2009 World Cup will be held in Khanty-Mansisk from November 20th to December 15th. Let's try to work out the qualifiers from the regulations.


128 players qualify for the World Cup

• World Champion (Viswanathan Anand)
  
• semi-finalists of the 2007 World Cup (Gata Kamsky, Alexei Shirov, Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin)
  
• Women's World Champion (Alexandra Kosteniuk)
  
• 2007 World Junior U20 Champion (Ahmed Adly)
  
• 2008 World Junior U20 Champion (Abhijeet Gupta)
  
• 6 FIDE President nominees
  
• 4 organiser nominees
  
• 20 highest rated players (average of July 2008 and January 2009 rating lists)
  
• 90 players that qualify from the Continental Championships or Zonal Tournaments

Those 90 Continental championship spots are distributed as following:
Europe - 46 spots
Americas - 19 spots
Asia (Oceania included) - 19 spots
Africa - 6 spots


Most qualifiers are already known.

Europe
All 46 qualifiers are already known.
European spots were decided in 2008 European Championship and 2009 European Championship.


Asia
10 Asian qualifying spots were awarded at recently finished 2009 Asian Championship.

Other 9 places are probably going to be distributed to the winners of Zonal tournaments (it's clear that the winner of the 2009 Oceania Zonal qualifies for World Cup)

Americas
Some spots have been awarded at the 2008 Pan American Continental Championship (it's certain that at least the winner qualified) and some will most likely be awarded at this year's Continental Absolute Championship, played in July. Also some spots were/will be awarded in the Zonal tournaments. USA constitutes one of the zones, so best finishers at the recently finished 2009 US Championship qualify.

Africa
All 6 places will almost certainly be awarded at 2009 African Championship (played sometime in July or August)



If players qualifies from Continental championship and by rating, then the average rating list has priority. In case one of the qualified players decines to participate in World Cup he gets replaced by the next player in line. Continental or Zonal qualifiers are replaced from that respective championship, all others are replaced from the rating list.



World Cup winner qualifies for 2010 Candidates.

Heh, I guess I should have looked a little before trying to work it out all by myself

Here is the list of qualifying events for each continent (but only for this year):
http://worldchesschampionship....-cup-qualifiers.html

Some spots have already been awarded last year (2008 European championship, 2008 Pan-American championship)



By the way, this is how it has been done for the last 2007 World Cup
http://www.fide.com/component/...r-the-world-cup-2007

OK, I think I worked out all of it. If any of the qualified players declines to participate, he she is replaced from that respective championship/zonal from which he/she qualified.

All Zonals must be completed before August 31st. Here is the list of Zones.


I. Special invitations - 8 players

1) Viswanathan Anand (World Champion)
2) Gata Kamsky (2007 World Cup winner)
3) Alexei Shirov (2007 World Cup runner-up)
4) Magnus Carlsen (2007 World Cup semi-finalist)
5) Sergey Karjakin (2007 World Cup semi-finalist)
6) Alexandra Kosteniuk (Women's World Champion)
7) Ahmed Adly (2007 World Junior U20 Champion)
8) Abhijeet Gupta (2008 World Junior U20 Champion)

If anyone from these players declines to participate, he/she is replaced from the rating list.



II. Rating list (average of July 2008 and January 2009 rating lists) - 20 players

*) Viswanathan Anand - 2794.5 (automatically qualified as World Champion)
1) Veselin Topalov - 2786.5
2) Vassily Ivanchuk - 2780
3) Alexander Morozevich - 2779.5
*) Magnus Carlsen - 2775.5 (already qualified as 2007 World Cup semi-finalist)
4) Vladimir Kramnik - 2773.5
5) Teimur Radjabov - 2752.5
6) Peter Leko - 2746
7) Levon Aronian - 2743.5
*) Alexei Shirov - 2743 (already qualified as 2007 World Cup runner-up)
*) Sergei Movsesian - 2737 (qualified from 2008 European Championship*)
8) Dmitry Jakovenko - 2734.5
9) Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - 2733
10) Peter Svidler - 2730.5
11) Alexander Grischuk - 2730.5
12) Boris Gelfand - 2726.5
*) Gata Kamsky - 2724 (already qualified as 2007 World Cup winner)
13) Michael Adams - 2723.5
14) Ruslan Ponomariov - 2722
15) Wang Yue - 2721.5
16) Vugar Gashimov - 2720
*) Sergey Karjakin - 2716.5 (already qualified as 2007 World Cup semi-finalist)
17) Evgeny Alekseev - 2713
18) Leinier Dominguez Perez - 2712.5
19) Ni Hua - 2707
20) Etienne Bacrot - 2706.5

