FIDE Candidates Matches 2011

Forget about Carlsen. He may be too young to face such adversity and brutality.

Wishful thinking it is that there is not one Pinoy playing in Candidates Matches 2011. None yet may I say.

Never mind.

By May 25, 2011, we will know who will face the reigning world chess champion Vishy Anand in the 2012 World Chess Championship.

The FIDE Candidates Matches 2011 has officially opened yesterday and the first round begins today, May 5 in Kazan, the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Here is the list of players vying for the right to challenge the world champ:

World rank # 3 Levon Aronian of Armenia, rating 2808.

World rank # 4 Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, rating 2785.

World rank # 7 Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria,rating 2775 the runner-up of previous world championship.

World rank # 9 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbajan, rating 2772 and is a wild card entry.

World rank # 12 Alexander Grischuk of Russia, rating 2747 qualification from the FIDE Grand-Prix.

World rank # 13 Teimour Radjabov of Azerbajan, rating 2744 qualification from the FIDE Grand-Prix.

World rank # 16 Boris Gelfand of Israel, rating 2733 and is the winner of the FIDE World Cup 2009

World rank # 18 Gata Kamsky of USA, rating 2732 runner up of the Challengers Match 2009

Quarterfinals pairing below and it will be a best of four format:

Topalov - Kamsky
Gelfand - Mamdeyarov
Aronian - Grishuk
Kramnik - Radjabov

All games start at 7pm Manila time.

For more details on tie-breaks and time controls, visit the Official Candidates Matches 2011 Website @ http://kazan2011.fide.com/.