The top twenty boards feature some famous names including top seed Peter Svidler.
| Board | Seed | Title/Name | Country | Rating | - | Seed | Title/Name | Country | Rating |
| 1 | 1 | GM Peter Svidler | RUS | 2730 | - | 199 | IM Helgi Dam Ziska | FAI | 2432 |
| 2 | 200 | IM Guillaume Sermier | SUI | 2428 | - | 2 | GM Ian Nepomniachtchi | RUS | 2729 |
| 3 | 3 | GM David Navara | CZE | 2722 | - | 201 | IM Vincent Colin | FRA | 2427 |
| 4 | 202 | GM Alexander Potapov | RUS | 2425 | - | 4 | GM Nikita Vitiugov | RUS | 2720 |
| 5 | 5 | GM Dmitry Jakovenko | RUS | 2718 | - | 203 | IM Artem Smirnov | RUS | 2425 |
| 6 | 204 | IM Mert Erdogdu | TUR | 2423 | - | 6 | GM Fabiano Caruana | ITA | 2716 |
| 7 | 7 | GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek | POL | 2711 | - | 205 | IM Roser Kevin | FRA | 2423 |
| 8 | 206 | IM Kevin Terrieux | FRA | 2422 | - | 8 | GM Baadur Jobava | GEO | 2707 |
| 9 | 9 | GM Francisco Vallejo Pons | ESP | 2707 | - | 207 | IM Serghei Vedmediuc | MDA | 2422 |
| 10 | 208 | IM Jovanka Houska | ENG | 2419 | - | 10 | GM Aleksey Dreev | RUS | 2697 |
| 11 | 11 | GM Laurent Fressinet | FRA | 2693 | - | 209 | IM Bragi Thorfinnsson | ISL | 2417 |
| 12 | 210 | IM Beat Zueger | SUI | 2417 | - | 12 | GM Emil Sutovsky | ISR | 2692 |
| 13 | 13 | GM Viktor Laznicka | CZE | 2688 | - | 211 | IM Sven Telljohann | GER | 2415 |
| 14 | 212 | FM Hagen Poetsch | GER | 2415 | - | 14 | GM Judit Polgar | HUN | 2686 |
| 15 | 15 | GM Arkadij Naiditsch | GER | 2683 | - | 213 | IM Matthias Roeder | GER | 2414 |
| 16 | 214 | IM Gabriel Battaglini | FRA | 2413 | - | 16 | GM Luke McShane | ENG | 2683 |
| 17 | 17 | GM Sergei Zhigalko | BLR | 2680 | - | 215 | IM Vasily Nedilko | UKR | 2413 |
| 18 | 216 | IM Christophe Philippe | FRA | 2409 | - | 18 | GM Alexander Riazantsev | RUS | 2679 |
| 19 | 19 | GM Sergei Rublevsky | RUS | 2678 | - | 217 | IM Erik Zude | GER | 2409 |
| 20 | 218 | IM Kamran Shirazi | FRA | 2403 | - | 20 | GM Alexander Motylev | RUS | 2677 |
Will there be a Russian champion this year? Four out the top five are from the strongest (in depth) chess country in the world.
On board three, David Navara is the top non-Russian and Judit Polgar (14th seed) is the World's strongest woman.
Here are some rules, one of the most controversial being 'Zero Tolerance' for later-comers. One just has to be at the board at the beginning of the round!
The championship is an 11-round Swiss and the rate of play: 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one.
The Prizes:
The first 25 share 113,700 € and there will be 15 special prizes totaling 6 300 € for the best 'performance minus rating' achievements.
| 1 | 20 000 € |
| 2 | 15 000 € |
| 3 | 11 000 € |
| 4 | 8 000 € |
| 5 | 7 000 € |
| 6 | 6 000 € |
| 7 | 5 500 € |
| 8 | 5 000 € |
| 9 | 4 500 € |
| 10 | 4 000 € |
down to 25th (1000 Euros).
The top 'special' prize will be 1 000 €.
Rounds 1 to 7 start 3 pm (local time).
Tuesday the 29th is the rest day.
Then rounds 8 to 11, again at 3pm.
For more information go to:Official site
