Chess World Cup 2013

The Chess World Cup 2013 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament, played between 11 August and 2 September 2013, in the hotel Scandic Tromsø in Tromsø, Norway. It was won by Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated Dmitry Andreikin 2½–1½ in the final match. The finalists qualified for the 2014 Candidates Tournament.

The winner of the Chess World Cup 2011, Peter Svidler, was defeated by Dmitry Andreikin in the quarter-finals.

Format
Matches consisted of two games (except for the final, which consisted of four). Players had 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from the start of the game. If a match was tied after the regular games, tie breaks were played on the next day. The format for the tie breaks was as follows:
 * Two rapid games (25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment) were to be played.
 * If the score was tied after two rapid games, two rapid games (10 minutes plus 10 seconds increment) were to be played.
 * If the score was tied after four rapid games, the opponents were to play two blitz games (five minutes plus three seconds increment).
 * If the score was tied after a pair of blitz games, an armageddon game (in which a draw counts as a win for Black) was played. White would have five minutes and Black would have four minutes, and both players would have a three seconds per move increment beginning with move 61.

Participants
The participating players were seeded by their July 2013 FIDE ratings:

🇦🇲 Levon Aronian (ARM), 2813 (R) 🇮🇹 Fabiano Caruana (ITA), 2796 (R) 🇷🇺 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS), 2784 (R) 🇷🇺 Alexander Grischuk (RUS), 2780 (WC) 🇷🇺 Sergey Karjakin (RUS), 2776 (R) 🇺🇸 Hikaru Nakamura (USA), 2775 (R) 🇮🇱 Boris Gelfand (ISR), 2773 (R) 🇺🇸 Gata Kamsky (USA), 2763 (R) 🇦🇿 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE), 2761 (R) 🇨🇺 Leinier Domínguez (CUB), 2757 (R) 🇺🇦 Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR), 2756 (WC) 🇨🇳 Wang Hao (CHN), 2752 (R) 🇷🇺 Peter Svidler (RUS), 2746 (WC) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Michael Adams (ENG), 2740 (R) 🇭🇺 Peter Leko (HUN), 2737 (R) 🇷🇺 Alexander Morozevich (RUS), 2736 (R) 🇷🇺 Nikita Vitiugov (RUS), 2734 (E12) Anish Giri, 2734 (R) 🇺🇦 Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR), 2733 (WC) 🇦🇿 Teimour Radjabov (AZE), 2733 (R) 🇷🇺 Dmitry Andreikin (RUS), 2727 (E12) 🇺🇦 Anton Korobov (UKR), 2720 (E13) 🇫🇷 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), 2719 (PN) 🇷🇺 Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS), 2717 (R) 🇨🇿 David Navara (CZE), 2715 (PN) 🇫🇷 Étienne Bacrot (FRA), 2714 (E12) 🇷🇺 Evgeny Alekseev (RUS), 2714 (E13) 🇷🇺 Dmitry Jakovenko (RUS), 2713 (E12) Lê Quang Liêm, 2712 (AS13) 🇺🇦 Alexander Areshchenko (UKR), 2709 (E13) 🇷🇺 Vladimir Malakhov (RUS), 2709 (E12) 🇷🇺 Evgeny Tomashevsky (RUS), 2709 (R) Wesley So, 2708 (Z3.3) 🇫🇷 Laurent Fressinet (FRA), 2708 (E12) 🇷🇺 Alexander Riazantsev (RUS), 2708 (E12) 🇪🇸 Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP), 2706 (E12) 🇺🇦 Pavel Eljanov (UKR), 2702 (E13) 🇵🇱 Radosław Wojtaszek (POL), 2701 (R) 🇺🇦 Alexander Moiseenko (UKR), 2699 (E13) 🇦🇲 Sergei Movsesian (ARM), 2699 (E13) Alexei Shirov, 2696 (R) 🇭🇺 Judit Polgár (HUN), 2696 (PN) Baadur Jobava, 2693 (E12) 🇦🇲 Vladimir Akopian (ARM), 2691 (E12) 🇨🇺 Lázaro Bruzón (CUB), 2689 (Z2.3) 🇺🇦 Andrei Volokitin (UKR), 2688 (E12) 🇨🇳 Li Chao (CHN), 2686 (AS13) 🇦🇹 Markus Ragger (AUT), 2680 (E13) 🇷🇺 Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS), 2680 (E12) 🇵🇪 Julio Granda (PER), 2679 (AM12) 🇺🇦 Yuriy Kryvoruchko (UKR), 2678 (E12) 🇲🇩 Victor Bologan (MDA), 2672 (E12) 🇷🇺 Alexey Dreev (RUS), 2668 (E12) 🇺🇦 Sergey Fedorchuk (UKR), 2667 (E13) 🇺🇸 Alexander Onischuk (USA), 2667 (Z2.1) 🇷🇺 Maxim Matlakov (RUS), 2665 (E12) 🇷🇺 Aleksandr Shimanov (RUS), 2664 (E13) 🇷🇺 Evgeny Romanov (RUS), 2662 (E13) 🇦🇿 Eltaj Safarli (AZE), 2660 (E13) 🇮🇳 Krishnan Sasikiran (IND), 2660 (AS13) 🇷🇺 Vadim Zvjaginsev (RUS), 2659 (E13) 🇷🇺 Denis Khismatullin (RUS), 2658 (E12) 🇨🇳 Yu Yangyi (CHN), 2657 (AS12) 🇷🇺 Igor Lysyj (RUS), 2656 (E13) 🇫🇷 Andrei Istrățescu (FRA), 2651 (E13) Alexander Beliavsky, 2651 (E13) 🇷🇺 Mikhail Kobalia (RUS), 2651 (E12) 🇵🇱 Dariusz Świercz (POL), 2650 (J11) 🇷🇴 Constantin Lupulescu (ROU), 2650 (E13) 🇪🇬 Bassem Amin (EGY), 2650 (AF) 🇺🇿 Anton Filippov (UZB), 2643 (Z3.4) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Gawain Jones (ENG), 2643 (E12) Jan Smeets, 2643 (E12) 🇻🇪 Eduardo Iturrizaga (VEN), 2642 (Z2.3) 🇷🇺 Daniil Dubov (RUS), 2638 (E13) 🇧🇾 Sergei Azarov (BLR), 2636 (E12) 🇨🇿 Zbyněk Hráček (CZE), 2635 (E13) 🇮🇳 Parimarjan Negi (IND), 2634 (AS12) 🇦🇲 Hrant Melkumyan (ARM), 2632 (E13) 🇧🇷 Rafael Leitão (BRA), 2632 (Z2.4) 🇷🇺 Ivan Popov (RUS), 2632 (E13) 🇮🇱 Evgeny Postny (ISR), 2631 (E13) 🇺🇸 Ray Robson (USA), 2628 (Z2.1) 🇷🇺 Evgeniy Najer (RUS), 2628 (E12) Nguyễn Ngọc Trường Sơn, 2625 (Z3.3) 🇺🇦 Martyn Kravtsiv (UKR), 2620 (E13) 🇨🇺 Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suárez (CUB), 2612 (AM13) 🇨🇳 Hou Yifan (CHN), 2600 (PN) 🇳🇴 Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR), 2599 (ON) 🇪🇬 Ahmed Adly (EGY), 2596 (AF) 🇧🇷 Alexandr Fier (BRA), 2595 (Z2.4) 🇮🇹 Sabino Brunello (ITA), 2593 (E13) 🇦🇷 Diego Flores (ARG), 2592 (AM13) 🇦🇷 Rubén Felgaer (ARG), 2586 (Z2.5) 🇺🇸 Larry Christiansen (USA), 2584 (Z2.1) 🇹🇷 Alexander Ipatov (TUR), 2583 (J12) 🇺🇸 Alejandro Ramírez (USA), 2583 (Z2.1) 🇨🇦 Eric Hansen (CAN), 2581 (AM12) 🇺🇸 Gregory Kaidanov (USA), 2577 (AM12) Oliver Barbosa, 2572 (AS12) Mark Paragua, 2569 (AS13) 🇮🇳 Adhiban Baskaran (IND), 2567 (AS13) 🇳🇴 Simen Agdestein (NOR), 2567 (ON) 🇦🇷 Sandro Mareco (ARG), 2562 (Z2.5) 🇨🇳 Wei Yi (CHN), 2557 (PN) 🇺🇸 Alexander Shabalov (USA), 2553 (AM12) 🇦🇿 Vasif Durarbayli (AZE), 2549 (E12) Pouria Darini, 2548 (Z3.1) 🇵🇪 Jorge Cori (PER), 2543 (AM13) 🇵🇱 Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL), 2536, IM (PN) Salem Saleh, 2531 (AS12) 🇺🇸 Conrad Holt (USA), 2530 (Z2.1) 🇨🇦 Bator Sambuev (CAN), 2530 (Z2.2) 🇳🇴 Leif Erlend Johannessen (NOR), 2520 (ON) 🇨🇳 Wan Yunguo (CHN), 2509, IM (Z3.5) 🇺🇦 Anna Ushenina (UKR), 2500 (WWC) 🇨🇳 Liu Qingnan (CHN), 2500, IM (AS12) 🇳🇴 Torbjørn Ringdal Hansen (NOR), 2492, IM (ON) 🇪🇬 Essam El-Gindy (EGY), 2490 (AF) 🇪🇬 Samy Shoker (EGY), 2487, IM (Z4.2) 🇨🇳 Lou Yiping (CHN), 2483, IM (Z3.5) Ziaur Rahman, 2470 (Z3.2) 🇵🇪 Deysi Cori (PER), 2434, WGM (AM13) 🇲🇦 Ali Sebbar (MAR), 2371, untitled (Z4.1) 🇦🇺 Igor Bjelobrk (AUS), 2341, FM (Z3.6) Gillan Bwalya, 2341, FM (Z4.3) 🇮🇳 G. Akash (IND), 2332, IM (Z3.7) 🇰🇬 Mikhail Markov (KGZ), 2305, untitled (Z3.4)

