The World Cities Chess Team Championship will take place on 22-28 December in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
The teams will be grouped into four categories. The host city is seeded into the 1st Category quadrant among the top 6 teams. Next 6 teams form the 2nd Category followed by teams 13 to 18 in the 3rd Category and teams 19 to 24 in the 4th Category.
After the Preliminary round robin stage, the top two from each group advance to the next stage, the Round-of-16, together with the four best third place teams.
They will play a knock out match which will be followed by Quarterfinals, Semifinals and the exciting Final match.
Members of the teams eliminated from the World Cities Chess Championship in Preliminaries or knock-out stage can join the $30,000 Al Ain Chess Classic.
Top 15 teams
1. Paris (RtgAvg:2677)
1 GM Vachier-Lagrave Maxime 2711 FRA
2 GM Fressinet Laurent 2700 FRA
3 GM Edouard Romain 2686 FRA
4 GM Hamdouchi Hicham 2610 FRA
2. Hoogeveen (RtgAvg:2666)
1 GM Giri Anish 2720 NED
2 GM Sokolov Ivan 2667 NED
3 GM Tiviakov Sergei 2663 NED
4 GM Smeets Jan 2614 NED
3. Lviv (RtgAvg:2659)
1 GM Moiseenko Alexander 2710 UKR
2 GM Kryvoruchko Yuriy 2671 UKR
3 GM Fedorchuk Sergey A. 2661 UKR
4 GM Kravtsiv Martyn 2593 UKR
4. Baku (RtgAvg:2626)
1 GM Safarli Eltaj 2626 AZE
2 GM Guseinov Gadir 2628 AZE
3 GM Mamedov Rauf 2647 AZE
4 GM Mamedov Nidjat 2602 AZE
5 GM Durarbayli Vasif 2587 AZE
5. Saratov (RtgAvg:2626)
1 GM Tomashevsky Evgeny 2725 RUS
2 GM Lysyj Igor 2617 RUS
3 GM Romanov Evgeny 2616 RUS
4 GM Iljushin Alexei 2505 RUS
5 GM Shaposhnikov Evgeny 2544 RUS
6. Novi Sad (RtgAvg:2610)
1 GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2633 SRB
2 GM Markus Robert 2619 SRB
3 GM Perunovic Milos 2614 SRB
4 GM Sedlak Nikola 2572 SRB
5 GM Popovic Dusan 2579 SRB
7. Ptuj (RtgAvg:2594)
1 GM Lenic Luka 2637 SLO
2 GM Beliavsky Alexander G 2630 SLO
3 GM Borisek Jure 2560 SLO
4 GM Skoberne Jure 2549 SLO
8. London (RtgAvg:2594)
1 GM Short Nigel D 2692 ENG
2 GM Howell David W L 2634 ENG
3 GM Gordon Stephen J 2533 ENG
4 GM Williams Simon K 2515 ENG
9. Timisoara (RtgAvg:2589)
1 GM Lupulescu Constantin 2618 ROU
2 GM Parligras Mircea-Emilian 2628 ROU
3 GM Marin Mihail 2564 ROU
4 GM Nevednichy Vladislav 2545 ROU
5 GM Manolache Marius 2541 ROU
10. Athens (RtgAvg:2558)
1 GM Papaioannou Ioannis 2618 GRE
2 GM Banikas Hristos 2620 GRE
3 GM Halkias Stelios 2561 GRE
4 IM Tzermiadianos Andreas 2434 GRE
5 Stathopoulos Ioannis 2228 GRE
11. Chicago (RtgAvg:2548)
1 GM Akobian Varuzhan 2622 USA
2 GM Ehlvest Jaan 2603 USA
3 IM Hungaski Robert Andrew 2469 USA
4 GM Finegold Benjamin 2498 USA
12. Astana (RtgAvg:2544)
1 GM Kazhgaleyev Murtas 2596 KAZ
2 GM Jumabayev Rinat 2567 KAZ
3 GM Kotsur Pavel 2550 KAZ
4 GM Ismagambetov Anuar 2463 KAZ
5 IM Kuderinov Kirill 2452 KAZ
13. Lund-Linkoping (RtgAvg:2540)
1 GM Grandelius Nils 2583 SWE
2 GM Tikkanen Hans 2575 SWE
3 GM Carlsson Pontus 2518 SWE
4 IM Smith Axel 2484 SWE
5 FM Nilsson Sebastian 2330 SWE
14. Riga (RtgAvg:2528)
1 GM Miezis Normunds 2596 LAT
2 GM Neiksans Arturs 2534 LAT
3 GM Sveshnikov Evgeny 2514 LAT
4 GM Starostits Ilmars 2468 LAT
5 FM Lavendelis Egons 2340 LAT
15. Tehran (RtgAvg:2499)
1 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan 2572 IRI
2 IM Darini Pouria 2522 IRI
3 GM Golizadeh Asghar 2476 IRI
4 GM Mahjoob Morteza 2426 IRI
5 FM Javanbakht Nima 2406 IRI
Why Nakamura not playing?