Tromsø and the midnight sun
The Arctic Circle is one of the major circles of latitude, running 66.56°
north of the Equator. It marks the southern extremity of the "polar day",
which is when the sun is visible for 24 hours (usually referred to as the
"midnight sun") at least once per year, and polar night, when the sun does
not appear above the horizon for 24 hours. The midnight sun can be seen
in summer for many days, weeks or months, depending on how far north of
the arctic circle a place is located.
The Arctic Circle [Graphic by Swinburne
University]
The places where people can see the midnight sun are Alaska, northern Canada,
Greenland, Iceland, northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and some extremities
of Russia.
The city of Tromsø lies in the northern-most
region of Norway,
69° 40' 33" N, 18° 55' 10" E, almost 400 km inside the Arctic Circle
Rising and setting times for the sun in Tromsø
| Date |
Sunrise
|
Sunset
|
Length of day |
Altitude
|
| 10 Aug 2013 |
03:18
|
22:16
|
18h 57m 28s |
35.8°
|
| 15 Aug 2013 |
03:45
|
21:48
|
18h 03m 48s |
34.2°
|
| 20 Aug 2013 |
04:09
|
21:23
|
17h 13m 50s |
32.6°
|
| 25 Aug 2013 |
04:31
|
20:58
|
16h 26m 23s |
30.9°
|
| 30 Aug 2013 |
04:53
|
20:33
|
15h 40m 43s |
29.2°
|
| 03 Sep 2013 |
05:09
|
20:14
|
15h 05m 07s |
27.7°
|
So the "night" in Tromsø will on the arrival of the players
last just five hours, with much of it bathed in the twilight of the set
sun just below the horizon. On departure the players will enjoy fifteen
hours of daylight and nine hours of night.
The island city of Tromsø as seen in Google
Earth
In Tromsø there are remains of settlement that go back to the end of the
ice age. The first church was built in 1252, and in the 19th century it
became a major centre for Arctic hunting. During World War II it served
briefly as the seat of Norwegian government, and the German battleship Tirpitz
was sunk off the Tromsø Island in 1944. Today there are over 100 nationalities
in the town's population.
A note on the name: in Europe it is known as "Tromsö", but the Norwegians
pronounce it "Troom-sa", the first vowel as in "rook" and the second consisting
of a special Norwegian schwa
which is not easy to transcribe, describe or even vocalise. But these Nordic
people are generous and will accept various pronunciations.
You can find all details and links to many ChessBase
articles on Tromsø here.
The particpants
The FIDE World Cup is a knockout, starting with 128 players. The participants
have qualified to play based on the following criteria: the World Champion
(Anand), the Women's World Champion (Ushenina, Hou Yifan), the World Junior
U-20 Champions 2011 & 2012 (Swiercz, Ipatov), the four 2011 World Cup
semi-finalists (Svidler, Grischuk, Ivanchuk, Ponomariov), 18 players according
to ratings, 92 players from Continental Championships, six FIDE President
nominees and four organiser nominees. The winner and the runner-up of the
World Cup 2013 will qualify for the Candidates Tournament of the next World
Championship cycle.
If you look at the FIDE rating list you will find that four players from
the top are missing: local hero Magnus Carlsen, World Champion Viswanathan
Anand, Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov and Ding Liren of China. Levon Aronian
and Vladimir Kramnik are playing, because they are trying to qualify for
the 2014 Candidates Tournament and did not play in the FIDE Grand Prix.
