Before this, yours trully also would like to express condolences for the tragedy of GM Igor Kurnosov who passed away in a car accident on 8th August 2013. A big loss for chess world as the 28 old years chess player had shown much promising career and already become chess personalities on elite tournament. R.I.P.
As usual I'm enthusiast about the Knock Off drama on Chess World. Let me copy paste once again, Chess World Cup 2013 Tromsø pairings and diagram (see below). The 127 players to travel to Tromsø and their respectives 1st round pairing are:
1 Levon Aronian - 128 Mikhail Markov
-Just like in 2009 where Gelfand emerged winner from his no.1 seed, Aronian is our top player for now and required to finish the world cup as a winner, very logical expectation by system. Seriously, Aronian is in the big ship, waiting to cross the finish line by crushing a 'smaller' boat in front of him. Mikhail Markov from Kazakhstan is his challenger, Markov was qualified via Zone 3.4.
64 Igor Lysyj - 65 Andrei Istratescu
32 Evgeny Tomashevsky - 97 Alejandro Ramirez
33 Wesley So - 96 Alexander Ipatov
Not a bad pairing for Wesley So, Ipatov was a Junior champion of his generation. I can't find a history of their meeting, so presumely this is their first. So was only a year younger to his Turkey opponent. Should be one of 'hot' board with crowded spectators. Am I correct to say this is the first World Cup for Wesley where he is seed as 'stronger' player, instead of 'challenger' from previous edition? (updated: Wesley was only one pair higher to Ding Liren, his 2011 opponent)
16 Alexander Morozevich - 113 Bator Sambuev
Show us some interesting chess games for round 1, Moro! Alexander Morozevich, one of most popular chess player due to his creative fighting style, expected to won this round, and some more.
49 Ernesto Inarkiev - 80 Rafael Leitao
17 Nikita Vitiugov - 112 Conrad Holt
48 Markus Ragger - 81 Ivan Popov
8 Gata Kamsky - 121 Lou Yiping
Lou is of Chinese eight players to be sent to Tromso. He is trying his luck against 2007 Chess World Cup champion, Gata Kamsky of USA.
57 Aleksandr Shimanov - 72 Gawain Jones
25 David Navara - 104 Sandro Mareco
40 Sergei Movsesian - 89 Jon Ludvig Hammer
Quite a hot board for Norway. Hammer will played as host' no.1 player, as Carlsen of course not participating on this 'smaller' scale event.
9 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov - 120 Samy Shoker
56 Maxim Matlakov - 73 Jan Smeets
24 Ian Nepomniachtchi - 105 Wei Yi
41 Alexei Shirov - 88 Hou Yifan
And one of most interesting round 1 pairing. Alexei Shirov vs Hou Yifan is some how unfortune pairing. I like both, and hope who won this will bring more exciting drama to the next round.
4 Alexander Grischuk - 125 Igor Bjelobrk
61 Vadim Zvjaginsev - 68 Dariusz Swiercz
29 Le Quang Liem - 100 Oliver Barbosa
Aha... for South Eastern, this is a 'derby'. Le Quang Liem on paper is stronger than Oliver. But the fans will expect Oliver to put strong determination against Le. Hot pair...hot pair..
36 Francisco Vallejo Pons - 93 Diego Flores
13 Peter Svidler - 116 Anna Ushenina
And how about Chess World Cup vs Women Champion. Svidler and Shirov are pretty much on same generation of '90s elite chess player, how 'lucky' are they, to meet (and required to eliminated) these 'Chess Queen' to move forward.
52 Victor Bologan - 77 Zbynek Hracek
20 Teimour Radjabov - 109 Jorge Cori
Jorge Cori, Peru most promising junior to face Azeri force Teimour Radjabov. Jorge is the only 'sibling' playing in World Cup, together with Deysi Cori.
45 Lazaro Bruzon - 84 Evgeniy Najer
5 Sergey Karjakin - 124 Ali Sebbar
60 Krishnan Sasikiran - 69 Constantin Lupulescu
Krishnan is the strongest Indian player to play in the field.
28 Dmitry Jakovenko - 101 Mark Paragua
37 Pavel Eljanov - 92 Sabino Brunello
12 Wang Hao - 117 Liu Qingnan
Unfortunate pairing for the China federation. Both need to disqualified each other. Wang Hao is leading eight chess players from China to played in Norway nordic city of Tromso.
