Ten teams will compete, eight of them having 'qualified' from recent high-ranking team competitions, China (hosts) and Armenia (strongest non-qualifiers) being the exceptions. The competition is taken seriously and most of the teams are at full strength, noting however the absence of Anand and Gelfand who are taking time out to prepare their coming confrontation.
Three other names that aren't playing are Nakamura, Kramnik and Ponomariov.
There are five players in each squad, with four playing in each particular match.
Here are the teams as officially announced:
Russia (average Elo 2757,4): 2009 champions
Karjakin (2788), Grischuk (2781), Nepomniachtchi (2746), Svidler (2739), Vitiugov (2733)
Azerbaijan (average Elo 2714,6): Continental qualifier
Mamedyarov (2765), Gashimov (2760), Radjabov (2744), Mamedov (2679), Guseinov (2625)
Ukraine (average Elo 2713): Qualified from Olympiads
Ivanchuk (2768), Moiseenko (2715), Efimenko (2706), Areshchenko (2682), Eljanov (2697)
China (average Elo 2684,4): Host country
Wang Hao (2718), Wang Yue (2709), Yu Yangyi (2672) , Li Chao B (2669), Ding Liren (2654)
Hungary (average Elo 2679,6): Qualified from Olympiads
Almasi (2726), Leko (2717) , Polgar (2699), Balogh (2643), Erdos (2613)
Armenia (average Elo 2678,2): FIDE invitation
Aronian (2805), Movsesian (2700), Akopian (2667), Sargissian (2663), Hovhannisyan (2556)
U.S.A. (average Elo 2655,4): Continental qualifier
Kamsky (2741), Onischuk (2675), Shulman (2617), Seirawan (2635), Hess (2609)
Israel (average Elo 2649,4): Qualified from Olympiads
Sutovsky (2700), Smirin (2676), Roiz (2669), Postny (2618), Nabaty (2584)
India (average Elo 2639): Continental qualifier
Sasikiran (2681), Harikrishna (2669), Paimarjan Negi (2642), Ganguly (2627), Gopal G.N (2576)
Egypt (average Elo 2531): Continental qualifier
Adly (2631), Amin (2609), El Gindy (2510), Shoker (2475), Ezat (2430)
The Schedule:
Rounds 1-5: 17th to 21st of July
Rest day: 22nd of July
Rounds 6-9 23rd to 26th of July
The first eight rounds will start at 3pm local time (GMT + 8 hours i.e. 9am in Paris, 8am in London, 3am in New York)
The final round will start 5 hours earlier (10 am local time, 4am in Paris etc).
The official site: http://chess.sport.org.cn
Live games: http://live.chinaqiyuan.com/chess2.html
A few rules specific to this competition:
The time limit will be 40 moves in 90 minutes, plus 30 mins KO, with an increment of 30 seconds per move. Draws of less than 30 moves (by mutual consent) are forbidden.
