Chess World Cup 2023

The Chess World Cup 2023 was a 206-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 30 July to 24 August 2023. It was the 10th edition of the Chess World Cup. The winner, runner-up and third-place finisher of the tournament (Magnus Carlsen, R Praggnanandhaa and Fabiano Caruana) earned the right to the play in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. In January 2024, Carlsen withdrew from the Candidates tournament, with the fourth-place finisher from the World Cup (Nijat Abasov) qualifying in his place. The tournament was held in parallel with the Women's Chess World Cup 2023.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda was the defending champion. He lost in the fifth round (last 16) to Fabiano Caruana.

Format
The tournament was an eight-round knockout event, with the top 50 seeds having been given a bye directly into the second round. The losers of the two semi-finals played a match for third place. The players who finished first, second, and third qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2024, a tournament to decide the challenger for the upcoming World Championship.

Each round consisted of classical time limit games on the first two days, plus tie-breaks on the third day if they were required. The time limits were as follows:

Two classical time limit games: 90 minutes, plus a 30-minute increment on move 40, plus a 30-second increment per move from move 1, per player. If the match was tied after the classical games, players played two rapid chess games, with 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player. If the match was tied, players played two more rapid chess games, with 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player. If the match was still tied, players played two blitz games, with five minutes plus a three-second increment per move, per player. If the match was still tied, a single blitz game, with three minutes plus a two-second increment per move, was played to decide the match. A drawing of lots determined which player had white. If the game was drawn, the players switched colors and played again, and this process was repeated until a decisive result was obtained.

Schedule
Each round lasted three days: two for classical time control games and a third, if necessary, for tie-breaks. Rounds 1 to 3 ran from July 30 to August 7; August 8 was a rest day; Rounds 4 to 6 ran from August 9 to 17; August 18 was a rest day; and the last two rounds ran from August 19 to 24.

Prize money
The total prize fund is US$1,834,000, with the first prize of US$110,000.

Participants
The participants are seeded here by their FIDE rating of July 2023. All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

• 🇳🇴 Magnus Carlsen (NOR), 2835 (WC)

• 🇺🇸 Hikaru Nakamura (USA), 2787 (PN)

• 🇺🇸 Fabiano Caruana (USA), 2782 (Z2.1)

• Ian Nepomniachtchi, 2779 (R)

• Anish Giri, 2775 (R)

• 🇺🇸 Wesley So (USA), 2769 (Z2.1)

• 🇦🇿 Teimour Radjabov (AZE), 2747 (R)

• 🇮🇳 Gukesh D (IND), 2744 (R)

• 🇦🇿 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE), 2742 (R)

• 🇫🇷 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), 2739 (R)

• 🇺🇸 Leinier Domínguez (USA), 2739 (Z2.1)

• Alexander Grischuk, 2736 (R)

• 🇨🇳 Yu Yangyi (CHN), 2735 (R)

• 🇵🇱 Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL), 2732 (WC)

• Lê Quang Liêm, 2728 (R)

• 🇨🇳 Wei Yi (CHN), 2726 (R)

• 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), 2725 (R)

• Nikita Vitiugov, 2720 (R)

• Parham Maghsoodloo, 2719 (R)

• 🇮🇳 Vidit Gujrathi (IND), 2719 (R)

• Daniil Dubov, 2716 (R)

• 🇺🇸 Sam Shankland (USA), 2711 (FN)

• 🇮🇳 Arjun Erigaisi (IND), 2710 (PN)

• 🇨🇳 Wang Hao (CHN), 2709 (R)

• 🇪🇸 Francisco Vallejo Pons (ESP), 2706 (FN)

• 🇪🇬 Bassem Amin (EGY), 2694 (AF22)

• Kirill Shevchenko, 2694 (E23)

• Jorden van Foreest, 2693 (FN)

• Bogdan-Daniel Deac, 2693 (E21)

• 🇪🇸 David Antón Guijarro (ESP), 2691  (E22)

• 🇮🇳 R Praggnanandhaa (IND), 2690 (AS22)

• 🇩🇪 Vincent Keymer (GER), 2690  (E21)

• Amin Tabatabaei, 2689 (FN)

• 🇨🇿 David Navara (CZE), 2689  (E21)

