Chess World Cup 2019
The Chess World Cup 2019 was a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, from 9 September to 4 October 2019. It was won by Azerbaijani grandmaster Teimour Radjabov. He and the runner-up, Ding Liren, both qualified for the Candidates Tournament for the World Chess Championship 2020. It was the 8th edition of the Chess World Cup.
Levon Aronian, the winner of the Chess World Cup 2017, advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on tiebreaks. Vachier-Lagrave was eliminated by Radjabov in the semi-finals, but defeated Yu Yangyi to claim 3rd place.
Bidding process
There was only one bid received for the combined FIDE World Cup and Olympiad events, which was done by the Yugra Chess Federation.Format
The tournament was a 7-round knockout event. The matches from round 1 to round 6 consisted of two classical games with a time control of 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. The finals and the match for the third place consisted of four classical games.If the score is tied after the classical games, rapid and, if necessary, blitz tiebreaks are played the next day. Two games are played with a time control of 25 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment. In the case of a tie, they are followed by two games with a time control of 10 minutes per game plus 10 seconds increment. If the score is still tied, two blitz games follow. If the score is tied 4–4 after all these games, a single "Armageddon" game is played: the player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the colour; White has 5 minutes per game and Black has 4 minutes, with an increment of 2 seconds per move starting from move 61, and White needs a win to advance to the next round; Black advances if they win or the game is drawn.
The two top finishers qualified for the 2020 Candidates Tournament. The rules in fact specified that it would be the top two finishers other than Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana, because Carlsen as World Champion does not play in the Candidates, and Caruana had already qualified for the Candidates. The rule was introduced because the World Champion and the previous challenger unexpectedly signed up for the previous edition Chess World Cup 2017. This time, though, Carlsen and Caruana both declined their invitations to the World Cup, so the qualifiers are simply the two finalists.
Schedule
Each of the first six rounds took three days: one day each for the two regular time limit games and then a third day for tiebreaks, if required. The final round has four days of regular time limit games and then a fifth day for tiebreaks, if required.- Round 1: 10 September – 12 September
- Round 2: 13 September – 15 September
- Round 3: 16 September – 18 September
- Rest day: 19 September
- Round 4: 20 September – 22 September
- Round 5: 23 September – 25 September
- Round 6: 26 September – 28 September
- Rest day: 29 September
- Final and play-off for third place: 30 September – 4 October
Prize money
| Round | Prize received | Total |
| Round 1 | 64 × 6,000 | 384,000 |
| Round 2 | 32 × 10,000 | 320,000 |
| Round 3 | 16 × 16,000 | 256,000 |
| Round 4 | 8 × 25,000 | 200,000 |
| Round 5 | 4 × 35,000 | 140,000 |
| 4-th place | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| 3-rd place | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Runner-up | 80,000 | 80,000 |
| Winner | 110,000 | 110,000 |
| Total | 1,600,000 |
Participants
The participants were seeded by their FIDE rating of August 2019. All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.| Number | Name | Country | Rating | Qualification path |