Reserves:
Bu Xiangzhi - 2706
Pavel Eljanov - 2704.5
Judit Polgar - 2702
Sergei Rublevsky - 2700.5
Hikaru Nakamura - 2698 (qualified through 2009 US Championship)
Krishnan Sasikiran - 2697.5 (qualified through 2009 Asian Championship)
Wang Hao - 2691 (qualified through 3.5 zone)
Vladimir Malakhov - 2690.5 (qualified through 2009 European Championship)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - 2688.5 (qualified through 2008 European Championship)
Vadim Milov - 2687
Viktor Bologan - 2686.5 (qualified through 2008 European Championship)
Vladimir Akopian - 2686.5
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu - 2683.5 (qualified through 2008 European Championship)
Rustam Kasimdzhanov - 2683
Ivan Cheparinov - 2683 (nominated by FIDE President)
Zahar Efimenko - 2679 (qualified through 2008 European Championship)
Arkadij Naiditsch - 2679 (qualified through 2009 European Championship)
Francisco Vallejo Pons - 2676
Alexander Motylev - 2675 (qualified through 2009 European Championship)

* regulations say that the average rating list has priority over zonal/continental championship. However if the zonal/continental event was organized before the publishing of the January 2009 rating list, then the zonal/continental event has priority over the average rating list. 2008 European Championship was (obviously) organised before 2009 January rating list was published, so Sergei Movsesian qualified through 2008 European Championship and not by average rating.



III. EUROPE - 46 players

2008 European Championship
1) Sergei Tiviakov
2) Sergei Movsesian
3) Sergey Volkov
4) Pavel Tregubov
5) Erwin L'Ami
6) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
7) Boris Grachev
8) Vladimir Baklan
9) Yuriy Kryvoruchko
10) Tomi Nyback
11) Emil Sutovsky
12) Viktor Laznicka
13) Dusko Pavasovic
14) Zahar Efimenko
15) Ioannis Papaioannou
16) Alexander Khalifman
17) Evgeniy Najer
18) Laurent Fressinet
19) Ilia Smirin
20) Viktor Bolognan
21) Jan Gustafsson
22) Gabriel Sargissian
23) Dmitry Andreikin

Reserves:
Rauf Mamedov (qualified from 2009 European Championship)
Vladimir Akopian
Alexander Areshchenko
Constantin Lupulescu (qualified from 2009 European Championship)
Denis Khismatullin
Alexander Galkin
Zbynek Hracek
Michael Roiz
Levente Vajda
Tomasz Markowski
Mikhail Gurevich


2009 European Championship
1) Evgeny Tomashevsky
2) Vladimir Malakhov
3) Baadur Jobava
4) Ernesto Inarkiev
5) Ivan Sokolov
6) Arkadij Naiditsch
7) David Navara
*) Boris Grachev (already qualified from 2008 European Championship)
8) Mikhail Kobalia
9) Gadir Guseinov
*) Tomi Nyback (already qualified from 2008 European Championship)
10) Georg Meier
11) Friso Njiboer
12) Sergey Fedorchuk
13) Artyom Timofeev
14) Sanan Sjugirov
15) Mateusz Bartel
16) Rauf Mamedov
17) Nikita Vitiugov
18) Constantin Lupulescu
19) Alexander Motylev
20) Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
21) Tigran L Petrosian
22) Konstantin Sakaeev
23) Boris Savchenko


Reserves:
Alexander Areshchenko
Hrvoje Stevic
Alexey Dreev
Viktor Bologan (already qualified from 2008 European Championship)
Igor Kornusov
Ioannis Papaioannou (already qualified from 2008 European Championship)
Victor Mikhalevski
Arman Pashikian
Dmitry Svetushkin



IV. AMERICAS - 19 players

2008 Pan-American Championship
1) Jaan Ehlvest

Reserves:
Alexander Ivanov (qualified through 2009 Continental Absolute Championship)
Joshua Friedel
Darcy Lima
Manuel Leon Hoyos
Julio Beccera Rivero
Alexander Stripunsky
Vinay S Bhat


2.1 Zonal (USA) - 2009 US Championship
1) Hikaru Nakamura
2) Robert Hess
3) Alexander Onischuk
*) Gata Kamsky (already qualified as 2007 World Cup winner)
4) Varuzhan Akobian
5) Yuri Shulman