All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

Qualification paths

 * WC: Semi-finalists of the Chess World Cup 2011
 * WWC: Women's World Champion
 * J11 and J12: World Junior Champions 2011 and 2012
 * R: Rating (average of all published ratings from March 2012 to January 2013 is used)
 * E12 and E13: European Individual Championships 2012 and 2013
 * AM12 and AM13: American Continental Championship 2012 and 2013


 * AS12 and AS13: Asian Chess Championship 2012 and 2013
 * AF: African Chess Championship 2013
 * Z2.1, Z2.2, Z2.3, Z2.4, Z2.5, Z3.1, Z3.2, Z3.3, Z3.4, Z3.5, Z3.6, Z3.7, Z4.1, Z4.2, Z4.3: Zonal tournaments
 * PN: FIDE president nominee
 * ON: Organizer nominee

Prominent non-participants
Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, and Veselin Topalov qualified for the event, but they declined to participate. The only other player from the world's top 30 who did not participate is Ding Liren. Levon Aronian (who declined to play in 2009 and 2011) and Vladimir Kramnik (who had never played in a Chess World Cup) chose to participate because FIDE made participation in either the Chess World Cup or the FIDE Grand Prix series mandatory for qualification to the 2014 Candidates Tournament through rating.

Post-tournament opinions
In particular, Alexander Grischuk was decidedly negative about the organization, as was noted coach Vladimir Chuchelov.