128 Players, 1 Candidate

A field of 128 will battle in a series of knockout matches later this year at FIDE's Chess World Cup 2009, with the winner becoming one of the eight candidates in the 2011 World Championship cycle. The World Cup, taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia from November 20 to December 15, features players who qualified due to rating along with those two had success in various national, regional, and worldwide tournaments and championships.

Several spots were also reserved for nominees chosen by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, including young stars like Fabiano Caruana and Ray Robson. At the moment, only 124 spots have been filled, with the four remaining players to be chosen by the tournament organizers.

The list of participants is headed by top seed Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan, and features most of the world's top players, with several notable exceptions: Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian and Veselin Topalov are already qualified for the World Championship cycle, while Michael Adams, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura committed to playing in the London Chess Classic, which will be being played at the same time as the World Cup. American chess fans will have plenty of players to root for; there are 10 players from the United States in total, with Alexander Onischuk and Gata Kamsky likely to be the top American contenders in the absence of Nakamura. Kamsky won the last World Cup event in 2007.

No, short knockout matches aren't ideal for chess competitions, which is what made them a horrible choice for determining a world champion in the years when the FIDE World Championship was split from the Classical Chess Championship. However, for an event which simply seeks to give a spot in the Championship cycle, I think it works perfectly. If nothing else, the knockout format (including the rapid, blitz and "armageddon" playoff games) does generate a lot of excitement in every round, and creates fighting chess due to the high number of must-win games.  Allowing a large number of players to fight for a single golden ticket to the World Championship cycle allows some new blood the chance to participate, without turning the whole process of becoming World Champion into a lottery: which is how many players and commentators categorized the FIDE knockout events. What do you think: should a large knockout event like this one play a part in determining the World Championship?