Chess World Cup 2023

The Chess World Cup 2023 is a knockout competition which runs from the 30th July – 24th August, and features 206 of the top chess players from all around the world.

To make this even more exciting for you and to support the Galway Chess Club, we want to encourage you to back a small selection of players in the hopes of winning some money.

Below is a ranked table of all 206 participants, each of whom can have at most one backer. For 5euro, you can choose FIVE of these players to back (one from 1-40, one from 41-80, one from 81-120, one from 121 to 160, and one from 161-206.) If one of your backed players wins the tournament, you will win five times their ranking number (plus your original fiver back); e.g. if you have backed Magnus Carlsen and he wins, you get €10 back, if you have backed Anish Giri and he wins, you get €30, and if you have backed Youssef Alhassadi and he wins, you get €1035.

To enter, email us at galwaychess[at]gmail[dot]com, with your name (or nom-de-plume to display, in case you wish to keep your investment a secret for spousal/Revenue purposes), five selected players (one each from within ranges 1-40, 41-80, 81-120, 121-160, 161-206), and a promise to hand over a fiver to us at the next available opportunity. Given that there’ll be a max of one backer per player (in the interests of avoiding bankruptcy), we’ll operate on a first-come-first-served basis, and we’ll deal with any complications if and when they arrive. Any surplus will go towards the club’s rent for next year.

If ALL of your choices make it through any round, you may pick one free extra player from any of the remaining unselected players. E.g., if you pick Carlsen, Howell, Hansen, Peralta, Herrera, and they all make it through round 1, you get to add any other unbacked player to your group. If you add, e.g., Caruana, and then ALL six of your players make it through the second round, you may add a seventh player, etc.

If you enter after the first round has started, but before the start of the second, entry is €10 for five candidates, and you cannot select any extra players.

PLAYER
1 Magnus Carlsen
2 Hikaru Nakamura
3 Fabiano Caruana
4 Ian Nepomniachtchi
5 Anish Giri (3)
6 Wesley So
7 Teimour Radjabov
8 Gukesh D (6)
9 S Mamedyarov
10 M Vachier-Lagrave
11 L Dominguez Perez
12 Alexander Grischuk (2)
13 Yu Yangyi
14 Jan-Krzysztof Duda (5)
15 Le Quang Liem
16 Wei Yi
17 N Abdusattorov (2)
18 Nikita Vitiugov
19 P Maghsoodloo
20 V Santosh Gujrathi
21 Daniil Dubov
22 Sam Shankland
23 Arjun Erigaisi
24 Wang Hao
25 F Vallejo Pons
26 Bassem Amin
27 Kirill Shevchenko
28 Jorden Van Foreest
29 Bogdan-Daniel Deac
30 D Antón Guijarro
31 R Praggnanandhaa
32 Vincent Keymer
33 Amin Tabatabaei
34 David Navara
35 Ray Robson
36 Nihal Sarin
37 Peter Svidler
38 Alexey Sarana
39 Nils Grandelius
40 Andrey Esipenko
—————————————-
41 David Howell (3)
42 Vladimir Fedoseev (3)
43 R Wojtaszek (4)
44 Andrei Volokitin
45 Matthias Bluebaum (3)
46 A Donchenko (3)
47 Boris Gelfand
48 Anton Korobov
49 Vasyl Ivanchuk (5)
50 Ruslan Ponomariov
51 Ivan Cheparinov
52 Etienne Bacrot
53 Salem Saleh
54 Gadir Guseinov
55 Javokhir Sindarov
56 Ivan Saric
57 S. L. Narayanan
58 J Santos Latasa
59 Jules Moussard
60 Laurent Fressinet
61 Alexandr Predke
62 Awonder Liang
63 Benjámin Gledura
64 T Dai Van Nguyen
65 Aryan Tari
66 N Yakubboev
67 Mustafa Yılmaz
68 Rauf Mamedov
69 Nijat Abasov
70 Vasif Durarbayli
71 Georg Meier
72 Yuriy Kuzubov
73 Rasmus Svane
74 Markus Ragger
75 Jonas Buhl Bjerre
76 Anton Demchenko
77 Aleksandar Indjic
78 Frederik Svane
79 Dmitrij Kollars ,
80 C Henriquez Villagra
—————————————-
81 E Iturrizaga Bonelli (2)
82 Ferenc Berkes
83 Mateusz Bartel
84 David Paravyan
85 Daniele Vocaturo
86 Eric Hansen (1)
87 Jerguš Pecháč
88 Ante Brkic
89 Eltaj Safarli
90 Mikhail Antipov
91 Christopher Yoo
92 Abhimanyu Puranik
93 Axel Bachmann
94 Alexandr Fier
95 Niclas Huschenbeth
96 Denis Kadric
97 Daniel Dardha (2)
98 Maxime Lagarde
99 S Vokhidov
100 Kacper Piorun
101 Ahmed Adly
102 Ilia Smirin
103 C D A Cabrera
104 Velimir Ivic
105 Rinat Jumabayev (2)
106 Sergei Azarov
107 Nidjat Mamedov
108 Adhiban Baskaran (2)
109 D Mastrovasilis
110 Aydin Suleymanli
111 Daniel Fridman
112 Vahap Şanal
113 Luis Paulo Supi
114 Peter Michalik
115 Timur Gareyev
116 Temur Kuybokarov
117 Bardiya Daneshvar
118 Szymon Gumularz
119 Valentin Dragnev
120 Tin Jingyao
—————————————
121 Bobby Cheng
122 Viktor Erdős
123 Emre Can
124 Fernando Peralta
125 Vugar Asadli
126 Tomas Laurusas
127 K Venkataraman (2)
128 Levan Pantsulaia
129 H Bharathakoti
130 Gregory Kaidanov
131 M Mchedlishvili
132 Lê Tuấn Minh (1)
133 Arseniy Nesterov
134 L E Quesada Pérez
135 Grzegorz Nasuta
136 M Iskandarov
137 Vladimir Baklan
138 Ori Kobo
139 Igor Janik
140 M Muradli
141 Vitaliy Bernadskiy
142 Emilio Cordova
143 Ivan Ivanisevic (2)
144 Adham Fawzy
145 Zdenko Kozul (1)
146 S K-Arditis (1)
147 Xu Yinglun
148 Felix Blohberger
149 L H de La Fuente
150 Ivan Schitco
151 S Megaranto
152 Luka Paichadze
153 Ediz Gurel
154 A Suleymenov
155 S Avila Pavas
156 Evandro Barbosa
157 P Ismael Acosta
158 A Gadimbayli
159 Yago Santiago
160 Goh Wei Ming
—————————————-
161 P Salinas Herrera (2)
162 Fy Rakotomaharo (1)
163 Gábor Nagy (1)
164 Sumiya Bilguun
165 L Ibarra Chami
166 Huang Renjie
167 Josiah Stearman
168 R C S Alvarez
169 C M Franco
170 Mark Paragua
171 L M S T De Silva
172 M Fahad Rahman
173 Trần Thanh Tú
174 A Hesham
175 Pouria Darini (1)
176 G Amartuvshin
177 Daniel Cawdery
178 Enamul Hossain
179 Lee Jun Hyeok
180 Amir Zaibi
181 Gianmarco Leiva
182 B Al Qudaimi
183 Kareim Wageih
184 Prin Laohawirapap
185 Mohamed Tissir
186 Bernardo Roselli
187 L F Losada
188 Rodwell Makoto
189 Lim Zhuo Ren
190 Chitumbo Mwali
191 Malek Koniahli
192 Amro El Jawich
193 Zhang Yuanchen (1)
194 Eldiar Orozbaev
195 Alisher Karimov
196 O Balogun
197 Djabri Massinas
198 Haruna Nsubuga
199 A Yang Ching-Wei
200 P Oatlhotse
201 Dante Beukes
202 D Cypriano Rehan
203 Rupesh Jaiswal
204 A Gezachew Abera
205 Nay Lin Tum
206 Yousef Alhassadi

