7 Questions About The 2019 FIDE Chess World Cup
The 2019 FIDE World Cup will be officially opened today in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. The first round, with 128 players from all over the world, is scheduled for Tuesday. In this tournament preview we're answering seven key questions.
- What is it about?
- How can I watch?
- Who is playing (and who isn't)?
- What are they playing for?
- When is it?
- What is the time control?
- Where is it held?
1. What is it about?
The 2019-2020 world championship cycle took off earlier this year with the new Grand Prix series, from which the top two players will qualify for the 2020 Candidates' Tournament. It's the same for the World Cup, from which both finalists will qualify as well.
The other four participants of the Candidates' Tournament will be:
- the winner of next month's FIDE Chess.com Grand Swiss,
- one player by average rating over 12 months (Feb. 2019-Jan. 2020),
- the loser of the previous title match (Fabiano Caruana), and
- one wild card.
Note that Martin Bennedik is keeping track of the qualifiers in this Google Document.
The official promo of the tournament.
2. How can I watch?
You can follow the games here as part of our live portal Chess.com/events. In addition, there will be daily coverage by our Twitch partner, the Chessbrahs.
GMs Yasser Seirawan, Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton will be covering the tournament each day on their channel Twitch.tv/Chessbrah. Each day play starts at 3 p.m. local time, which is 12:00 (noon) CEST, 6 a.m. Eastern and 3 a.m. Pacific.
You can also view the commentary on the official website.
3. Who is playing (and who isn't)?
Unlike two years ago Magnus Carlsen (Norway) won't be playing this time, and world number-two Fabiano Caruana (USA) also won't participate. We also won't see former winners Vishy Anand (India) and the retired Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) as well as Richard Rapport (Hungary) and the semi-retired Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria).
This makes Ding Liren (China), who came second in the 2017 World Cup, the top seed in Khanty. Other big names who are making the long trip to Siberia are Anish Giri (Netherlands), Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), Wesley So (USA), Yu Yangyi (China), Leinier Dominguez (USA) and Sergey Karjakin (Russia).
You'll find many lower rated players as well who entered the tournament from different qualifying events such as continental championships and zonal tournaments.
For example, the lowest seed is FM Shaun Press (Papua New Guinea), an international arbiter and modest chess player himself with a rating of 1954. He qualified as the runner-up in the 2019 Oceania Zonal because the winner, GM Max Illingworth (Australia), had to decline participation due to personal circumstances.
Playing top-seed Ding will be Press, so his chances to reach the second round are, let's say, not very high.
Heading off to Siberia to play in the 2019 Chess World Cup
— shaunpress (@shaunpress) September 7, 2019
I'm sure I will spend more time in transit than in the tournament
— shaunpress (@shaunpress) September 7, 2019
The tournament has 128 players from 47 countries. The biggest contingent of participants is from Russia: 28 players, followed by India (10), China (seven) and USA (six). The 14-year-old Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) is the youngest player of the field. The Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin is just a few months older. The oldest player is Essam El-Gindy (Egypt) who is 53.
You can find the full pairings tree here in PDF.