53 Alexey Dreev - 76 Sergei Azarov
21 Dmitry Andreikin - 108 Darini Pouria
44 Vladimir Akopian - 85 Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son
2 Fabiano Caruana - 127 G. Akash
A bright future for Fabiano. Just less than five years, he is now emerge as one of chess force of the younger generation. Getting seed no.2 is a good opportunity, as he will 'only' need to face lower seed opponent most of the round.
63 Yu Yangyi - 66 Alexander Beliavsky
Also an interesting pairing. Of course credited to Beliavsky as the representative of 'pre computer' generation. In contrast Yu Yangyi is of course hot 'computer' generation player, one of promising junior from China federation.
31 Vladimir Malakhov - 98 Eric Hansen
34 Laurent Fressinet - 95 Larry Christiansen
15 Peter Leko - 114 Leif Erlend Johannessen
50 Julio Granda Zuniga - 79 Hrant Melkumyan
18 Anish Giri - 111 Saleh Salem
Another top player from this 2000's generation that need to prove himself. Seeded 18, he is quite behind his rival, Fabiano Caruana by now.
47 Li Chao - 82 Evgeny Postny
7 Boris Gelfand - 122 Ziaur Rahman
Boris is now seed no.7 and need to face Pakistani Ziaur Rahman.
58 Evgeny Romanov - 71 Anton Filippov
26 Etienne Bacrot - 103 Simen Agdestein
Simen / Simon Agdestein, for those who not familiar, he was Magnus Carlsen first chess teacher. Come to Tromso as organizer nominee, he need to find more tricks to overcome French Etienne Bacrot.
39 Alexander Moiseenko - 90 Ahmed Adly*
Moiseenko just received his 'wild card' as Ahmed Adly failed to reach Tromso, due to travel technicallities.
10 Leinier Dominguez Perez - 119 Essam El Gindy
55 Alexander Onischuk - 74 Eduardo Iturrizaga
23 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - 106 Alexander Shabalov
42 Judit Polgar - 87 Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez
As usual, Judit come to World Cup without 'World Champion' title, in Women. She expected to move round 2, for a sake of gender equality.
3 Vladimir Kramnik - 126 Gillan Bwalya
Gillan Bwalya of Zambia, an FM and of course will need to see his pairing to Vladimir Kramnik as a good fortune. If the system goes well, Kramnik on the pairing diagram will only need to eliminate Aronian, to claim his first Chess World Cup, a title he never reach before.
62 Denis Khismatullin - 67 Mikhail Kobalia
30 Alexander Areshchenko - 99 Gregory Kaidanov
35 Alexander Riazantsev - 94 Ruben Felgaer
14 Michael Adams - 115 Wan Yunguo
51 Yuriy Kryvoruchko - 78 Parimarjan Negi
19 Vassily Ivanchuk - 110 Jan-Krzysztof Duda
46 Andrei Volokitin - 83 Ray Robson
Ray Robson needs to works hard to maintained his fame as 'aging-junior'. Compare to Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, and the other Chinese juniors, Ray Robson haven't got his breakthrough in chess. Andrei Volokitin for sure to give the junior a good lesson.
6 Hikaru Nakamura - 123 Deysi Cori
And how 'lucky' also for Nakamura, to meet Peruvian top female player. Deysi, already a Women Grandmaster, a reading in Wikipedia told 'She is the only player in the girls Top 20 who resides in the Western Hemisphere!' - Deysi is the only sibling to play in World Cup on this year, his brother Jorge to play Teimour Radjabov.
59 Eltaj Safarli - 70 Bassem Amin
27 Evgeny Alekseev - 102 Baskaran Adhiban
38 Radoslaw Wojtaszek - 91 Alexandr Fier
11 Ruslan Ponomariov - 118 Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen
54 Sergey Fedorchuk - 75 Daniil Dubov
22 Anton Korobov - 107 Vasif Durarbayli
43 Baadur Jobava - 86 Martyn Kravtsiv
Meanwhile I just created a diagram / pairing chart for chess world cup 2013, hopefully will help chess fans to enjoy the event even more.
2013 Chess World Cup, Tromsø. All round pairing diagram / chart
official website: http://www.chessworldcup2013.com/
