Round 1 pairings:
| Bd. | # | White | # | Black |
| 1 | 13 | GM Alexander Stripunsky | 1 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | 2 | GM Gata Kamsky | 14 | GM Ray Robson |
| 3 | 15 | GM Joel Benjamin | 3 | GM Alexander Onischuk |
| 4 | 4 | GM Yury Schulman | 16 | GM Vinay Bhat |
| 5 | 17 | GM Ben Finegold | 5 | GM Varuzhan Akobian |
| 6 | 6 | GM Aleksandr Lenderman | 18 | GM Melikset Khachiyan |
| 7 | 19 | GM Alex Yermolinsky | 7 | GM Jaan Ehlvest |
| 8 | 8 | GM Robert Hess | 20 | IM Sam Shankland |
| 9 | 21 | GM Jesse Kraai | 9 | GM Alexander Shabalov |
| 10 | 10 | GM Larry Christaiansen | 22 | GM Dmitry Gurevich |
| 11 | 23 | IM Irina Krush | 11 | GM Gregory Kaidanov |
| 12 | 12 | GM Sergey Kudrin | 24 | IM Levon Altounian |
Round 1 prediction?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Definitely rooting for Ray Robson!
its is very funny for me (french) to see many GMI having learning chess in exURSS with botvinnik’s methods …succeed to bobby fischer…as champion’s chess in USA …