World Chess Rapid and Blitz Qualifier: 2300+ rating required

The World Chess Championship for Rapid and Blitz qualifiers will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan from July 1-5. The qualifiers are open to all players who have a rating of at least 2300. Applications have to be sent by the national federations only.

Participation fees

2300 – 2399 –100 USD2400 – 2499 – 60 USD2500 – 2600 – 35 USDAbove 2600 – no fee

Applications for participation are accepted before June 20, 2012.

The Rapid Chess Qualifier would be held as a nine-round Swiss chess tournament with the following time control: 15 minutes + 10 seconds. The top three winners will get free hotel accommodation costs and plane tickets to the world chess championship. Hotel costs and plane tickets for the world chess championship in the blitz section are free for the first three winners of the qualifier.

Eventually, the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships 2012 will also take place at Astana, Kazakhstan itself after the qualifiers. The top-10 rated players from the Fide January list have already qualified directly for the final tournament of both the sections.

Qualifiers by rating (January 2012 FIDE rating list):

1. Carlsen, Magnus2. Aronian, Levon3. Kramnik, Vladimir4. Anand, Viswanathan5. Radjabov, Teimour6. Topalov, Veselin7. Karjakin, Sergey8. Ivanchuk, Vassily9. Morozevich, Alexander10. Gashimov, Vugar