2011 FIDE World Cup officially opened - all the info

PeterDoggers

Updated: Sep 6, 2011, 6:11 PM | 0 | Chess Event Coverage

Today the 2011 FIDE World Cup was officially opened by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Tomorrow the first round is scheduled at 15:00 local time (11:00 CET). 128 participants from all over the world will fight in a knock-out that will last more than three weeks and should deliver three participants for the next Candidates tournament/matches, as part of the new World Championship cycle.The 2011 FIDE World Cup is a 128-player knockout that will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Siberia from August 27th till September 20th. It's the fourth time that Russia's Ugra region hosts the World Cup.

Khanty-Mansiysk

Khanty-Mansiysk is an oil boom town in Russia, the administrative center of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. It is located on the Irtysh River, 15 km from its confluence with the Ob. Besides the three previous World Cups (won by Levon Aronian, Gata Kamsky and Boris Gelfand respectively), Khanty-Mansiysk was the venue of the 2010 Chess Olympiad. The 2003 Biathlon World Championships and the 2005 Mixed Biathlon Relay (4×6 km) took place there as well.

Venue

Venue is the brand new Ugorian Chess Academy, a unique three-level building without sharp corners styled as a chess piece. It was built in the capital of Ugra in 2008-2010 and designed by the famous Dutch architect Erick Van Egeraat. More info on this remarkable building can be found here.

The venue of the 2011 FIDE World Cup: the Ugorian Chess Academy

Participants

There are 128 participants from 46 different countries. Below we give the list that can also be found on the official website. However, shortly before the event both Vladimir Akopian of Armenia and Wang Hao of China had to cancel the participation. The former broke a leg recently; the latter was diagnosed with heart problems. As we understand, their opponents (Parimarjan Negi and Alexander Ivanov respectively) will go through to the second round without playing.

FIDE World Cup 2011 | Participants

#	Name	Ti	Fed	Rtg	#	Name	Ti	Fed	Rtg
1	Karjakin, Sergey	GM	RUS	2788	65	Ding, Liren	GM	CHN	2654
2	Ivanchuk, Vassily	GM	UKR	2768	66	Ragger, Markus	GM	AUT	2651
3	Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	GM	AZE	2765	67	Lupulescu, Constantin	GM	ROU	2650
4	Ponomariov, Ruslan	GM	UKR	2764	68	Khairullin, Ildar	GM	RUS	2649
5	Gashimov, Vugar	GM	AZE	2760	69	Azarov, Sergei	GM	BLR	2648
6	Grischuk, Alexander	GM	RUS	2746	70	Iordachescu, Viorel	GM	MDA	2646
7	Radjabov, Teimour	GM	AZE	2744	71	Negi, Parimarjan	GM	IND	2642
8	Kamsky, Gata	GM	USA	2741	72	Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter	GM	ROU	2641
9	Svidler, Peter	GM	RUS	2739	73	Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son	GM	VIE	2637
10	Jakovenko, Dmitry	GM	RUS	2736	74	Rodshtein, Maxim	GM	ISR	2637
11	Vitiugov, Nikita	GM	RUS	2733	75	Zhou, Jianchao	GM	CHN	2636
12	Almasi, Zoltan	GM	HUN	2726	76	Parligras, Mircea-Emilian	GM	ROU	2636
13	Vallejo Pons, Francisco	GM	ESP	2724	77	Quesada Perez, Yuniesky	GM	CUB	2635
14	Navara, David	GM	CZE	2722	78	Ivanisevic, Ivan	GM	SRB	2633
15	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	GM	FRA	2722	79	Adly, Ahmed	GM	EGY	2631
16	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	GM	CUB	2719	80	Socko, Bartosz	GM	POL	2631
17	~~Wang, Hao~~	GM	CHN	2718	81	Lysyj, Igor	GM	RUS	2629
18	Leko, Peter	GM	HUN	2717	82	Gupta, Abhijeet	GM	IND	2627
19	Moiseenko, Alexander	GM	UKR	2715	83	Salgado Lopez, Ivan	GM	ESP	2626
20	Le, Quang Liem	GM	VIE	2715	84	Romanov, Evgeny	GM	RUS	2624
21	Adams, Michael	GM	ENG	2715	85	Postny, Evgeny	GM	ISR	2618
22	Shirov, Alexei	GM	ESP	2714	86	Shulman, Yuri	GM	USA	2617
23	Jobava, Baadur	GM	GEO	2713	87	Pashikian, Arman	GM	ARM	2616
24	Caruana, Fabiano	GM	ITA	2711	88	Drozdovskij, Yuri	GM	UKR	2614
25	Nepomniachtchi, Ian	GM	RUS	2711	89	Bluvshtein, Mark	GM	CAN	2611
26	Bacrot, Etienne	GM	FRA	2710	90	Filippov, Anton	GM	UZB	2606
27	Wang, Yue	GM	CHN	2709	91	Halkias, Stelios	GM	GRE	2600
28	Tomashevsky, Evgeny	GM	RUS	2707	92	Kazhgaleyev, Murtas	GM	KAZ	2597
29	Efimenko, Zahar	GM	UKR	2706	93	Mareco, Sandro	GM	ARG	2597
30	Malakhov, Vladimir	GM	RUS	2706	94	Zherebukh, Yaroslav	GM	UKR	2590
31	Sutovsky, Emil	GM	ISR	2700	95	Jumabayev, Rinat	GM	KAZ	2589
32	Movsesian, Sergei	GM	ARM	2700	96	Corrales Jimenez, Fidel	GM	CUB	2585
33	Polgar, Judit	GM	HUN	2699	97	Hou, Yifan	GM	CHN	2575
34	Fressinet, Laurent	GM	FRA	2698	98	Vorobiov, Evgeny E.	GM	RUS	2574
35	Eljanov, Pavel	GM	UKR	2697	99	Felgaer, Ruben	GM	ARG	2573
36	Berkes, Ferenc	GM	HUN	2696	100	Babula, Vlastimil	GM	CZE	2572
37	Andreikin, Dmitry	GM	RUS	2696	101	Zhao, Zong-Yuan	GM	AUS	2570
38	Morozevich, Alexander	GM	RUS	2694	102	Fier, Alexandr	GM	BRA	2566
39	Zhigalko, Sergei	GM	BLR	2689	103	Robson, Ray	GM	USA	2560
40	Riazantsev, Alexander	GM	RUS	2688	104	Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynal	IM	CUB	2556
41	Motylev, Alexander	GM	RUS	2685	105	Pridorozhni, Aleksei	GM	RUS	2550
42	Wojtaszek, Radoslaw	GM	POL	2683	106	Guliyev, Namig	GM	AZE	2549
43	Potkin, Vladimir	GM	RUS	2682	107	Leon Hoyos, Manuel	GM	MEX	2548
44	Nielsen, Peter Heine	GM	DEN	2681	108	Paragua, Mark	GM	PHI	2545
45	Grachev, Boris	GM	RUS	2680	109	Megaranto, Susanto	GM	INA	2544
46	Inarkiev, Ernesto	GM	RUS	2679	110	Esen, Baris	GM	TUR	2543
47	Mamedov, Rauf	GM	AZE	2679	111	Shankland, Samuel L	GM	USA	2539
48	Kobalia, Mikhail	GM	RUS	2679	112	Ivanov, Alexander	GM	USA	2538
49	Bologan, Viktor	GM	MDA	2678	113	Moradiabadi, Elshan	GM	IRI	2532
50	Bu, Xiangzhi	GM	CHN	2675	114	Rahman, Ziaur	GM	BAN	2528
51	Onischuk, Alexander	GM	USA	2675	115	Kabanov, Nikolai	GM	RUS	2520
52	Bruzon Batista, Lazaro	GM	CUB	2673	116	Cori, Jorge	GM	PER	2514
53	Yu, Yangyi	GM	CHN	2672	117	El Gindy, Essam	GM	EGY	2510
54	Korobov, Anton	GM	UKR	2671	118	Bezgodov, Alexei	GM	RUS	2503
55	Harikrishna, P.	GM	IND	2669	119	Salem, A.R. Saleh	GM	UAE	2493
56	Li, Chao b	GM	CHN	2669	120	Lima, Darcy	GM	BRA	2493
57	Kasimdzhanov, Rustam	GM	UZB	2669	121	Di Berardino, Diego Rafae	IM	BRA	2480
58	~~Akopian, Vladimir~~	GM	ARM	2667	122	De La Paz Perdomo, Frank	GM	CUB	2477
59	Feller, Sebastien	GM	FRA	2666	123	Genba, Vladimir	IM	RUS	2452
60	Timofeev, Artyom	GM	RUS	2665	124	Hansen, Eric	IM	CAN	2449
61	Ni, Hua	GM	CHN	2662	125	Gwaze, Robert	IM	ZIM	2434
62	Fridman, Daniel	GM	GER	2659	126	Ibrahim, Hatim		EGY	2402
63	Alekseev, Evgeny	GM	RUS	2659	127	Steel, Henry Robert	FM	RSA	2362
64	So, Wesley	GM	PHI	2658	128	Kaabi, Mejdi	IM	TUN	2344

