FIDE World Cup Round 1

The 2005 FIDE World Cup is under way. The official website is here. Unlike the ones in 1999-2004, this World Cup will not determine the FIDE Champion but is only the first step in the 2005-2007 FIDE Championship cycle. The field consists of 114 GMs (including eight 2700+ players), 7 IMs, 3 FMs and 3 untitled players.

The first 10 places in this World Cup tournament will join five players with the highest ratings who do not otherwise qualify for the cycle (that would be Leko, Adams, Polgar plus Kasparov and Kramnik - I suspect we will need two substitutes) and the former FIDE champion (Kasimdzhanov) in two rounds of candidate matches. The four survivors of this elimination will join the first 4 places in the 2005 San Luis FIDE Championship tournament (Topalov, Svidler, Anand, Morozevich) for the 2007 FIDE Championship tournament.

The winners in round 1 were:

Sibriaev, Aleksandr (RUS) - Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR): ½-1½
Bacrot, Etienne (FRA) - Chumfwa, Stanley (ZAM): 2-0
Frhat, Ali (EGY) - Aronian, Levon (ARM): 0-2
Grischuk, Alexander (RUS) - Needleman, Gaston (ARG): 2-0
Kobese, Watu (RSA) - Gelfand, Boris (ISR): 0-2
Shirov, Alexei (ESP) - Kuderinov, Kiril (KAZ): 1½-½
Radjabov, Teimur (AZE) - Flores, Diego (ARG): 2-0
Ahmed, Adly (EGY) - Ponomariov, Ruslan (UKR): ½-1½
Tiviakov, Sergei (NED) - Belkhodja, Slim (TUN): 2-0
Stefanova, Antoaneta (BUL) - Sokolov, Ivan (NED): ½-1½
Dreev, Alexey (RUS) - Charbonneau, Pascal (CAN): 2-0
Zhao, Yun (CHN) - Kamsky, Gata (USA): ½-1½
Bologan, Viorel (MDA) - Matamoros, Carlos (ECU): 2-0
Rodrigo, Vasquez (CHI) - Bareev, Evgeny (RUS): ½-1½
Malakhov, Vladimir (RUS) - Wang, Hao (CHN): 1½-½
Lima, Darcy Gustavo (BRA) - Sakaev, Konstantin (RUS): 0-2
Volokitin, Andrei (UKR) - Cao, Sang (HUN): ½-1½
Kuzubov, Yuriy (UKR) - Moiseenko, Alexander (UKR): 0-2
Sasikiran, Krishnan (IND) - Iljushin, Alexei (RUS): 1½-½
Nakamura, Hikaru (USA) - Ganguly, Surya Sekar (IND): 0-2
Stripunsky, Alexander (USA) - Areshchenko, Alexander (UKR): 0-2
Pantsulaia, Levan (GEO) - Milov, Vadim (SUI): 1½-½
Dao, Thien Hai (VIE) - Rublevsky, Sergei (RUS): ½-1½
Van Wely, Loek (NED) - Minasian, Artashes (ARM): 2-0
Xu, Jun (CHN) - Ye, Jiangchuan (CHN): 1½-½
Vescovi, Giovanni (BRA) - Adianto, Utut (INA): 1½-½
Wang, Yue (CHN) - Asrian, Karen (ARM): 1½-½
Ghaem, Maghami Ehsan (IRI) - Najer, Evgeniy (RUS): ½-1½
Naiditsch, Arkadij (GER) - Kotsur, Pavel (KAZ): 1½-½
Popov, Valerij (RUS) - Onischuk, Alexander (USA): ½-1½
Granda-Zuniga, Julio (PER) - Ivanov, Alexander (USA): ½-1½
Smirnov, Pavel (RUS) - Bocharov, Dmitry (RUS): ½-1½
Paragua, Mark (PHI) - Movsesian, Sergei (SVK): 1½-½
Motylev, Alexander (RUS) - Roiz, Michael (ISR): 1½-½
Kazhgaleyev, Murtas (KAZ) - Alekseev, Evgeny (RUS): 1½-½
Ni, Hua (CHN) - Kotronias, Vasilios (GRE): ½-1½
Felgaer, Ruben (ARG) - Kaidanov, Gregory S (USA): 1½-½
Milos, Gilberto (BRA) - Sadvakasov, Darmen (KAZ): ½-1½

The following matches ended in 1-1 ties. The subsequent winner of the blitz tiebreak (Nov 29) is indicated in bold.

Pridorozhni, Aleksei (RUS) - Lautier, Joel (FRA)
Bruzon, Lazaro (CUB) - Kabanov, Nikolai (RUS)
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE) - Ibraev, Nurlan (KAZ)
Li, Shilong (CHN) - Vallejo Pons, Francisco (ESP)
Smirin, Ilia (ISR) - Arencibia, Walter (CUB)
Yu, Shaoteng (CHN) - Harikrishna, Pentala (IND)
Kudrin, Sergey (USA) - Eljanov, Pavel (UKR)
Shulman, Yuri (USA) - Zvjaginsev, Vadim (RUS)
Karjakin, Sergey (UKR) - Balogh, Csaba (HUN)
Agrest, Evgenij (SWE) - Timofeev, Artyom (RUS)
Azmaiparashvili, Zurab (GEO) - Carlsen, Magnus (NOR)
Ammonatov, Farrukh (TJK) - Krasenkow, Michal (POL)
Sutovsky, Emil (ISR) - Hamdouchi, Hichem (MAR)
Khalifman, Alexander (RUS) - Inarkiev, Ernesto (RUS)
Gurevich, Mikhail (TUR) - Markus, Robert (SCG)
Izoria, Zviad (GEO) - Erenburg, Sergey (ISR)
Nikolic, Predrag (BIH) - Navara, David (CZE)
Jakovenko, Dmitry (RUS) - Leitao, Rafael (BRA)
Macieja, Bartlomiej (POL) - Efimenko, Zahar (UKR)
Kobalia, Mikhail (RUS) - Zhang, Zhong (CHN)
Korneev, Oleg (RUS) - Miroshnichenko, Evgenij (UKR)
Beliavsky, Alexander G (SLO) - Jobava, Baadur (GEO)
Ftacnik, Lubomir (SVK) - Istratescu, Andrei (ROM)
Vaganian, Rafael A (ARM) - Kempinski, Robert (POL)
Cheparinov, Ivan (BUL) - Fedorov, Alexei (BLR)

Akopian (#7 seed) was unable to participate due to ill health, so his scheduled opponent (Lane) got a bye straight into round 2.