a) 2011 World Cup semi-finalists
01. P. Svidler (RUS)
02. A. Grischuk (RUS)
03. V. Ivanchuk (UKR)
04. R. Ponomariov (UKR)
b) 2012 Women's World Champion
05. A. Ushenina (UKR)
c) 2011 and 2012 Junior World Champions
06. D. Swiercz (POL)
07. A. Ipatov (TUR)
d) 18 players based on
their average FIDE rating
08. L. Aronian (ARM) 2816.22
09. V. Kramnik (RUS) 2798.88
10. T. Radjabov (AZE) 2789.22
11. S. Karjakin (RUS) 2777.44
12. F. Caruana (ITA) 2775.44
13. H. Nakamura (USA) 2772.77
14. A. Morozevich (RUS) 2760.44
15. G. Kamsky (USA) 2748.55
16. S. Mamedyarov (AZE) 2744.88
17. Wang Hao (CHN) 2739.11
18. B. Gelfand (ISR) 2738.44
19. P. Leko (HUN) 2731.11
20. E. Tomashevsky (RUS) 2728.77
21. L. Dominguez (CUB) 2727.44
22. M. Adams (ENG) 2721.66
23. R. Wojtaszek (POL) 2721.55
24. A. Giri (NED) 2715.33
25. I. Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 2709.00
26. A. Shirov (LAT) 2708.33
e) 46 players from the European Championships
27. D. Jakovenko (RUS) 2012
28. L. Fressinet (FRA) 2012
29. V. Malakhov (RUS) 2012
30. D. Andreikin (RUS) 2012
31. E. Inarkiev (RUS) 2012
32. M. Matlakov (RUS) 2012
33. V. Bologan (MDA) 2012
34. F. Vallejo Pons (ESP) 2012
35. Y. Kryvoruchko (UKR) 2012
36. S. Azarov (BLR) 2012
37. E. Najer (RUS) 2012
38. V. Akopian (ARM) 2012
39. A. Volokitin (UKR) 2012
40. J. Smeets (NED) 2012
41. C.B. Gawain Jones (ENG) 2012
42. N. Vitiugov (RUS) 2012
43. E. Bacrot (FRA) 2012
44. A. Dreev (RUS) 2012
45. D. Khismatullin (RUS) 2012
46. M. Kobalia (RUS) 2012
47. V. Durarbeyli (AZE) 2012
48. A. Riazantsev (RUS) 2012
49. B. Jobava (GEO) 2012
50. A. Moiseenko (UKR) 2013
51. E. Alekseev (RUS) 2013
52. E. Romanov (RUS) 2013
53. A. Beliavsky (SLO) 2013
54. C. Lupulescu (ROU) 2013
55. S. Movsesian (ARM) 2013
56. H. Melkumyan (ARM) 2013
57. A. Korobov (UKR) 2013
58. I. Lysyj (RUS) 2013
59. A. Shimanov (RUS) 2013
60. A. Areshchenko (UKR) 2013
61. P. Eljanov (UKR) 2013
62. M. Kravtsiv (UKR) 2013
63. D. Dubov (RUS) 2013
64. M. Ragger (AUT) 2013
65. Z. Hracek (CZE) 2013
|
|
66. I. Popov (RUS) 2013
67. S. Brunello (ITA) 2013
68. S. A. Fedorchuk (UKR) 2013
69. E. Postny (ISR) 2013
70. V. Zvjaginsev (RUS) 2013
71. A. Istratescu (FRA) 2013
72. E. Safarli (AZE) 2013
f) 20 players from the Americas
73. G. Kaidanov (USA) Continental 2012
74. J. Granda Zuniga (PER) Continental 2012
75. A. Shabalov (USA) Continental 2012
76. E. Hansen (CAN) Continental 2012
77. A. Ramirez (USA) Zonal 2.1
78. A. Onischuk (USA) Zonal 2.1
79. C. Holt (USA) Zonal 2.1
80. L. M. Christiansen (USA) Zonal 2.1
81. R. Robson (USA) Zonal 2.1
82. I. R. Ortiz Suarez (CUB) Continental 2013
83. D. Flores (ARG) Continental 2013
84. J. Cori (PER) Continental 2013
85. D. Cori T. (PER) Continental 2013
86. R. Felgaer (ARG) Zonal 2.5
87. S. Mareco (ARG) Zonal 2.5
88. R. Leitao (BRA) Zonal 2.4
89. A. Fier (BRA) Zonal 2.4
90. B. Sambuev (CAN) Zonal 2.2
91. L. Bruzon (CUB) (Zonal 2.3)
92. E. Iturrizaga (VEN) (Zonal 2.3)
g) 20 players from Asia/Oceania
93. Negi Parimarjan (IND) Continental 2012
94. Yu Yangyi (CHN) Continental 2012
95. Salem A. R. Saleh (UAE) Continental 2012
