Candidates Matches 2011 pairings
The Candidates Matches 2011, part of the World Chess Championship cycle, are scheduled for March – May in Kazan.
Pairings
Topalov – Kamsky
Kramnik – Radjabov
Aronian – Grischuk
Gelfand – Mamedyarov
Excerpt from the Regulations: 3. 1 Matches Format & System
A – First Round of Matches (8 players)
a1 – Matches System: The player who lost the World Championship Match 2010 (V. Anand or V. Topalov) is ranked No.1, the rest are ranked in rating order using the FIDE Rating List of January 2010. The players are paired the following way: 1 vs 8 (match 1), 2 vs 7 (match 2), 3 vs 6 (match 3), 4 vs 5 (match 4). Each match will consist of 4 games.
a2 – The four (4) winners will qualify for the second round of the Candidate Matches.
B – Second Round of Matches (4 players)
b1 – The Second Round of Matches will start 2 days after the end of the First Round. Any qualified player for the second round of the Candidates Matches can only be replaced by the player he defeated in the first round of the Candidate Matches.
b2 – Matches System: The players are ranked according to the results of the first round of the Candidates Matches: winner of match 1 is No.1, winner of match 2 is No.2, winner of match 3 is No.3 and winner of match 4 is No.4. The players are paired the following way: 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3. Each match will consist of 4 games.
b3 – The two (2) winners will qualify for the third round of the Candidate Matches.
C – Third Round of Matches (2 players)
c1 – The Third Round of Matches will start 2 days after the end of the Second Round. Any qualified player for the third round of the Candidates Matches can only be replaced by the player he defeated in the second round of the Candidates Matches.
c2 – Matches System: The match between the two players will consist of 6 games.
c3 – The winner will qualify for the World Championship Match 2011.
Aronian all the way.
I feel bad for all the players who lose in this short format. It is not fair to have 4 matches only after so much preparation from these grand mastres. There should have been 6 matches for round 1 and 2 and at least 8 for the finals. Anyway let the luckiest one win. Any one of them is a deserving candidate to be a challenger. Best of luck for all of them. Looking forward to some great games.
Isn’t Magnus Carlsen playing? The guy is like #2 and sometimes #1 in the world. This is really weird. Another FIDE trick? Carlsen deserves to be playing. Maybe FIDE is worried he will become the youngest World Champion and surpass Kasparov? This is loco. Meanwhile we, the viewing public, is left with the same old tired players. People need to protest here!!!
Aronian vs Gelfand is the fair final for the Candidates’
People need to protest to what? That Carlsen chickened out and WITHDREW?
For records, “Viswanathan Anand beat Magnus Carlsen 6 to 1, with 12 draws”. (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ezsearch.pl?search=anand+carlsen)
Perhaps, he is waiting for Anand to retire and then he thinks he will have a real shot at becoming the NEXT world champion.