RATING
2835
2787
2782
2779
2775
2769
2747
2744
2742
2739
2739
2736
2735
2732
2728
2726
2725
2720
2719
2719
2716
2711
2710
2709
2706
2694
2694
2693
2693
2691
2690
2690
2689
2689
2689
2688
2688
2685
2684
2683
——–
2677
2676
2676
2674
2672
2668
2668
2667
2667
2664
2663
2662
2661
2661
2659
2657
2656
2656
2654
2652
2651
2649
2645
2642
2641
2640
2639
2636
2632
2631
2629
2628
2625
2624
2624
2623
2619
2618
2618,
2618
——–
2617
2615
2614
2612
2609
2609
2608
2608
2607
2606
2606
2605
2604
2604
2603
2601
2600
2599
2597
2597
2596
2595
2591
2590
2589
2589
2589
2587
2587
2586
2586
2585
2582
2582
2581
2581
2577
2577
2576
2573
——-
2572
2571
2570
2568
2567
2566
2565
2564
2563
2563
2561
2557
2554
2553
2552
2551
2550
2548
2548
2546
2545
2542
2536
2533
2532
2531
2531
2522
2517
2507
2505
2501
2500
2499
2499
2493
2485
2483
2481
2473
——-
2468
2463
2461
2457
2448
2445
2444
2444
2441
2438
2433
2428
2420
2414
2412
2407
2388
2386
2378
2375
2374
2374
2369
2353
2347
2347
2345
2312
2310
2304
2296
2288
2281
2281
2273
2235
2231
2223
2212
2199
2180
2147
2122
2121
2055
2030

BACKER
Kieran
–
–
–
James
–
–
Conall
–
–
–
Fintan
–
Pete
–
–
Zoran
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Zoran
Kieran
James
–
Fintan
Pete
–
–
Conall
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Kieran
–
–
–
–
Zoran
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Conall
–
Pete
–
–
–
–
–
James
–
–
Fintan
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Kieran
–
–
–
–
James
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Conall
–
–
Pete
–
Zoran
Fintan
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Zoran
Conall
Kieran
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Pete
–
–
James
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Fintan
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

Posted by Fintan on July 25th, 2023