The participants in the Candidates' tournament were determined by a variety of qualification methods. It is worth noting that Magnus Carlsen, who would have qualified as the highest rated player in the world who didn't otherwise qualify, chose to withdraw from the cycle due to concerns about the format and the uncertainty of the process. The players, their projected seedings and their methods of qualification are as follows:
- Veselin Topalov (#1) - Loser of the previous World Chess Championship
- Vladimir Kramnik (#2) - Qualified based on rating
- Levon Aronian (#3) - Winner of FIDE Grand Prix
- Boris Gelfand (#4) - Winner of 2009 Chess World Cup
- Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (#5) - Organizer Wild Card
- Alexander Grischuk (#6) - Third place finisher in FIDE Grand Prix; replaces Magnus Carlsen
- Teimour Radjabov (#7) - Second place finisher in FIDE Grand Prix
- Gata Kamsky (#8) - Loser of the 2009 Challenger Match
If another player should withdraw, the next player on the reserve list is Dmitry Jakovenko, who finished 4th in the FIDE Grand Prix standings.
The Candidates' tournament is scheduled for April 2011 in Kazan, Russia. The tournament will consist of short knockout matches. Quarterfinal and semifinal matches will be played in a best-of-four format, while the final will be a six game match. Should the seedings listed above hold, the first round matches will be Topalov-Kamsky, Gelfand-Mamedyarov, Aronian-Grischuk and Kramnik-Radjabov.
The World Chess Championship has yet to be firmly scheduled, and no venue or format has been established as of yet. Viswanathan Anand will defend his title against the winner of the Candidates' tournament.
