23 June 2021

Final Lists of FIDE World Cups Participants Published

Pairings are announced.

Photo: Eteri Kublashvili
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili


The final lists of the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Women’s World Cup’s participants were published. The knock-out events will be held in Sochi from the 10th of July till the 8th of August, 2021. The tournaments are the parts of the world chess championship cycles. Both finalists of the open event qualify for the FIDE Candidates Tournament, while the three best players of the women’s competition will get spots in the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament. 

Two hundred and six (206) players will compete in the FIDE World Cup (eight rounds), and there will be one hundred and three (103) participants in the FIDE Women’s World Cup (seven rounds). 

The rating favourites of the open event are the world champion Magnus Carlsen (Norway, ELO as of 01.06.2021 - 2847), Fabiano Caruana (the USA, 2820), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2781), Anish Giri (the Netherlands, 2780), Alexander Grischuk (Russia, 2776), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan, 2770), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France, 2760), Alireza Firouzja (FIDE, 2759), Leinier Dominguez (the USA, 2758), Sergey Karjakin (Russia, 2757), and other well-known chess players.

Besides Grischuk and Karjakin, Russia is represented by Dmitry Andreikin (2724), Nikita Vitiugov (2724), Daniil Dubov (2714), Andrey Esipenko (2716), Peter Svidler (2714), Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706), Vladislav Artemiev (2704), Kirill Alekseenko (2699), Vladimir Fedoseev (2696), Maxim Matlakov (2688), Dmitry Jakovenko (2684), Alexandr Predke (2683), Vladimir Malakhov (2666), Sanan Sjugirov (2661), Grigoriy Oparin (2654), Alexey Sarana (2640), Alexander Motylev (2639), David Paravyan (2629), Pavel Ponkratov (2627), Vadim Zvjaginsev (2608), Evgeny Alekseev (2605), Boris Savchenko (2553), Nikita Afanasiev (2542), Volodar Murzin (2502), Kirill Shubin (2486), and Rudik Makarian (2460).

The FIDE Women’s World Cup will feature the Russians Aleksandra Goryachkina (2596) and Kateryna Lagno (2558), the Ukrainians Mariya and Anna Muzychuk (2544 and 2535, respectively), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2524), Harika Dronavalli (India, 2515), Tan Zhongyi (China, 2511), and many other chess stars. 

In general, fifteen Russian players will participate in the event. Goryachkina and Lagno will be accompanied by Alina Kashlinskaya (2494), Polina Shuvalova (2489), the 12th world women’s champion Alexandra Kosteniuk (2472), Natalija Pogonina (2469), Olga Girya (2448), Anastasia Bodnaruk (2446), Alisa Galliamova (2442), Valentina Gunina (2436), Leya Garifullina (2399), Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (2390), Dina Belenkaya (2341), Anna Afonasieva (2323), and Anastasya Paramzina (2256).

Participants (open)

Participants (women) 


The first round of the FIDE World Cup and the FIDE Women's World Cup will see one hundred fifty-six (156) and seventy-eight (78) players, respectively. The winners of the starting matches will be joined by fifty (50) highest ranked players in the open event and twenty-five (25) in the women’s competition. All matches consist of two games and a tie-break, if necessary.  

Pairings tree

The prize fund of the FIDE World Cup is 1,892,500 USD and 676,250 USD in the FIDE Women’s World Cup.  

The tournament venue is the Galaxy entertaining centre located in the Gazprom Mountain Resort, Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi.   

Media accreditation: press@fide.com

Official website