• 🇺🇸 Ray Robson (USA), 2689 (Z2.1)

• 🇮🇳 Nihal Sarin (IND), 2688 (FN)

• Peter Svidler, 2688 (PN)

• 🇷🇸 Alexey Sarana (SRB), 2685  (E21)

• 🇸🇪 Nils Grandelius (SWE), 2684  (E23)

• Andrey Esipenko, 2683  (E23)

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Howell (ENG), 2677 (FN)

• Vladimir Fedoseev, 2676 (WC)

• 🇵🇱 Radosław Wojtaszek (POL), 2676 (FN)

• 🇺🇦 Andrei Volokitin (UKR), 2674 (FN)

• 🇩🇪 Matthias Bluebaum (GER), 2672  (E21)

• 🇩🇪 Alexander Donchenko (GER), 2668  (E23)

• 🇮🇱 Boris Gelfand (ISR), 2668  (E23)

• 🇺🇦 Anton Korobov (UKR), 2667  (E23)

• 🇺🇦 Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR), 2667 (PN)

• 🇺🇦 Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR), 2664  (E22)

• 🇧🇬 Ivan Cheparinov (BUL), 2663  (E22)

• 🇫🇷 Etienne Bacrot (FRA), 2662  (E23)

• Salem Saleh, 2661 (FN)

• 🇦🇿 Gadir Guseinov (AZE), 2661  (E22)

• 🇺🇿 Javokhir Sindarov (UZB), 2659 (FN)

• Ivan Šarić, 2657  (E22)

• 🇮🇳 S. L. Narayanan (IND), 2656  (AS22)

• 🇪🇸 Jaime Santos Latasa (ESP), 2656  (E22)

• 🇫🇷 Jules Moussard (FRA), 2654  (E22)

• 🇫🇷 Laurent Fressinet (FRA), 2652 (FN)

• 🇷🇸 Alexandr Predke (SRB), 2651 (E23)

• 🇺🇸 Awonder Liang (USA), 2649 (Z2.1)

• 🇭🇺 Benjámin Gledura (HUN), 2645  (E23)

• 🇨🇿 Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE), 2642  (E23)

• 🇳🇴 Aryan Tari (NOR), 2641  (E22)

• 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB), 2640 (Z3.4)

• 🇹🇷 Mustafa Yılmaz (TUR), 2639  (E21)

• 🇦🇿 Rauf Mamedov (AZE), 2636  (E21)

• 🇦🇿 Nijat Abasov (AZE), 2632  (E23)

• 🇦🇿 Vasif Durarbayli (AZE), 2631 (E22)

• Georg Meier, 2629 (AM23)

• 🇺🇦 Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR), 2628 (E22)

• 🇩🇪 Rasmus Svane (GER), 2625 (E21)

• 🇦🇹 Markus Ragger (AUT), 2624  (E22)

• Jonas Buhl Bjerre, 2624 (E21)

• Anton Demchenko, 2623  (E21)

• 🇷🇸 Aleksandar Inđić (SRB), 2619  (E22)

• 🇩🇪 Frederik Svane (GER), 2618  (E23)

• 🇩🇪 Dmitrij Kollars (GER), 2618, (FN)

• Cristobal Henriquez Villagra, 2618  (Z2.5)

• 🇪🇸 Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (ESP), 2617 (E22)

• 🇭🇺 Ferenc Berkes (HUN), 2615 (FN)

• 🇵🇱 Mateusz Bartel (POL), 2614  (E22)

• David Paravyan, 2612  (E23)

• 🇮🇹 Daniele Vocaturo (ITA), 2609 (E21)

• 🇨🇦 Eric Hansen (CAN), 2609 (FN)

• 🇸🇰 Jerguš Pecháč (SVK), 2608  (E23)

• Ante Brkic, 2608  (E23)

• 🇦🇿 Eltaj Safarli (AZE), 2607 (FN)

• Mikhail Antipov, 2606  (E21)

• 🇺🇸 Christopher Yoo (USA), 2606 (AM22)

• 🇮🇳 Abhimanyu Puranik (IND), 2605  (AS23)

• Axel Bachmann, 2604  (FN)

• 🇧🇷 Alexandr Fier (BRA), 2604  (Z2.4)

