The two leading players from the whole series earn their qualification places for the next Candidates event. Aronian didn't bother playing this time as he has already done enough to book his place.
One place remains and Radjabov is the best placed, but winning here could give many of the others a sporting chance.
Twelve of the fourteen players are 2700 or more.
| Actual World ranking | Name | Country | Rating | Grand Prix Ranking |
| 43 | Vladimir Akopian | Armenia | 2694 | 17 |
| 37 | Evgeny Alekseev | Russia | 2700 | 15 |
| 9 | Pavel Eljanov | Ukraine | 2751 | 19 |
| 17 | Vugar Gashimov | Azerbaijan | 2734 | 5 |
| 11 | Boris Gelfand | Israel | 2741 | 9 |
| 61 | Ernesto Inarkiev | Russia | 2669 | 20 |
| 12 | Vassily Ivanchuk | Ukraine | 2741 | 8 |
| 21 | Dmitry Jakovenko | Russia | 2725 | 7 |
| 16 | Peter Leko | Hungary | 2735 | 6 |
| 6 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Azerbaijan | 2763 | 10 |
| 18 | Ruslan Ponomariov | Ukraine | 2733 | - |
| 13 | Teimour Radjabov | Azerbaijan | 2740 | 2 |
| 15 | Peter Svidler | Russia | 2735 | 13 |
| 8 | Wang Yue | China | 2752 | 4 |
The first round games saw only one win, Gashimov trapping Ivanchuk's queen.
Vugar Gashimov (2734) - Vassily Ivanchuk (2741) Astrakhan (1st round) 10.05.2010
Ivanchuk resigned as his queen will be trapped in a couple of moves.
1-0
Here are more details:
| Game No. | Name | Rating | Result | Name | Rating |
| 1 | Eljanov Pavel | 2751 | 0.5-0.5 | Svidler Peter | 2735 |
| 2 | Akopian Vladimir | 2694 | 0.5-0.5 | Gelfand Boris | 2741 |
| 3 | Mamedyarov Shakhriyar | 2763 | 0.5-0.5 | Jakovenko Dmitry | 2725 |
| 4 | Gashimov Vugar | 2734 | 1-0 | Ivanchuk Vassily | 2741 |
| 5 | Wang Yue | 2752 | 0.5-0.5 | Leko Peter | 2735 |
| 6 | Alekseev Evgeny | 2700 | 0.5-0.5 | Radjabov Teimour | 2740 |
| 7 | Inarkiev Ernesto | 2669 | 0.5-0.5 | Ponomariov Ruslan | 2733 |
Astrakhan is at the northern end of the Caspian sea at the mouth of the Volga river and is three hours ahead of London, two ahead of Paris.
For more information on the event official tournament site
