The pairings for the first round of the $180,000FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cupare Europe vs. Russia,China vs. Rest of the World, and India vs. the USA. This was the result of the drawing of lots, held during the online opening ceremony of the tournament.
How to watchAll games will be played on the Chess.com live server and can be followed on our events page and in our Android and iOS apps under Watch. Commentary by GM Robert Hess, IM Daniel Rensch, and special guests can be enjoyed at Chess.com/TVwhere the games will be discussed and explained.
The opening ceremony took place on Monday in a live broadcast on Chess.com/TV with hosts GM Robert Hess and IM Daniel Rensch. They revealed the pairing numbers that came from a random number generator processed during a private Zoom call with team captains and Chess.com technicians.
And this is how the Captains meeting looks like! #OnlineNations pic.twitter.com/WY9s7JdDTd
International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) May 4, 2020
These were the numbers:
1. Europe2. China3. India4. USA5. Rest of the World6. Russia
The pairings system follows the round-robin Berger table for six teams.That means the pairings for the first round on May 5 isEurope vs. Russia,China vs. RoW, andIndia vs. the USA.
FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup | Pairings
This schedule right away leads to interesting board pairings in the first round. Most notably is the possibility of a clash between GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Ian Nepomniachtchi, the two leaders of the FIDE Candidates tournament. Theyll play on board one of their respective teams, Europe and Russia, if the captains decide to start with their main lineups (see below).
MVL joined the live show for a bit and, asked if he would hold anything back in preparation, he reminded that he already had played Nepo as White in Yekaterinburg: If I play with white, its not a match thats featured in the Candidates, and I can play my prep if I want to.
The broadcast of the opening ceremony for replay.
Other potential top-board clashes include GMs Viswanathan Anand vs. Hikaru Nakamuraand GMs Ding Liren vs. Teimour Radjabov. The deadline for submitting the team lineups for the captains is 30 minutes before the start of the round.
Anand is the only player who also serves as a team captain. Wouldnt that potentially lead to an internal conflict? What if captain Anand wants the player to sit out a round, but player Anand doesnt want to?
Answering the half-serious question of how he would win this argument, the Indian GM quipped: Oh, but Im gonna crack the whip on him!
FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich, team captain for Rest of the World, joined the broadcast as well. He started by saying:Thank you for a nice ceremony. Chess.com is really instrumental in doing this at a high-quality level.
His team faces rating favorite China in the first round. Dvorkovich: Its gonna be tough. In team China, there are some really great players, such as a top 10-player in the mens section and two world champions in the womens section!
Below youll find all teams. The first four players are part of the main lineup, while players five and six are reserve players. C stands for the captain.
Teams
*Anand will be playing captain while Kramnik is a team advisor.
The FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup is a team competition held from May 5-10 on Chess.com. The first stage consists of a double round-robin with each team playing each other twice. The top two teams after 10 rounds qualify for a Superfinal match on May 10.
All matches are played on four boards: three with male players and one with female players. The time control for all games is 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per move, starting from move one. The prize fund is $180,000.
Find all information about the tournament here.
Chess.com (@chesscom) May 2, 2020
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Pairings Revealed For FIDE Chess.com Online Nations Cup - India Gone Viral
