World Cup Baku 10 September to 4 October 2015

[Tim Harding]

Full pairing tree...
this one

Thanks. Some hot pairings I can see:

Radjabov v Sevian

Wei, Yi v Salem, Saleh (new Asian champion)

Robson v Y. Vovk

while Adams v Maria Muzychuk is certainly intriguing.

If Mickey wins then he probably gets Akobian in round 2 followed by the winner of a second round match Dominguez Perez v Kamsky. (Though Kamsky has a tough round 1 v Melkumyan perhaps)

If he survives all these Americans he probably meets Nakamura.
I cannot see him progressing beyond that point. Though I guess the short matches and rapid games more or less guarantee some upsets.

[Tim Harding]

Having lived there, I am curious to see Armenian Lev Aronian on the list. I'm sure the security will do their job but he will get dirty looks from the audience that's for sure.

Tonight (1 Sept) Aronian has just confirmed he's going to Baku next week and hopes for peace, in interview with Maurice Ashley after winning the SInquefield Cup.

[MJMcCready]

Having lived there, I am curious to see Armenian Lev Aronian on the list. I'm sure the security will do their job but he will get dirty looks from the audience that's for sure.

Tonight (1 Sept) Aronian has just confirmed he's going to Baku next week and hopes for peace, in interview with Maurice Ashley after winning the SInquefield Cup.

Hello, yes saw that. Hopefully he will continue his good form there. If we see pigs flying over the board then perhaps we'll see peace between those two states too!

[IanCalvert]

Tonight (1 Sept) Aronian has just confirmed he's going to Baku next week and hopes for peace, in interview with Maurice Ashley after winning the SInquefield Cup.

Hello, yes saw that. Hopefully he will continue his good form there. If we see pigs flying over the board then perhaps we'll see peace between those two states too!

i thought Lev was impressive and diplomatic in response to Yasser Seirawan's question: maybe distantly related pigs were seen by some before USA/Cuba, India /Pakistan and Northern Ireland.

[MJMcCready]

Well maybe but I'd say the animosity between the two states is more comparable to Palestine-Israel.

[IanCalvert]

Fun look at each player's odds
chessbynumbers

According to the table at the bottom, they believe that a 50 point rating advantage gives a player a 67% chance of advancing. I've got my doubts about that - it's unclear how they handle draws.

... (... after factoring in a white advantage of 40 ELO)

In a recent discussion here on "Estimating White's Advantage", David Shephard, made an interesting comment on comparing wins by White with wins by Black, that is ignoring draws and focussing on decisive games. In my own c2000 Elo recent decisive games I certainly blunder more often against stronger players after being under pressure with Black, suggesting the White advantage in decisive (i.e. not drawn) games may be greater than the overall average.

At the highest levels is there evidence that in decisive games the advantage of White is more than the overall average of 40 ELO rating points? [ This is not academic since in team events involving Chess Tigers , see Tigers v Heffalumps discussion, it may be relevant to whether the Tigers with White should go for the win against non-rabbits}.

[Mick Norris]

chess.com preview

[Roger de Coverly]

A snippet from the comments at chess.com. The three qualifiers notionally from FIDE Arena were in fact Presidential nominees as no qualification tournament took place.

[NickFaulks]

The three qualifiers notionally from FIDE Arena were in fact Presidential nominees as no qualification tournament took place.

No surprise there, those guys couldn't organise a prayer meeting in a monastery.

[Chris Rice]

Hearing reports that the technical committee in Baku are recommending or maybe even banning the players from wearing watches or using pens. If true this would certainly take the paranoia on computer cheating to a new level.

[NickFaulks]

Hearing reports that the technical committee in Baku are recommending or maybe even banning the players from wearing watches or using pens. If true this would certainly take the paranoia on computer cheating to a new level.

Why don't they just apply the anti-cheating regulations as written? That would be a good start.

[MartinCarpenter]

Banning watches is actually plain sensible for this level of event. They're easily big enough to fit a receiver in - or a half decent computer come to that! - and very easy to use a means of transmitting illicit information. Permanently attached to the wrist of course.

Pens does seem to be getting a little paranoid Very cheap/no loss to anyone to provide standard biros for the whole event mind, so why not?

The biggest worry after watches would logically be shoes. Could definitely understand them being made to use provided carpet slippers. Like watches shoes are always on the body and rather easy to hide an elicit means of transmitting/receiving information in. (as per that very old Roulette wheel stuff.).

[Roger de Coverly]

Banning watches is actually plain sensible for this level of event.

Are they still using zero default times? It's a bit of a double hit to demand that players be on time, but deny them the means to achieve this.

As rules for a specific event, they don't have wide application. The bigger worry is that some idiot in FIDE tries to incorporate them in the Laws of Chess.

[Tim Harding]

Time to choose your match(es) to watch in Round 1.
There could be some very one-sided pairings so I have been looking for possible good match-ups (see my earlier post).
Salem, Saleh v Wei Yi is my choice today. Could be some fireworks.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

What time does it start? Oh, it has already started!