Reserves:
Joshua Friedel
Ildar Ibragimov
Larry Christiansen
Jaan Ehlvest (already qualified through 2008 Pan-American Championship)
Ray Robson (nominated by FIDE President)
Gregory Kaidanov
Joel Benjamin
Alexander Shabalov (qualified through 2009 Continental Absolute Championship)
Boris Gulko


2.2 Zonal (Canada) - 2009 Canadian closed Championship
1) Jean Herbert

Reserves:
Mark Bluvshtein
Leonid Guerzhoy
Jonathan Tayar
Louie Jiang



2.3 Zonal
1) Lazaro Bruzon Batista
2) Eduardo Iturrizaga

Reserves:
Neuris Delgado Ramirez
Lemmys Arias
Raphael Prasca
Oliver Soto Paez



2.4 Zonal
1) Alexandr Fier
2) Rafael Leitao

Reserves:
Oswaldo Zambrano
Henrique Mecking
Andre Diamant
Darcy Lima
Everaldo Matsuura


2.5 Zonal
1) Ivan Morovic Fernandez
2) Andres Rodriguez Vila

Reserves:
Ricardo Kropff
Sandro Mareco
Pablo Lafuente
Damian Lemos
Jose Fernando Cubas


2009 Continental Absolute Championship + Play-off
1) Alexander Shabalov
2) Fidel Corrales Jimenez
3) Gilberto Milos
4) Julio Granda Zuniga
5) Alexander Ivanov
6) Diego Flores

Reserves:
Mauricio Flores Rios
Joshua Friedel
Ruben Felgaer
Eduardo Eturrizaga (already qualified through 2.3 Zonal)
Alexandr Fier (already qualified through 2.4 Zonal)
Sandro Mareco
Giovanni Vescovi
Jorge Cori
Holden Hernandez Carmenates
Cristobal J Blanco



V. ASIA - 19 players

2009 Asian Championship
1) Surya Ganguly
2) Zhou Weiqi
3) Yu Yangyi
4) Yu Shaoteng
5) Le Quang Liem
6) Rogelio Antonio Jr.
7) Hou Yifan
*) Zhou Jianchao (already qualified through 3.5 Zone)
8) Chanda Sandipan
9) Krishnan Sasikiran
10) Abhijit Kunte

Reserves:
Abhijeet Gupta (qualified as 2008 World Junior U20 Champion)
Parimarjan Negi
Nguyen Ngoc Troung Son
Li Shilong
Murtas Kazhgaleyev
Anton Filippov (qualified through 3.4 Zone)


3.1 Zonal
1) Mohamad Al Sayed

Reserves:
Mohamad Al-Modiahki
Saleh AR Salem
Basheer Al Qudaimi
Obada Ahmad Aziz-Jawad


3.2 Zonal
1) Sriram Jha

Reserves:
Thipsay Praveen M
Rathnakaran K
Deepan Chakkravarthy J
Neelotpal Das
Rahman Ziaur


3.3 Zonal
1) Darwin Laylo
2) Wesley So

Reserves:
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
Mark Paragua
Susanto Megaranto
Hafizulhelmi Mas
Dao Thien Hai


3.4 Zonal
1) Farrukh Amonatov
2) Anton Filippov

Reserves:
Rinat Jumabayev
Azamat Utegaliyev
Andrey Kvon
Dzhurabek Khamrakulov
Anuar Ismagambetov


3.5 Zonal (China)
1) Zhou Jianchao
2) Wang Hao

Reserves:
Li Chao
Zhou Weiqi (qualified from 2009 Asian Championship)
Wen Yang
Gao Rui


3.6 Zonal (Oceania)
1) David Smerdon

Reserves:
James Morris
Zong Yuan Zhao
Igor Bjelobrk
Stephen Solomon
Bobby Cheng
Michael Steadman



VI. AFRICA - 6 players

2009 African Championship
1) Bassem Amin
2) Khaled Abdel Razik
*) Ahmed Adly (already qualified as 2007 World Junior U20 Champion)
3) Essam El Gindy
4) Walaa Sarwat
5) Mohamed Ezat
6) Aimen Rizouk

Reserves:
Mohamed Haddouche
Imed Abdelnabbi
Kenny Solomon
Amon Simutowe
Watu Kobese
Amir Zaibi
Adel Mahmoud El Kamel
Donovan Van Den Heever



VII. FIDE President Nominees
1) Ray Robson
2) Vladislav Tkachiev
3) Ehsan Ghaem Maghami
4) Fabiano Caruana
5) Ivan Cheparinov
6) Yannick Pelletier



VIII. Organiser nominees
1) Pridorozhni, Alexei
2) Bezgodov, Alexei
3) Kabanov, Nikolai
4) Obodchuk, Andrei

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib,

Two South American zonals are currently taking place.

