21 August 2015

2015 World Cup Pairings Are Announced

23 Russians will compete in Baku.

Pairings of the 2015 World Cup, which starts on September 10 in Baku, are published on the FIDE website. Among 128 participants there are 23 Russian players: 

Vladimir Kramnik
Alexander Grischuk
Dmitry Jakovenko
Sergey Karjakin
Evgeny Tomashevsky
Peter Svidler
Nikita Vitiugov
Dmitry Andreikin
Ian Nepomniachtchi
Maxim Matlakov
Igor Lysyj
Vladislav Artemiev
Sanan Sjugirov
Ernesto Inarkiev
Vladimir Fedoseev
Alexander Motylev
Boris Grachev
Evgeny Najer
Ivan Bukavshin
Ivan Popov
Denis Khismatullin
Alexander Goganov
Ilia Iljushenok

There are two matches between Russian players in the starting round: Motylev-Grachev and Jakovenko-Iljushenok.

The top seeds of the World Cup are Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Fabiano Caruana (USA), and Anish Giri (Netherlands). 

Four players from Armenia will also come to the Azerbaijanian capital - Levon Aronian, Gabriel Sargissian, Hrant Melkumian, and Samvel Ter-Saakian.