Scores His First Win Over Carlsen In Classic Time Control

[Event "9th Masters Final 2016"]

[Site "Bilbao ESP"]

[Date "2016.07.13"]

[Round "?"]

[White "Carlsen, M."]

[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]

[Result "0-1"]

[WhiteElo "2855"]

[BlackElo "2787"]

[PlyCount "100"]

[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Ne2 d6 3. Nbc3 a6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nf6 8. O-O

O-O 9. b3 Nc6 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Bb2 Qa5 12. Na4 Bg4 13. Qe1 Qh5 14. f3 Bh3 15.

g4 Qh6 16. Rd1 g5 17. Bc1 Bxg2 18. Kxg2 Qg6 19. h4 gxh4 20. Qxh4 d5 21. g5 dxe4

22. f4 e6 23. c4 Rfd8 24. Rde1 Ne8 25. Nc5 Nd6 26. Qf2 f5 27. Bb2 Nf7 28. Bxg7

Kxg7 29. Qg3 Rd6 30. Rd1 Rad8 31. Rxd6 Rxd6 32. Qc3+ Kg8 33. Rf2 Qh5 34. Qh3

Qd1 35. Qe3 e5 36. Qg3 Rg6 37. Kh2 exf4 38. Qxf4 Qh5+ 39. Kg1 Qd1+ 40. Kh2 Qh5+

41. Kg1 Nxg5 42. Qb8+ Kg7 43. Qe5+ Kh6 44. Qf4 Qd1+ 45. Kh2 Qd4 46. b4 Kg7 47.

Qc7+ Kh8 48. Qc8+ Rg8 49. Qxf5 Nf3+ 50. Kh3 Qd6 0-1

http://en.chessbase.com/post/bilbao-nakamura-beats-carlsen

Speelman on Viktor the Terrible

Nice article with many photos. Enjoy!

http://en.chessbase.com/post/jonathan-speelman-pays-tribute-to-viktor-korchnoi