Candidates Matches

A new FIDE announcement (PDF) threw some light on initially obscure press release about the Presidential Board Meeting that said - "The PB accepted the new regulations for the World Championship Candidate matches.".

Now it is at least clear that there will be no Candidate round robin tournament, but knockout matches instead. I will post key excerpts about the WCOC and qualification, the full document can be downloaded from the link given above.

Organisation

1. 1 The Candidates Matches to determine the challenger for the 2011 World Chess Championship Match shall be organised in the last quarter of 2010 and represent an integral part of the World Chess Championship regulations for the cycle 2009-2011. Eight (8) players will participate in the Candidates Matches and the winner will qualify for the World Chess Championship Match in September 2011.

1. 2 Governing Body: the World Chess Federation (FIDE). For the purpose of creating the regulations, communicating with the players and negotiating with the organisers, the FIDE President has nominated a committee, hereby called the FIDE Commission for World Championships and Olympiads (hereinafter referred to as WCOC)

1. 3 FIDE, or its appointed commercial agency, retains all commercial and media rights of the Candidates Matches, including internet rights. These rights can be transferred to the organiser upon agreement.

Qualification for the 2010 Candidates Matches

The players who qualify for the Candidates Matches are determined according to the following, in order of priority:

2. 1 Challengers Match 2009 - The player who lost the 2009 Challengers Match (G. Kamsky) qualifies.

2. 2 World Cup 2009 - The winner of the World Cup 2009 qualifies.

2. 3 World Championship Match 2010 - The player who lost the 2010 WCC Match (V. Anand or V. Topalov) qualifies.

2. 4 FIDE Grand-Prix 2008/2009 - The two (2) top players from the FIDE Grand-Prix 2008/2009 qualify to participate.

2. 5 Average FIDE Rating List of July 2009 & January 2010 - Two (2) players qualify to participate by rating (excluding the players who qualify from articles 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4 above). For the purpose of deciding the 2 rated player qualifiers, the average from the following lists will be used: rating of July 2009 plus rating of January 2010 divided by 2. In case of equality two decimals will be taken into consideration. If the numbers are still equal then the number of games from the twelve months covering the whole year 2009 shall be decisive. That means the player with the greater number of games shall qualify. If the numbers are still equal then the list of March 2010 shall be decisive. If the rating in the March 2010 list is still the same, the player with the greater number of games in this list will qualify. Players who appear in the inactive list in both July 2009 and January 2010 will not be able to qualify as a rated player. If the player is inactive in one list but appears in the other, then the single rating that is published shall be taken as the average.

2. 6 One nominated player by the Organiser - A player, nominated by the organiser, with a rating of at least 2700 in the FIDE rating list of January 2010.

2. 7 Replacements - Any replacements necessary will be fulfilled from the final standings of the FIDE Grand-Prix 2008/2009.