Zone 2.4
Zonal tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2 players qualify


Zone 2.5
Zonal tournament in Asuncion, Paraguay
2 players qualify

Two new qualifiers from the 2.4 Zone are known:
1) Alexandr Fier
2) Rafael Leitao

Reserves:
Oswaldo Zambrano
Henrique Mecking
Andre Diamant
Darcy Lima
Everaldo Matsuura

Two more qualifiers from 2.5 Zone bringing the number of overall qualifiers to 96 (out of 128).


Currently there are qualifications going on in Zone 2.3, Zone 3.4 and Zone 3.6. Also 3.1 Zonal should start in few days (for more info see the post above)

New qualifiers from 3.4 Zone
1) Farrukh Amonatov
2) Anton Filippov

Reserves:
Rinat Jumabayev
Azamat Utegaliyev
Andrey Kvon
Dzhurabek Khamrakulov
Anuar Ismagambetov

One qualifier from the Oceania (3.6) zone
1) David Smerdon

Reserves:
James Morris
Zong Yuan Zhao
Igor Bjelobrk
Stephen Solomon
Bobby Cheng
Michael Steadman

Two more qualifiers from 2.3 Zonal
1) Lazaro Bruzon Batista
2) Eduardo Iturrizaga

Reserves:
Neuris Delgado Ramirez
Lemmys Arias
Raphael Prasca
Oliver Soto Paez

1 qualifier from 3.1 Zonal
1) Mohamad Al Sayed

Reserves:
Mohamad Al-Modiahki
Saleh AR Salem
Basheer Al Qudaimi
Obada Ahmad Aziz-Jawad


It is not entirely clear whether Al Sayed or Al-Modiahki qualified for the World Cup. This is the zonal I had most troubles finding any information on the internet. Only the site from Chess Federation of United Arab Emirates has few reports on it, but even those are very scarce with informations - no crosstable or anything. I guess Arabs aren't very fond to internet

At first it was reported that Sonneborn-Berger score is the first tie-break criteria (see here), but at the end there are no tie-break criteria listed.
If the first reports were true then Al Sayed qualified by a hair - 26.75 to Al-Modiahki's 26.5
But they could also play a blitz play-off game for the qualifying spot.

So I guess nobody except those who were there knows who qualified. And I don't expect any reports about this zonal anytime soon either.

It seems like the 3.1 Zonal was nevertheless won by Al-Modiahki. At least according to this report. This is all I could find on this matter. It's still unknown what the tie-break method was.



In the meantime there are two new qualifiers from the 3.3 Zonal
1) Darwin Laylo
2) Wesley So

Reserves:
Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
Mark Paragua
Susanto Megaranto
Hafizulhelmi Mas
Dao Thien Hai



Also things are heating up in African and All American continental championships.

Egyptian domination at 2009 African Championship
1) Bassem Amin
2) Khaled Abdel Razik
*) Ahmed Adly (already qualified as 2007 World Junior U20 Champion)
3) Essam El Gindy
4) Walaa Sarwat
5) Mohamed Ezat
6) Mohamed Haddouche OR Aimen Rizouk

Reserves:
Aimen Rizouk OR Mohamed Haddouche
Imed Abdelnabbi
Kenny Solomon
Amon Simutowe
Watu Kobese
Amir Zaibi
Adel Mahmoud El Kamel
Donovan Van Den Heever


Haddoche and Rizouk played-off for the last World Cup ticket, but there is no report yet who won.



P.S.: Rizouk won the rapid play-off against Haddouche to clinch the last qualifying spot.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib,

New qualifiers in 2009 Continental Absolute Championship
1) Alexander Shabalov
2) Fidel Corrales Jimenez

and after Play-off

3) Gilberto Milos
4) Julio Granda Zuniga
5) Alexander Ivanov
6) Diego Flores



Reserves:
Mauricio Flores Rios
Joshua Friedel
Ruben Felgaer
Eduardo Eturrizaga (already qualified through 2.3 Zonal)
Alexandr Fier (already qualified through 2.4 Zonal)
Sandro Mareco
Giovanni Vescovi
Jorge Cori
Holden Hernandez Carmenates
Cristobal J Blanco

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib,

Last two qualifiers are known.

