Standings after the 1st round:
| # | Player | + | = | – | Points |
| 1 | Vladimir Krámnik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 2-3 | Alexei Shirov | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2-3 | Viswanathan Anand | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Magnus Carlsen | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Note: “Bilbao System”: 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
After this tournament, Kramnik will be back to #1.
After this tournament, Carlsen will be back at #5.
I like this scoring system! It gives more incentive to play for the win.