FIDE confirms pairings Candidates

The pairings for the upcoming FIDE Candidates matches are Topalov vs Kamsky, Kramnik vs Radjabov, Aronian vs Grischuk and Gelfand vs Mamedyarov. This was confirmed today by FIDE on its website. The matches will be held 3rd to 27th May, 2011 in Kazan, Russia.

The following announcement was published today on the FIDE website:

FIDE announces the pairings for the 1st round of the Candidates Matches (Kazan, 3-27 May 2011):

Topalov (BUL) - Kamsky (USA) Kramnik (RUS) - Radjabov (AZE) Aronian (ARM) - Grischuk (RUS) Gelfand (ISR) - Mamedyarov (AZE)

The drawing of colours for all the rounds will be conducted during the opening ceremony of the event. The winner of the Candidates Matches 2011 will qualify to challenge the World Champion GM Vishy Anand in a 12-game match during the first half of 2012. The full technical regulations of the Candidates Matches are published on the FIDE website: http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handbook/regscandidates.pdf

These eight candidates were already confirmed by FIDE on December 24th, 2010. Veselin Topalov qualified as the runner up of the previous World Championship. Vladimir Kramnik qualified by rating. Levon Aronian was the winner of the FIDE Grand-Prix 2008-2009 and Boris Gelfand was the winner of the FIDE World Cup 2009. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov was kept as the wild card, originally picked by organizers in Baku, Azerbaijan, before the event was moved to Kazan.

Teimour Radjabov came second in the FIDE Grand-Prix and Alexander Grischuk also qualified from this GP. The Russian replaces Magnus Carlsen who decided not to play early November, 2010. Gata Kamsky is in as the runner up of the Challengers Match 2009.

Schedule The matches, with the above pairings, will be played over four games. Two days after these matches end, the second round starts, with the winner of Topalov-Kamsky against the winner of Gelfand-Mamedyarov and the winner of Kramnik-Radjabov against the winner of Aronian-Grischuk. These matches will also consist of four games. The final match will consist of six games.

Eight	Four	Two	Winner
Veselin Topalov	Winner Topalov-Kamsky	player	player
Gata Kamsky
Boris Gelfand	Winner Gelfand-Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Vladimir Kramnik	Winner Kramnik-Radjabov	player
Teimour Radjabov
Levon Aronian	Winner Aronian-Grischuk
Alexander Grischuk

Time control The time control will be 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds increment per move, starting from move 61. Tiebreaks will consist of four games of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, two blitz games (five minutes plus three seconds) and one sudden death game (five against 4, with 3 seconds increment from move 61, and draw odds for Black).

Prizes The four losers of the first round matches will each receive a (minimum) amount of 30,000 euros. The two losers of the second round matches will each receive a (minimum) amount of 60,000 euros. The minimum prize fund for the final match of the 3rd round is 180,000 euros which will be divided 50%-50% between the two players (90,000 euros each).

Kazan The dates for the 2011 Candidates matches are 3 to 27 May 2011. The matches will be held in Kazan, Russia. It's the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan is the sixth largest city of Russia. From Wikipedia we learn that it lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. The Kazan Kremlin is a World Heritage Site and in April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of Russia. Besides, in 2009 it was chosen as the "sports capital of Russia".