FIDE World Cup | Round 1 matchups
| Table | Title | Player | Fed | - | Table | Title | Player | Fed |
| 1 | GM | Ding Liren | - | 128 | FM | Press Shaun | ||
| 2 | GM | Giri Anish | - | 127 | FM | Mohammad Fahad Rahman | ||
| 3 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave Maxime | - | 126 | IM | Anwuli Daniel | ||
| 4 | GM | So Wesley | - | 125 | IM | Duran Vega Sergio | ||
| 5 | GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | - | 124 | Gan-Erdene Sugar | |||
| 6 | GM | Aronian Levon | - | 123 | GM | El Gindy Essam | ||
| 7 | GM | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | - | 122 | IM | Rakotomaharo Fy Antenaina | ||
| 8 | GM | Dominguez Perez Leinier | - | 121 | GM | Escobar Forero Alder | ||
| 9 | GM | Grischuk Alexander | - | 120 | IM | Pultinevicius Paulius | ||
| 10 | GM | Radjabov Teimour | - | 119 | GM | Ziska Helgi Dam | ||
| 11 | GM | Artemiev Vladislav | - | 118 | GM | Iljiushenok Ilia | ||
| 12 | GM | Yu Yangyi | - | 117 | GM | Ghaem Maghami Ehsan | ||
| 13 | GM | Karjakin Sergey | - | 116 | GM | Megaranto Susanto | ||
| 14 | GM | Nakamura Hikaru | - | 115 | GM | Bellahcene,Bilel | ||
| 15 | GM | Andreikin Dmitry | - | 114 | GM | Mekhitarian Krikor Sevag | ||
| 16 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | - | 113 | GM | Christiansen Johan-Sebast | ||
| 17 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | - | 112 | GM | Gonzalez Vidal Yuri | ||
| 18 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | - | 111 | GM | Henriquez Villagra Cristo | ||
| 19 | GM | Svidler Peter | - | 110 | GM | Albornoz Cabrera Carlos | ||
| 20 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | - | 109 | GM | Urkedal Frode Olsen Olav | ||
| 21 | GM | Wei Yi | - | 108 | GM | Santos Ruiz Miguel | ||
| 22 | GM | Le Quang Liem | - | 107 | GM | Aleksandrov Aleksej | ||
| 23 | GM | Navara David | - | 106 | GM | Yuffa Daniil | ||
| 24 | GM | Bu Xiangzhi | - | 105 | GM | Xu Xiangyu | ||
| 25 | GM | Wang Hao | - | 104 | GM | Pridorozhni Aleksei | ||
| 26 | GM | Shankland Sam | - | 103 | GM | Safarli Eltaj | ||
| 27 | GM | Matlakov Maxim | - | 102 | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | ||
| 28 | GM | Tomashevsky Evgeny | - | 101 | GM | Petrov Nikita | ||
| 29 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | - | 100 | GM | Pichot Alan | ||
| 30 | GM | Jakovenko Dmitry | - | 99 | GM | Martinez Alcantara Jose | ||
| 31 | GM | Xiong Jeffery | - | 98 | GM | Lysyj Igor | ||
| 32 | GM | Firouzja Alireza | - | 97 | GM | Pashikian Arman | ||
| 33 | GM | Dubov Daniil | - | 96 | GM | Cordova Emilio | ||
| 34 | GM | Amin Bassem | - | 95 | GM | Tabatabaei M.amin | ||
| 35 | GM | Jones Gawain | - | 94 | GM | Flores Diego | ||
| 36 | GM | Grandelius Nils | - | 93 | GM | Rakhmanov Aleksandr | ||
| 37 | GM | Adams Michael | - | 92 | GM | Aravindh Chithambaram VR. | ||
| 38 | GM | Gelfand Boris | - | 91 | GM | Lu Shanglei | ||
| 39 | GM | Cori Jorge | - | 90 | GM | Nihal Sarin | ||
| 40 | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | - | 89 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | ||
| 41 | GM | Inarkiev Ernesto | - | 88 | GM | Karthikeyan Murali | ||
| 42 | GM | McShane Luke | - | 87 | GM | Delgado Ramirez Neuris | ||
| 43 | GM | Korobov Anton | - | 86 | GM | Gupta Abhijeet | ||
| 44 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | - | 85 | GM | Narayanan.S.L | ||
| 45 | GM | Naiditsch Arkadij | - | 84 | GM | Huschenbeth Niclas | ||
| 46 | GM | Ponomariov Ruslan | - | 83 | GM | Esipenko Andrey | ||
| 47 | GM | Nabaty Tamir | - | 82 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | ||
| 48 | GM | Fedoseev Vladimir | - | 81 | GM | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | ||
| 49 | GM | Alekseenko Kirill | - | 80 | GM | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | ||
| 50 | GM | Berkes Ferenc | - | 79 | GM | Jumabayev Rinat | ||
| 51 | GM | Nisipeanu Liviu-Dieter | - | 78 | GM | Parligras Mircea-Emilian | ||
| 52 | GM | Sevian Samuel | - | 77 | GM | Tari Aryan | ||
| 53 | GM | Adhiban B. | - | 76 | GM | Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo | ||
| 54 | GM | Cheparinov Ivan | - | 75 | GM | Adly Ahmed | ||
| 55 | GM | Sjugirov Sanan | - | 74 | GM | Mareco Sandro | ||
| 56 | GM | Saric Ivan | - | 73 | GM | Bok Benjamin | ||
| 57 | GM | Piorun Kacper | - | 72 | GM | Abasov Nijat | ||
| 58 | GM | Kasimdzhanov Rustam | - | 71 | GM | Bareev Evgeny | ||
| 59 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | - | 70 | GM | Chigaev Maksim | ||
| 60 | GM | Sarana Alexey | - | 69 | GM | Predke Alexandr | ||
| 61 | GM | Demchenko Anton | - | 68 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ||
| 62 | GM | Kovalenko Igor | - | 67 | GM | Lupulescu Constantin | ||
| 63 | GM | Gledura Benjamin | - | 66 | GM | Najer Evgeniy | ||
| 64 | GM | Movsesian Sergei | - | 65 | GM | Oparin Grigoriy |
FIDE World Cup top seed Ding Liren got black at the color draw during the opening ceremony in Khanty-Mansiysk.