| 1 | Ding Liren | CHN | 2805 | WC |
| 2 | Anish Giri | NED | 2779 | R |
| 3 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | FRA | 2778 | WC |
| 4 | Wesley So | USA | 2776 | WC |
| 5 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | RUS | 2774 | R |
| 6 | Levon Aronian | ARM | 2765 | WC |
| 7 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | 2764 | R |
| 8 | Leinier Domínguez | USA | 2763 | Z2.1 |
| 9 | Alexander Grischuk | RUS | 2759 | R |
| 10 | Teimour Radjabov | AZE | 2758 | R |
| 11 | Vladislav Artemiev | RUS | 2757 | E19 |
| 12 | Yu Yangyi | CHN | 2752 | R |
| 13 | Sergey Karjakin | RUS | 2750 | R |
| 14 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 2743 | Z2.1 |
| 15 | Dmitry Andreikin | RUS | 2743 | R |
| 16 | Radosław Wojtaszek | POL | 2739 | E18 |
| 17 | Pentala Harikrishna | IND | 2738 | R |
| 18 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | POL | 2730 | R |
| 19 | Peter Svidler | RUS | 2729 | R |
| 20 | Nikita Vitiugov | RUS | 2728 | R |
| 21 | Wei Yi | CHN | 2727 | AS18 |
| 22 | Le Quang Liem | VIE | 2726 | AS18 |
| 23 | David Navara | CZE | 2724 | E18 |
| 24 | Bu Xiangzhi | CHN | 2721 | R |
| 25 | Wang Hao | CHN | 2720 | R |
| 26 | Sam Shankland | USA | 2713 | AM18 |
| 27 | Maxim Matlakov | RUS | 2710 | E18 |
| 28 | Evgeny Tomashevsky | RUS | 2706 | R |
| 29 | Vidit Gujrathi | IND | 2705 | R |
| 30 | Dmitry Jakovenko | RUS | 2704 | R |
| 31 | Jeffery Xiong | USA | 2703 | Z2.1 |
| 32 | Alireza Firouzja | IRI | 2702 | AS19 |
| 33 | Daniil Dubov | RUS | 2699 | E19 |
| 34 | Bassem Amin | EGY | 2692 | AF |
| 35 | Gawain Jones | ENG | 2692 | E18 |
| 36 | Nils Grandelius | SWE | 2691 | E18 |
| 37 | Michael Adams | ENG | 2690 | R |
| 38 | Boris Gelfand | ISR | 2686 | E19 |
| 39 | Jorge Cori | PER | 2686 | AM18 |
| 40 | Maxim Rodshtein | ISR | 2684 | E19 |
| 41 | Ernesto Inarkiev | RUS | 2682 | E18 |
| 42 | Luke McShane | ENG | 2682 | E18 |
| 43 | Anton Korobov | UKR | 2679 | E18 |
| 44 | David Antón Guijarro | ESP | 2678 | E18 |
| 45 | Arkadij Naiditsch | AZE | 2675 | R |
| 46 | Ruslan Ponomariov | UKR | 2675 | E19 |
| 47 | Tamir Nabaty | ISR | 2673 | E18 |
| 48 | Vladimir Fedoseev | RUS | 2671 | R |
| 49 | Kirill Alekseenko | RUS | 2668 | ON |
| 50 | Ferenc Berkes | HUN | 2666 | E19 |
| 51 | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu | GER | 2666 | E19 |
| 52 | Samuel Sevian | USA | 2665 | Z2.1 |
| 53 | Baskaran Adhiban | IND | 2665 | ACP |
| 54 | Ivan Cheparinov | GEO | 2663 | E18 |
| 55 | Sanan Sjugirov | RUS | 2662 | E18 |
| 56 | Ivan Šarić | CRO | 2660 | E18 |
| 57 | Kacper Piorun | POL | 2660 | E19 |
| 58 | Rustam Kasimdzhanov | UZB | 2657 | Z3.4 |
| 59 | Parham Maghsoodloo | IRI | 2656 | J18 |
| 60 | Alexey Sarana | RUS | 2655 | E18 |
| 61 | Anton Demchenko | RUS | 2655 | E18 |
| 62 | Igor Kovalenko | LAT | 2654 | PN |
| 63 | Benjamin Gledura | HUN | 2654 | E19 |
| 64 | Sergei Movsesian | ARM | 2654 | E19 |
| 65 | Grigoriy Oparin | RUS | 2654 | E19 |
| 66 | Evgeniy Najer | RUS | 2653 | E18 |
| 67 | Constantin Lupulescu | ROU | 2652 | E19 |
| 68 | Robert Hovhannisyan | ARM | 2650 | E18 |
| 69 | Alexandr Predke | RUS | 2650 | E19 |
| 70 | Maksim Chigaev | RUS | 2643 | ON |
| 71 | Evgeny Bareev | CAN | 2643 | Z2.2 |
| 72 | Nijat Abasov | AZE | 2640 | E18 |
| 73 | Benjamin Bok | NED | 2640 | E18 |
| 74 | Sandro Mareco | ARG | 2640 | Z2.5 |
| 75 | Ahmed Adly | EGY | 2636 | Z4.2 |
| 76 | Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli | VEN | 2635 | AM19 |
| 77 | Aryan Tari | NOR | 2634 | J17 |
| 78 | Mircea Parligras | ROU | 2633 | E18 |
