Bulgaria has endorsed the town of Panagyurishte to run for host of this year's Candidates Tournament chess clashes, it has been revealed.

London and Baku have already entered the race to host the prestigious event, while New York is expected to join them.

Bulgaria recently hosted two key chess battles – the Candidate Match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky in 2009 and Topalov's subsequent World Championship match against Vishwanathan Anand in 2010, which the Bulgarian lost. Both events took place in Sofia.

Panagyurishte's candidacy is seen as Topalov's only chance to get back into the title race.

Bulgarian Chess Federation President Silvio Danailov has pointed out that the country's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov support Panagyurishte's candidacy, dnevnik.bg informs.

The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by the world chess federation FIDE since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship.

The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent World Champion.

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