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 9, 2019
Ding and all the players with odd numbers will start with black pieces.
The tournament starts tomorrow. Full pairing:https://t.co/Rt2TS4QlXX#FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/0lQEwFU44e
4. What are they playing for?
Besides the two spots in the Candidates' Tournament, there's obviously the prize money. The total prize fund is $1.6 million (1.45 million euros).
2019 FIDE World Cup | Prizes
| Round | Players | Prize ($) | Sum |
| Round 1 | 64 | 6,000 | 384,000 |
| Round 2 | 32 | 10,000 | 320,000 |
| Round 3 | 16 | 16,000 | 256,000 |
| Round 4 | 8 | 25,000 | 200,000 |
| Round 5 | 4 | 35,000 | 140,000 |
| Fourth place | 1 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| Third place | 1 | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Runner-up | 1 | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| Winner | 1 | 110,000 | 110,000 |
| Total | 128 | 1,600,000 |
5. When is it?
The opening ceremony will be held on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. local time—not in the Ugra Chess Academy by the way, but in the Arts Center for Gifted Children of the North. The draw of colors for round one will take place during the ceremony.
The tournament itself will have the well-known schedule of two classical games per round and tiebreaks for each match that ends in 1-1 on the third day. The final will have four classical games instead of two. Sept. 19 and 29 are rest days.
- Round 1: Sept. 10-12
- Round 2: Sept. 13-15
- Round 3: Sept. 16-18
- Round 4: Sept. 20-22
- Round 5: Sept. 23-25
- Round 6: Sept. 26-28
- Round 7: Sept. 30-Oct. 4
Each day play starts at 3 p.m. local time, which is 12:00 (noon) in Central Europe, 6 a.m. Eastern and 3 a.m. Pacific.
6. What is the time control?
The classical games are played with the standard FIDE time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the remainder of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move one.
If the score is even after the two regular games, tiebreaks will first have rapid games with 25 minutes for each player plus a 10-second increment per move starting from move one. If the score remains tied, two blitz games will follow with 10 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. Next are two games played with five minutes plus three seconds per move.
Finally, if the score remains even, then one sudden-death ("Armageddon") game is played. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the color. The player with the white pieces receives five minutes; the player with the black pieces, four minutes. After move 60, both players receive an increment of two seconds per move. In case of a draw, the player with the black pieces is declared the winner.
Pre-launch press conference for the FIDE World Cup In Khanty-Mansiysk #FIDEworldcup pic.twitter.com/yTcYDh4qCa
— International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) September 9, 2019
7. Where is it held?
The 2019 FIDE World Cup takes place Sept. 9-Oct. 4 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. It's the fifth time that the event takes place in the oil-rich Siberian city that is 2,575 kilometers (1,600 miles) northeast of Moscow. It will also host next year's Olympiad.
As always, the venue will be the Ugra Chess Academy, opened in 2010 and designed by the Dutch architect Eric van Egeraat. Numerous chess events have taken place there in the last decade, the last one being the 2017 World Team Championships.
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
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