Chess World Cup 2017

At the 85th FIDE Congress held during the 41st Chess Olympiad , the International Chess Federation received two applications for the World Cup 2017 and the Chess Olympiad 2018 from the national federations of Georgia and South Africa ^[2] . South Africa proposed the cities of Sun City and Durban as the venues for tournaments, Georgia - Tbilisi and Batumi, respectively ^[3] . Despite the fact that Garry Kasparov expressed support for the South African bid during his presidential campaign , Georgia won ^[4] (93 votes to 58) ^[5] .

The tournament is held according to the knockout system, except that in a certain case an additional match for the third place may be required (see # qualification candidates ).

Each match in the tournament consists of two games (except for the final and the match for third place, where there will be four such games) with a time control of 90 minutes and 30 seconds of Fisher adding to the first forty moves, and after overcoming the fortieth turn for another 30 minutes with the same adding.

If after two games the score in the match remains the same, a tie-break is assigned, which will be played the next day. A tie-break is played out according to the following system:

• Two games of fast chess (25 minutes with a 10-second addition).
• If the score remains drawn after two quick games, two more games are played with a 10-minute control with a 10-second addition per turn.
• If the score is drawn after four rapid chess games, the opponents play two games in blitz with control of five minutes and three seconds of addition.
• If the score remains in a draw even in this case, then the so-called death party (or armageddon ) is appointed, in which White has five minutes, Black has four, but a draw in the game is considered a black victory. Starting with move 61, a three-second addition to the turn appears in the death party.

Participants in the world cup final tournament. However, since Magnus Carlsen (world champion) and Sergey Karjakin (participant in the last match for the world champion title) qualification for the applicants tournament is not needed, certain rules were developed:

1. If neither Carlsen nor Karjakin make it to the finals, the finalists become the participants in the applicants' tournament (regular system).
2. If Carlsen and Karjakin both make it to the finals, then the other two semi-finalists get places in the applicants' tournament.
3. If either Carlsen or Karjakin makes it to the finals, then the other finalist gets a place in the applicants 'tournament, and the two losing semi-finalists play the match for third place, the winner of which also qualifies for the applicants' tournament. The match for third place is played on the same conditions as the final ^[6] .

Karjakin lost in the second round, Carlsen in the third, so the usual system took place.

Each of the first six rounds takes three days: one day for two regular games, then the third day for a tie-break, if required. The final lasts four days, the fifth is a tie-break (if necessary)

• Round 1: September 3-5
• Round 2: September 6-8
• Round 3: September 9-11
• Round 4: September 12-14
• Round 5: September 15-17
• Day of rest: September 18
• Round 6: September 19-21
• Day of rest: September 22
• Final (and match for third place, if required): September 23-26
• Tie-break for the finals and the match for third place (if required): September 27

All rounds will begin at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC ).

According to the regulations, the organizers do not compensate the costs of players on air tickets ^[7] .

Members ^{[8] are} sorted by FIDE rating for August 2017. All players are grandmasters , unless otherwise indicated.

World Cup Qualification

• World Champion (1)
• WC: Semi-finalists of the World Chess Cup 2015 (4)
• J15, J16: Winners of the Youth World Championships 2015 and 2016 (2)
• R: Rating (average rating from February 2016 to January 2017) (19) ^{[note 1]}
• E16 and E17: European Chess Championship 2016 (23) and 2017 (22)
• AM16 and AM17: American Chess Championship 2016 (4) and 2017 (6) ^{[note 2] [9]}
• AS16 and AS17: Asian Chess Championship 2016 (5) and 2017 (5)
• AF: African Chess Championship 2017 (2)
• Tournament of the Nordic countries (N), Z2.1 (3), ^{[note 2] [9]} Z2.2 (1), Z2.3 (2), Z2.4 (2), Z2.5 (2), Z3 .1 (1), Z3.2 (1), Z3.3 (2), Z3.4 (2), Z3.5 (2), Z3.6 (1), Z3.7 (1), Z4. 1 (1), Z4.2 (1), Z4.3 (1), Z4.4 (1): Regional Championships
• ACP: a chess player who showed the best result in an ACP round , who did not qualify for other criteria (1)
• PN: FIDE Presidential Nominations (5)
• ON: Organizer Nominations (4)

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Final

Shortly before the start of the first batch of the third round between Anton Kovalev and Maxim Rodshtein , Kovalev had a conversation with the referee about the dress code, and specifically - the shorts that he wore. It is worth noting that in the same pair of shorts Kovalev played in the first two rounds. The organizer of the tournament Zurab Azmaiparashvili joined the discussion and told Anton that his clothes violate the FIDE dress code and that he will be financially punished if he does not change his uniform ^{[10] [11]} . Kovalev explained that he wore the same shorts at the World Cup 2015 without any incidents, but Azmaiparashvili objected again and said that in these clothes Kovalev “looked like a gypsy” ^[10] . Kovalev took this as a racial insult ^{[12] [13]} , after which he left the tournament hall and did not return. He checked out of the hotel and booked a ticket to Dallas, where he studies for a master’s degree at the University of Texas ^[10] . The Chess Federation of Canada formally complained about the incident ^[11] .

1. ↑ The current world champion Tan Zhongyi refused to participate in the competition and, in accordance with the regulations, was replaced by a player with a high average rating.
2. ↑ ^{1 2} In the 2017 U.S. Zone Tournament, which usually plays five places in the World Cup, only three players, except those who have already qualified, have reached the required rate of 50% or more. In accordance with the rules of the World Cup, the drawing of two vacant seats migrated from the US Zone Tournament to the Continental Championship of America.
3. ↑ The Zherebukh did not come to Tbilisi, as it might not have been accepted back to the United States.
4. ↑ Kovalev left the World Cup after an incident with a player’s dress code and subsequent insults from the tournament organizer Zurab Azmaiparashvili. See # Dress Code Controversy

• Chess World Cup 2013
• Chess World Cup 2015

• Official page
• Tournament grid (PDF) . FIDE , August 2017
• 2017 World Chess Cup Broadcast Archive