Chess World Cup 2017

The Chess World Cup 2017 is a 128-player single-elimination chess tournament originally to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 1 to 25 September 2017. At the 2016 FIDE General Assembly, permission was granted to move the event to Batumi, with the final in Tbilisi.^[1]

Bidding process

At the 85th FIDE Congress held during the 41st Chess Olympiad, FIDE received bids to host the World Cup 2017 and 2018 Olympiad from the national federations of Georgia and South Africa.^[2] South Africa proposed Sun City and Durban as venues, while Georgia proposed Tbilisi and Batumi respectively.^[3] Although Garry Kasparov expressed support for the South African bid during his FIDE presidential campaign,^[4] Georgia's bid won, receiving 93 votes to South Africa's 58.^[5]

Format

Matches consists of two games (except for the final, which consisted of four). Players have 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an addition of 30 seconds per move from the start of the game. If a match is tied after the regular games, tie breaks will be played the next day. The format for the tie breaks is as follows:

• Two rapid games (25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment).
• If the score is tied after two rapid games, further two rapid games (10 minutes plus 10 seconds increment) are played.
• If the score is tied after four rapid games, the opponents play two blitz games (five minutes plus three seconds increment).
• If the score is tied after a pair of blitz games, an armageddon game (in which a draw counts as a win for Black) is played. White has 5 minutes and Black has 4 minutes, with an increment of 3 seconds/move starting from move 61.

Prize money

According to the regulations, all players have to pay their own expenses for travel.^[7]

Qualifiers

The qualified players will be seeded by their FIDE ratings of August 2017. Eighteen players will qualify by rating. All players are grandmasters unless indicated otherwise.

Qualification paths

References