Jean Herbert surprisingly won 2009 Canadian closed Championship (the final standings are not up yet).
3.2 Zonal was won by Sriram Jha.



So the line-up for 2009 World Cup is complete (FIDE and organizer nominees will be announced later). Now it remains to be seen how many of these qualifiers will sign the players undertakings and actually play in Khanty-Mansiysk.

World cup winner will qualify for 2010 Candidates Matches. Anand, Topalov and Kamsky are already qualified for Candidates, so it may happen that they will decline their World Cup invitation. Specially Anand and Topalov are doubtful since they will be in midle of preparation for their World Championship match. Also since two highest rated players automatically qualify for Candidates, players like Carlsen, Jakovenko, Kramnik or Leko may leave out World Cup and try to qualify for Candidates by rating. But this is risky, so I think they will all play.

And since the World Cup (November 20th - December 15th) and last Grand Prix tournament (December 17th - January 2nd) are so close together, some players competing in the last GP tournament probably won't participate in World Cup. Specially those who already have qualified or still will have a realistic chance to qualify for the Candidates through Grand Prix (first two in overall standings qualify).
This shows some poor calendar managment by FIDE, putting two such important FIDE events so close together. Dates for GP tournaments were set in early 2008, so World Cup could be easely scheduled at least 14 days earlier. The venue for the last GP tournament is still not known, so maybe it will get delayed for a week or two and thus allow all players to participate in World Cup


The final line-up will be known only about a month before the World Cup begins. Until then we can only speculate who will and will not participate.

FIDE confirms our list here.

http://www.fide.com/component/...ifiers-for-world-cup


I don't know why it says "to be announced" where the qualifiers from zone 3.1 (Al-Modiahki) and zone 3.4 (Amonatov and Filippov) should be. It's even stranger that they listed Darwin Laylo from the zone 3.2, but left out Wesley So

FIDE adds the missing players, but there is a slight twist concearning the 3.1 zone - it looks like Mohamad Al Sayed qualified and not Mohamed Al Modiahki, confirming my original asumption.

Qualified players need to sign the Players undertakings and send it to FIDE no later than September 9th. After that FIDE will call-in possible replacements.


Besides above mentioned schedule difficulties with World Cup and last Grand Prix tournament, there is also a high profile London chess classic from December 7th to December 15th.

So it looks like Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Ni Hua and Michael Adams will have to pass. Or cancel their participation in London tournament (not likely to happen).

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov nominated the following players:

Ray Robson (USA)
Vladislav Tkachiev (France)
Ehsan Ghaem Maghami (Iran)
Fabiano Caruana (Italy)
Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria)
Yannick Pelletier (Switzerland)

Here it is - the list of participants.

Like speculated above some players declined their invitation because the dates of World Cup don't go along with their schedule.

Non-participants:

• Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov - they are preparing for their World Championship match.
  
• Levon Aronian - already qualified for the 2010 Candidates, is also playing in the last Grand Prix tournament
  
• Peter Leko - playing in the last Grand Prix tournament, and still has chances to qualify for 2010 Candidates through Grand prix
  
• Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Michael Adams and Hikaru Nakamura play in London Chess Classic that is taking place during the World Cup.

Looks like Ni Hua, who was also scheduled to play in London, is the only one who chose World Cup over London (although his name is still displayed on tournament's website). Or perhaps Ni Hua is not planning to last more than 5 rounds in World Cup. That way he can still manage both

All other players who were eligble confirmed their participation.



Pairings will be announced on November 2nd, based on the latest (November) rating list. In the first round #1 rated player will play #128 rated player, #2 will play #127 and so on until #64 vs. #65.

The roster is complete as organizers announce their 4 local nominees:

1) Pridorozhni, Alexei
2) Bezgodov, Alexei
3) Kabanov, Nikolai
4) Obodchuk, Andrei

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ebutaljib,

http://www.fide.com/component/...-pairings-of-round-1

OK, here is now the correct pairing tree (click on the image)




First one was wrong because the rating list that FIDE initially published was wrong. Many players didn't have the correct ratings.


Official site: http://www.ugra-chess.ru/eng/main_e.htm