The highly-anticipated FIDE World Cup will begin in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia in only a few short days. The chess world is still buzzing about the possibility of a Veselin Topalov-Vladimir Kramnik unification match. There have been many different stories circulating about which of the two players should be in a position of leverage. Kramnik claims that he is "Classical World Champion" while Topalov lays claims to "FIDE World Champion." Nevertheless, this World Cup stands as the next stage to determining the next set of challengers to Topalov who brilliantly won the FIDE Championship in San Luis last month.

The World Cup will have 128 players who earned spot through a variety of criteria.  The top seeded player is Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk, but it is interesting that this tournament will not be as strong as the Libyan FIDE KO won by Rustam Kasimjanov. In addition, none of the San Luis participants will be in Elista.  In terms of federations, Russia leads with 23 participants, with Ukraine (10) and China (9) following.

The paired the first round using the #128 vs. #1 instead of the #128 vs. #64. This format means that it will give the strongest players a better chance of advancing since the first couple of rounds will feature heavy mismatches. For example in the first round, Ivanchuk (2748 FIDE) will face  Russia's Aleksandr Sibriaev who is rated at only 2264. Second-seeded Etienne Bacrot (2725) of France will face Zambia's Stanley Chumfwa (2303) who sits at #127.

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Posted by The Chess Drum: 23 November 2005