• 🇩🇪 Niclas Huschenbeth (GER), 2603  (E21)

• 🇲🇪 Denis Kadric (MNE), 2601 (FN)

• 🇧🇪 Daniel Dardha (BEL), 2600  (E23)

• 🇫🇷 Maxime Lagarde (FRA), 2599  (E21)

• 🇺🇿 Shamsiddin Vokhidov (UZB), 2597  (AS23)

• 🇵🇱 Kacper Piorun (POL), 2597  (E21)

• 🇪🇬 Ahmed Adly (EGY), 2596  (AF22)

• 🇮🇱 Ilia Smirin (ISR), 2595  (FN)

• 🇨🇺 Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera (CUB), 2591  (Z2.3)

• 🇷🇸 Velimir Ivic (SRB), 2590  (E21)

• 🇰🇿 Rinat Jumabayev (KAZ), 2589  (FN)

• Sergei Azarov, 2589 (E23)

• 🇦🇿 Nidjat Mamedov (AZE), 2589  (E21)

• 🇮🇳 Adhiban Baskaran (IND), 2587  (AS22)

• Dimitrios Mastrovasilis, 2587 (FN)

• 🇦🇿 Aydin Suleymanli (AZE), 2586 (ON)

• 🇩🇪 Daniel Fridman (GER), 2586 (E21)

• 🇹🇷 Vahap Şanal (TUR), 2585  (E21)

• 🇧🇷 Luis Paulo Supi (BRA), 2582 (FN)

• 🇨🇿 Peter Michalik (CZE), 2582 (FN)

• 🇺🇸 Timur Gareyev (USA), 2581 (AM22)

• 🇦🇺 Temur Kuybokarov (AUS), 2581 (Z3.6)

• Bardiya Daneshvar, 2577 (AS23)

• 🇵🇱 Szymon Gumularz (POL), 2577  (E23)

• 🇦🇹 Valentin Dragnev (AUT), 2576  (E23)

• 🇸🇬 Tin Jingyao (SGP), 2573 (AS23)

• 🇦🇺 Bobby Cheng (AUS), 2572 (FN)

• 🇭🇺 Viktor Erdős (HUN), 2571  (E21)

• 🇹🇷 Emre Can (TUR), 2570 (FN)

• 🇦🇷 Fernando Peralta (ARG), 2568 (FN)

• 🇦🇿 Vugar Asadli (AZE), 2567 (ON)

• 🇱🇹 Tomas Laurusas (LTU), 2566  (FN)

• 🇮🇳 Karthik Venkataraman (IND), 2565  (Z3.7)

• Levan Pantsulaia, 2564  (E21)

• 🇮🇳 Harsha Bharathakoti (IND), 2563  (AS22)

• 🇺🇸 Gregory Kaidanov (USA), 2563  (AM22)

• Mikheil Mchedlishvili, 2561  (FN)

• Lê Tuấn Minh, 2557 (Z3.3)

• Arseniy Nesterov, 2554 (E22)

• 🇨🇺 Luis Ernesto Quesada Pérez (CUB), 2553 (FN)

• 🇵🇱 Grzegorz Nasuta (POL), 2552  (E23)

• 🇦🇿 Misratdin Iskandarov (AZE), 2551  (E22)

• 🇺🇦 Vladimir Baklan (UKR), 2550 (E22)

• 🇮🇱 Ori Kobo (ISR), 2548  (E22)

• 🇵🇱 Igor Janik (POL), 2548  (E23)

• 🇦🇿 Mahammad Muradli (AZE), 2546 (ON)

• 🇺🇦 Vitaliy Bernadskiy (UKR), 2545  (E22)

• 🇵🇪 Emilio Cordova (PER), 2542 (FN)

• 🇷🇸 Ivan Ivanisevic (SRB), 2536 (FN)

• 🇪🇬 Adham Fawzy (EGY), 2533  (AF23)

• Zdenko Kozul, 2532  (E22)

• Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, IM, 2531  (E23)

• 🇨🇳 Xu Yinglun (CHN), 2531  (Z3.5)

• 🇦🇹 Felix Blohberger (AUT), 2522  (FN)

• 🇦🇩 Lance Henderson de La Fuente (AND), 2517 (Z1.10)

• Ivan Schitco, 2507 (FN)

