2017 World Cup 2-27 September, Tbilisi

[JustinHorton]

Not too hard there for Lucky Anish.

[David Robertson]

Sethuraman is taking the p!$$ now. He's just lost horribly, safe in the knowledge that he can now showboat another comeback

[JustinHorton]

I don't think Matlakov will be too impressed with himself there.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Unsurprisingly I’ve been sacked as Giri’s second and he’s now defending a bishop’s opening (via an Italian back to bishop’s again).

[JustinHorton]

I have no idea why Navara has selected this notoriously shonky opening.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Unsurprisingly I’ve been sacked as Giri’s second and he’s now defending a bishop’s opening (via an Italian back to bishop’s again).

And Aronian didn’t fancy the use of my services as he’s chosen the Park the Bus variation in the Slav and obviously intends just to sit there as long as possible.

[JustinHorton]

Has that been seen at all since Topalov-Kramnik?

[JustinHorton]

Meanwhile Sethuraman is minus eight despite having used up less than a minute, overall, on the clock.

[David Robertson]

He's seen enough of Giri. Knows he can take him any time. Bored now. Minus 24 [53 moves at Jack Rudd rate]

[Jonathan Bryant]

Has that been seen at all since Topalov-Kramnik?

Anand also punted it against Topalov if memory serves.

[JustinHorton]

Ah, well remembered. Three times, it seems.

[David Robertson]

he’s chosen the Park the Bus variation in the Slav and obviously intends just to sit there as long as possible.

Matlakov played Crash the Bus, and wiped him out. I'm a-headin' fo' Armagedd'n

[Christopher Kreuzer]

he’s chosen the Park the Bus variation in the Slav and obviously intends just to sit there as long as possible.

Matlakov played Crash the Bus, and wiped him out. I'm a-headin' fo' Armagedd'n

Not yet. Two blitz games first.

[JustinHorton]

I'd want to check this, but I think as it stands the top half of the draw has five players who have taken part in Candidates tournaments, and the bottom half none.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I'd want to check this, but I think as it stands the top half of the draw has five players who have taken part in Candidates tournaments, and the bottom half none.

That looks about right. The five being: Ivanchuk, Giri, Svidler, Aronian and Grischuk.

Just looking at the last three Candidates (the 8-player double-round robin tournaments), Aronian and Svidler have been in all three. Ivanchuk and Grischuk have only been in one (the one in London in 2013), Giri has also just been in one (the last one, in Moscow in 2016). Karjakin, of course, has been in the last two (starting with Khanty-Mansiysk in 2014) and will be in the next one as well (Berlin in 2018).

Would be impressive if Aronian qualifies again, a run of four Candidates in a row. Only Anand, Svidler and Karjakin come close to that. Anand has been involved at the sharp end of the World Championships for around two decades. It gets more complicated if you try and include the earlier qualifying formats, which varied quite a bit.