No, they decided against playing because Fide changed the rules during the cycle.

But seriously, it's a shame if Ponomariov, amongst others, isn't there.

For Anand and Kramnik it might be a matter of their schedules: Kramnik plays Dortmund which starts just three days later, and Anand was supposed to play Bazna. Which raises the question how the event would have looked like if Bazna took place as scheduled: Would Carlsen, Radjabov, Karjakin and/or Ivanchuk have travelled from Bazna (which was supposed to finish July 4th) straight to Astana (which for them starts July 6th)? BTW how did Bologan make it into the field? He was just 68th on the January 2012 rating list used to select the players, on the current list he is 28th still behind, among others, Ponomariov(!).

Another issue are anti-draw rules in blitz: apparently players have to keep pushing wood even with seconds on their clocks. And can arbiters really keep track of the 50 move rule and threefold repetitions (which could also occur on, say, moves 50, 58 and 62) - long after the live transmission may have broken down?

so he is intelligent?

dont you have a life S3 ?

@S3

I don't remember the details - did Carlsen refused to play in the previous Candidates due to "ethical concerns", or because he considered the system too random to promote the strongest challenger?

"he also participated in Libya under Khadaffi"

He was 13 years old then. You don't like Carlsen much, do you?

´...Carlsen plays even though FIDE once again changed the rules...´ Haha, good point =)

Not that he isnt already exposed more than enough, for those able , or just willing, to see.

You're criticizing Carlsen for participating in a tournament and not taking a political stance when when he was 13? You sound like one of those right wingers who thinks 7 year olds should be tried as adults otherwise officials are being soft on crime.

After all, SportAccord World Mind Games were held in mid-December 2011, immediately before the publication of January List.

So much so for FIDE taking blitz and rapid chess more and more seriously and publishing separate ratings lists.

Gashimov (world #10 on the January 2012 list) was on the initial list of participants - see link "As we reported earlier" in the Chessvibes article. Apparently he chose not to participate, just like Anand, Aronian, Kramnik and two of the replacements (Nakamura and Tomashevsky).

I guess players had their own reasons for accepting or declining invitations, some simply may not want to travel to Astana (not exactly around the corner) for just three days. The event might have been (even) stronger if it took place in Moscow, particularly if it was held right after Tal Memorial when many are already in town. I don't think - or at least there's no evidence - that players are afraid of damaging their reputation if they don't play well, it's just rapid and blitz ... . That could be the case for Nakamura, but on the other hand he would have the longest trip of all potential participants.

Too much venom in your posts.

Take Xanax.

On another note - Dimi does seem to miss out on alot and he is an extremely talented blitz player.

Despite what many of his fans think, Nakamura is not any stronger a rapid/blitz player than we would expect a player of his rating to be. He did participate in the last Blitz World Championship, Moscow 2010, and finished tied with Gelfand for 4th-5th, three points behind Aronian. Then he lost a 40 game blitz match against Carlsen by the rather depressing score of 24.5-15.5. He also competed in Amber 2011, where he finished with an even score in the rapid section, 2 points shy of even taking second place in rapid, much less rivaling Carlsen's +8 rapid score. The real shame is that Aronian isn't participating, as he is the defending Blitz champion and took second in the last Amber rapid.

The real tournament with prequalified players (top 10) starts on Friday. So qualification games only going on at the moment. Peter mentioned the fact in his article.