• Susanto Megaranto, 2505 (FN)

• Luka Paichadze, 2501 (E21)

• 🇹🇷 Ediz Gurel (TUR), IM, 2500  (E23)

• 🇰🇿 Alisher Suleymenov (KAZ), IM, 2499 (Z3.4)

• 🇨🇴 Santiago Avila Pavas (COL), 2499 (FN)

• 🇧🇷 Evandro Barbosa (BRA), 2493 (Z2.4)

• 🇦🇷 Pablo Ismael Acosta (ARG), IM, 2485 (Z2.5)

• 🇦🇿 Abdulla Gadimbayli (AZE), 2483 (U20)

• 🇧🇷 Yago De Moura Santiago (BRA), 2481 (AM23)

• 🇸🇬 Goh Wei Ming (SGP), 2473 (FN)

• Pablo Salinas Herrera, 2468 (FN)

• Fy Rakotomaharo, IM, 2463 (FN)

• 🇭🇺 Gábor Nagy (HUN), 2461 (E21)

• Sumiya Bilguun, 2457 (Z3.3)

• 🇲🇽 Luis Fernando Ibarra Chami (MEX), 2448 (FN)

• 🇨🇳 Huang Renjie (CHN), untitled, 2445 (Z3.5)

• 🇺🇸 Josiah Stearman (USA), IM, 2444 (AM23)

• 🇵🇦 Roberto Carlos Sanchez Alvarez (PAN), IM, 2444 (Z2.3)

• 🇪🇨 Carlos Matamoros Franco (ECU), 2441 (FN)

• Mark Paragua, 2438 (FN)

• Susal Thewjan de Silva, IM, 2433 (FN)

• Mohammad Fahad Rahman, IM, 2428 (Z3.2)

• 🇯🇵 Trần Thanh Tú (JPN), CM, 2420 (FN)

• 🇪🇬 Abdelrahman Hesham (EGY), 2414 (AF22)

• Pouria Darini, 2412 (Z3.1)

• Ganzorig Amartuvshin, IM, 2407 (FN)

• Daniel Cawdery, IM, 2388 (FN)

• Enamul Hossain, 2386 (FN)

• 🇰🇷 Lee Jun Hyeok (KOR), IM, 2378 (FN)

• 🇹🇳 Amir Zaibi (TUN), 2375 (FN)

• 🇵🇪 Gianmarco Leiva (PER), IM, 2374 (AM23)

• 🇾🇪 Basheer Al Qudaimi (YEM), IM, 2374 (FN)

• 🇪🇬 Kareim Wageih (EGY), IM, 2369 (FN)

• 🇹🇭 Prin Laohawirapap (THA), FM, 2353 (FN)

• 🇲🇦 Mohamed Tissir (MAR), IM, 2347 (FN)

• Bernardo Roselli, IM, 2347 (FN)

• 🇲🇽 Leonel Figueredo Losada (MEX), IM, 2345 (AM22)

• Rodwell Makoto, IM, 2312 (FN)

• Lim Zhuo Ren, FM, 2310 (FN)

• Chitumbo Mwali, IM, 2304 (FN)

• 🇸🇾 Malek Koniahli (SYR), FM, 2296 (FN)

• 🇱🇧 Amro El Jawich (LBN), FM, 2288 (FN)

• 🇨🇦 Yuanchen Zhang (CAN), IM, 2281 (Z2.2)

• 🇰🇬 Eldiar Orozbaev (KGZ), FM, 2281 (FN)

• 🇹🇯 Alisher Karimov (TJK), FM, 2273 (FN)

• Oluwafemi Balogun, IM, 2235 (FN)

• Massinas Djabri, FM, 2231 (FN)

• 🇺🇬 Haruna Nsubuga (UGA), FM, 2223 (FN)

• Austin Yang Ching-Wei, FM, 2212 (FN)

• Providence Oatlhotse, IM, 2199 (FN)

• 🇳🇦 Dante Beukes (NAM), IM, 2180 (FN)

• 🇸🇸 Deng Cypriano Rehan (SSD), untitled, 2147 (FN)

• Rupesh Jaiswal, FM, 2122 (FN)

• 🇪🇹 Aydagnuhem Gezachew Abera (ETH), CM, 2121 (FN)

