All players rated at least 2500 on any of the three FIDE lists (standard, blitz or rapid) as of March 1, 2013 are eligible to participate in the six-day event.
The six-day tournament is a summit of the world’s top players including Magnus Carlsen (Norway, Elo 2868), Levon Aronian (Armenia, Elo 2813), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, Elo 2811) and Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, Elo 2793), who are competing for total prize money of US$200,000.
At last year’s event in Astana, Kazakhstan, the Russian Sergey Karjakin claimed the world rapid crown with 15 points overall, one point ahead of world No.1 Magnus Carlsen from Norway. The blitz title went to Alexander Grischuk, also from Russia, while Le Quang Liem, the only Vietnamese representative, finished seventh in the same category with16.5 points after 30 games, tacking on 26.6 points to his Elo rating in the FIDE standings.