| 79 | Rinat Jumabayev | KAZ | 2633 | Z3.4 |
| 80 | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | VIE | 2631 | AS18 |
| 81 | Ganguly Surya Shekhar | IND | 2630 | AS18 |
| 82 | S.P. Sethuraman | IND | 2630 | AS19 |
| 83 | Andrey Esipenko | RUS | 2625 | E19 |
| 84 | Niclas Huschenbeth | GER | 2620 | E19 |
| 85 | S.L. Narayanan | IND | 2618 | AS19 |
| 86 | Abhijeet Gupta | IND | 2616 | AS19 |
| 87 | Neuris Delgado Ramirez | PAR | 2612 | AM19 |
| 88 | Karthikeyan Murali | IND | 2612 | AS19 |
| 89 | Mateusz Bartel | POL | 2612 | E19 |
| 90 | Nihal Sarin | IND | 2610 | PN |
| 91 | Lu Shanglei | CHN | 2610 | Z3.5 |
| 92 | Aravindh Chithambaram | IND | 2607 | Z3.7 |
| 93 | Aleksandr Rakhmanov | RUS | 2606 | E19 |
| 94 | Diego Flores | ARG | 2604 | AM18 |
| 95 | Amin Tabatabaei | IRI | 2601 | AS18 |
| 96 | Emilio Cordova | PER | 2599 | AM18 |
| 97 | Arman Pashikian | ARM | 2599 | E18 |
| 98 | Igor Lysyj | RUS | 2596 | E19 |
| 99 | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | PER | 2596 | Z2.4 |
| 100 | Alan Pichot | ARG | 2596 | AM19 |
| 101 | Nikita Petrov | RUS | 2595 | E19 |
| 102 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | UZB | 2594 | PN |
| 103 | Eltaj Safarli | AZE | 2593 | E18 |
| 104 | Aleksei Pridorozhni | RUS | 2591 | ON |
| 105 | Xu Xiangyu | CHN | 2584 | Z3.5 |
| 106 | Daniil Yuffa | RUS | 2571 | E18 |
| 107 | Aleksej Aleksandrov | BLR | 2571 | E19 |
| 108 | Miguel Santos Ruiz | ESP | 2567 | E18 |
| 109 | Frode Urkedal | NOR | 2566 | PN |
| 110 | Carlos Daniel Albornoz Cabrera | CUB | 2566 | Z2.3 |
| 111 | Cristobal Henriquez Villagra | CHI | 2562 | Z2.5 |
| 112 | Yuri Gonzalez Vidal | CUB | 2554 | AM19 |
| 113 | Johan-Sebastian Christiansen | NOR | 2554 | E19 |
| 114 | Krikor Mekhitarian | BRA | 2554 | Z2.4 |
| 115 | Bilel Bellahcene | ALG | 2550 | Z4.1 |
| 116 | Susanto Megaranto | INA | 2545 | Z3.3 |
| 117 | Ehsan Ghaem-Maghami | IRI | 2539 | Z3.1 |
| 118 | Ilia Iljiushenok | RUS | 2533 | ON |
| 119 | Helgi Dam Ziska | FRO | 2533 | PN |
| 120 | Paulius Pultinevičius, IM | LTU | 2485 | E19 |
| 121 | Alder Escobar Forero | COL | 2477 | Z2.3 |
| 122 | Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo, IM | MAD | 2438 | Z4.3 |
| 123 | Essam El Gindy | EGY | 2423 | AF |
| 124 | Sugar Gan-Erdene, no title | MGL | 2408 | Z3.3 |
| 125 | Sergio Duran Vega, IM | CRI | 2395 | AM19 |
| 126 | Daniel Anwuli, IM | NGR | 2284 | Z4.4 |
| 127 | Mohammad Fahad Rahman, FM | BAN | 2250 | Z3.2 |
| 128 | Shaun Press, FM | PNG | 1954 | Z3.6 |
Qualification paths
- World Champion
- WC: Semi-finalists of the Chess World Cup 2017
- WWC: Women's World Champion 2018
- J17 and J18: World Junior Champions 2017 and 2018
- E18 and E19: European Individual Championships 2018 and 2019
- AM18 and AM19: American Continental Championships 2018 and 2019
- AS18 and AS19: Asian Chess Championships 2018 and 2019
- AF: African Chess Championship 2019
- Z2.1, Z2.2, Z2.3, Z2.4, Z2.5, Z3.1, Z3.2, Z3.3, Z3.4, Z3.5, Z3.6, Z3.7, Z4.1, Z4.2, Z4.3, Z4.4 : Zonal tournaments
- R: Rating
- ACP: highest-placed participant of the ACP Tour who has not qualified with the previous criteria
- PN: FIDE President nominee
- ON: Organizer nominee
Replacements
- Players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play:
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- Their replacements, all from the ratings list, were:
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- *
- Other replacements:
- * → replaced by
- * → replaced by . This made Press the lowest rated player to play in a Chess World Cup.
- * → replaced by
Results, rounds 1–4