Oh Pair

FIDE has released its no really it's final final list (Word format) of players for the 2004 FIDE World Championship. They even released pairings for the first round (Excel format). You can't expect too many upsets on the first 20 boards, which are mostly devoid of GM vs GM play, but in a two-game mini-match with a fast time control we'll probably have a few anyway.

I still remember the look on Frenchman Olivier Touzane's 2368-rated face when he beat Vishy Anand with black in the first game of his round one match in the last FIDE KO in Moscow, 2001. (That's him on that very day on the left. The arm around him belongs to his fellow French representative Vlady Tkachiev.) It was a fun but short-lived celebration as Anand wiped him out the next day and then won the rapid tiebreak. Leko also lost a first-round game, to Watu Kobese.

Getting back to the Libya pairings, only the Kazaks have the bittersweet certain knowledge that one of their three representatives will be eliminated and one will make it to the second round. Amazingly with 19 Russians in the field, none will meet in the first round.