• Nay Lin Tun, CM, 2055 (FN)

• Yousef Alhassadi, untitled, 2030 (FN)

Qualifier explanation
The following 206 players qualified for the World Cup:

Armenia did not nominate a player, and a third Organizer's nominee was invited instead.
 * The world chess champion (declined to play)
 * The women's world chess champion as of 1 June 2023 (WWC) (declined to play)
 * The 2022 World Junior Champion U20 (U20)
 * The top four players in the Chess World Cup 2021 (WC)
 * 109 players qualifying from Continental and Zonal events:
 * Europe (47+20): including European Championships 2021 (E21, 23), 2022 (E22, 20), and 2023, (E23, 23), and Zone 1.10 2022 (Z1.10, 1)
 * Americas (11+9): including American Continental Championships 2022 (AM22, 4) and 2023 (AM23, 4), Zonals 2.1 (Z2.1, 5), 2.2 (Z2.2, 1), 2.3 (Z2.3, 2), and 2.4 2022 (Z2.4, 2), and Zonal 2.5 2023 (Z2.5, 2)
 * Asia (18): including Asian Championships 2022 (AS22, 4) and 2023 (AS23, 4), Zonals 3.1 (Z3.1, 1), 3.2 (Z3.2, 1), 3.3 (Z3.3, 2), 3.4 (Z3.4, 2), 3.5 (Z3.5, 2), 3.6 (Z3.6, 1), and 3.7 2023 (Z3.7, 1)
 * Africa (4): including the African Championships 2022 (AF22, 3) and 2023 (AF23, 1)
 * The 13 highest-rated players from the June 2023 FIDE World Rankings (R)
 * 71 federations spots selected according to the final standings of the 44th Chess Olympiad Main Competition (FN)
 * 4 nominees of the FIDE President (PN)
 * 2 nominees of the organizer (ON)

The participants were seeded by their FIDE rating of July 2023.

Replacements
The following are the players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play, and their replacements:


 * 🇨🇳 Ding Liren (CHN), 2780 (World Champion) → 🇺🇿 Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), 2732 (R)
 * 🇫🇷 Alireza Firouzja (FRA), 2786 (R) → Lê Quang Liêm, 2728 (R)
 * 🇮🇳 Viswanathan Anand (IND), 2754 (R) → 🇨🇳 Wei Yi (CHN), 2722 (R)
 * 🇺🇸 Hikaru Nakamura (USA), 2775 (R) → 🇨🇳 Wang Hao (CHN), 2709 (R)
 * 🇷🇴 Richárd Rapport (ROU), 2752 (R) → Nikita Vitiugov, 2721 (R)
 * Sergey Karjakin, 2750 (WC) → Parham Maghsoodloo, 2716 (R)
 * 🇺🇸 Levon Aronian (USA), 2742 (R) → Daniil Dubov, 2716 (R)
 * 🇨🇳 Ju Wenjun (CHN), 2566 (WWC) → 🇮🇳 Vidit Gujrathi (IND), 2719 (R) (Ju Wenjun played in the Women's World Cup instead.)
 * 🇦🇲 Gabriel Sargissian (ARM), 2692 (E22) → 🇦🇹 Markus Ragger (AUT), 2624  (E22)
 * 🇦🇲 Haik Martirosyan (ARM), 2685 (E22) → 🇵🇱 Mateusz Bartel (POL), 2614  (E22)


 * 🇦🇲 Shant Sargsyan (ARM), 2640 (E22) → 🇪🇸 Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (ESP), 2617 (E22)


 * 🇨🇺 Yasser Quesada (CUB), 2609 (AM22) → 🇲🇽 Leonel Figueredo Losada (MEX), IM, 2345
 * 🇦🇲 Samvel Ter-Sahakyan (ARM), 2598 (E22) → 🇺🇦 Vladimir Baklan (UKR), 2550 (E22)


 * 🇦🇲 Hovhannes Gabuzyan (ARM), 2579 (E21) → Levan Pantsulaia, 2564
 * 🇺🇸 Kirk Ghazarian (USA), IM, 2479 (AM23) → 🇵🇪 Gianmarco Leiva (PER) (AM23).

Rounds 1–4
Pairings were published on July 4, on the official FIDE website.