Teymur Rajabov for World rapid cup

Russia's Alexander Morozevich leads an all-GM field that includes Peter Leko, Boris Gelfand, Hari Krishna and Alexei Shirov among others.

Last year, Rajabov played a rapid event at Cap d'Agde (France) in October-November and went on to win the title.

First round matches will be played over two days, the quarterfinals will be held on January 7, followed by the semifinals and the final on January 8. The players play each other with both colours in 25-minute rapid games. In case of a 1-1 deadlock, two additional 3-minute blitz games will be played.

If the tie persists, a final game will be played with white needing to win with five minutes of thinking time while black, with four minutes, requires only a draw to advance.

The players: Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Teymur Rajabov (Azerbaijan), Alexei Shirov (Spain), Etienne Bacrot (France), Sergey Rublevsky (Russia), Evgeny Bareev (Russia), Arkadij Naiditsch (Germany), P. Hari Krishna (India), Ivan Sokolov (Netherlands), Victor Bologan (Moldova), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Farrukh Amonatov (Tajikistan) and two wild cards, Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine) and Ilia Smirin (Israel). The Hindu