96. Liu Qingnan (CHN) Continental 2012
97. Oliver Barbosa (PHI) Continental 2012
98. Nguyen Ngoc Trung Son (VIE) Zonal 3.3
99. Wesley So (PHI) Zonal 3.3
100. G. Akash (IND) Zonal 3.7
101. Z. Rahman (BAN) Zonal 3.2
102. Lou Yiping (CHN) Zonal 3.5
103. Wan Yunguo (CHN) Zonal 3.5
104. Li Chao B (CHN) Continental 2013
105. M. Paragua (PHI) Continental 2013
106. Le Quang Liem (VIE) Continental 2013
107. B. Adhiban (IND) Continental 2013
108. K. Sasikiran (IND) Continental 2013
109. I. Bjelobrk (AUS) Zonal 3.6
110. Darini Pouria (IRI) Zonal 3.1
111. A. Filippov (UZB) Zonal 3.4
112. M. Markov (KGZ) Zonal 3.4
h) 6 players from Africa
113. Amin Bassem (EGY) Continental 2013
114. A. Adly (EGY) Continental 2013
115. E. El Gindy (EGY) Continental 2013
116. Ali Sebbar (MAR) Zonal 4.1
117. S. Shoker (EGY) Zonal 4.2
118. Gillian Bwalya (ZAM) Zonal 4.3
i) 6 nominees of the FIDE President
119. M. Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
120. Hou Yifan (CHN)
121. J. Polgar (HUN)
122. D. Navara (CZE)
123. J-K. Duda (POL)
124. Wei Yi (CHN)
j) 4 nominees of the local organising committee
125. Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR)
126. Simen Agdestein (NOR)
127. Leif Erlend Johannessen (NOR)
128. Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen (NOR)
Total = 128 players
|
The pairings
You can view the pairings in PDF here,
or go to the score tables of round one here.
Time controls
The rate of play is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes
for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting
from move one. Two games are played. If the score is equal there are two
rapid chess tiebreak games, played at a rate of 25 minutes for each player
with an increment of 10 seconds per move. If the score is still tied two
accelerated games will be played, with time controls of 10 min + 10 sec.
If the score is still tied two more games will be played at 5 min + 3 sec.
If there is still no decision a final Armageddon game with 5 minutes for
White and 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 sec increment after move 60, will
be played. In this game Black has draw odds (i.e. he wins if the game is
drawn).
Prizes
| Round |
Prize |
Subtotal |
| Round 1 losers: |
64 x US $6,000 |
US $384,000 |
| Round 2 losers: |
32 x US $10,000 |
US $320,000 |
| Round 3 losers: |
16 x US $16,000 |
US $256,000 |
| Round 4 losers: |
8 x US $25,000 |
US $200,000 |
| Round 5 losers: |
4 x US $35,000 |
US $140,000 |
| Round 6 losers: |
2 x US $50,000 |
US $100,000 |
| Runner-up: |
1 x US $80,000 |
US $80,000 |
| World Cup winner: |
1 x US $120,000 |
US $120,000 |
| Total |
|
US $1,600,000 |
Schedule
The World Cup starts on August 9th, 2013 with the arbiters' meeting. On
the 10th is the players' meeting and the opening ceremony. The first round
is on Sunday, August 11th to Tuesday, August 13. Each round is held over
three days. Thursday August 29 is a free day. The final will consist of
four classical games and takes place from August 30 to September 3rd (tiebreaks,
closing ceremony). A detailed schedule can be found here.