We created a big JPEG of the pairings tree which you can check in your browser here.

System and rate of play

Except for the final, all rounds will have 2-game matches at the FIDE time control: 90 minutes for 40 moves followed by 30 minutes to finish the game, with a 30-second increment from the first move. In case of a 1-1 tie, on the third day of the round a tie-break is played. A tie-break consists of 2 games (25 minutes + 10 seconds increment). In case of a 2-2 score, 2 more games will be played at 10 minutes + 10 seconds increment and then, if needed, 2 games of 5 minutes + 3 increment. If necessary, the tie-break will end with an Armageddon game with White getting 5 minutes and Black 4 and 3 seconds increment starting from move 61. In this game, a draw means the player behind the black pieces goes through. The final will played over 4 games at the FIDE time control and if necessary a tie-break on the day of the closing ceremony.

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony was held on Saturday. FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov officially declared the 2011 FIDE World Cup as opened. For the drawing of colours, top seed Sergey Karjakin of Russia was asked to come on stage. The result was that he, and all other odd numbers, will play black in the first game of the first round.

Schedule

Date	Time	Event	# Players
August 26	-	Arrival
August 27	20:00	Opening ceremony
August 28	15:00	Round 1.1	128
August 29	15:00	Round 1.2
August 30	15:00	Tie-break R1
August 31	15:00	Round 2.1	64
September 1	15:00	Round 2.2
September 2	15:00	Tie-break R2
September 3	15:00	Round 3.1	32
September 4	15:00	Round 3.2
September 5	15:00	Tie-break R3
September 6	15:00	Round 4.1	16
September 7	15:00	Round 4.2
September 8	15:00	Tie-break R4
September 9	15:00	Round 5.1	8
September 10	15:00	Round 5.2
September 11	15:00	Tie-break R5
September 12	15:00	Round 6.1	4
September 13	15:00	Round 6.2
September 14	15:00	Tie-break R6
September 15	Free day
September 16	15:00	Round 7.1	2
September 17	15:00	Round 7.2
September 18	15:00	Round 7.3
September 19	15:00	Round 7.4
September 20	11:00	Tie-break R7
September 20	20:00	Closing ceremony

Links

Peter Doggers

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.”

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