The World Cup will begin in about a month. FIDE just released the 1st round matchups for the knockouts. Here are some of the most intriguing pairings (US and worldwide):

Kamsky, Gata (11) USA 2714 – Adly, Ahmed (118) EGY 2494 (2007 World Junior Champion)
Onischuk, Alexander (28) USA 2674 – Andriasian, Zaven (101) ARM 2546 (2006 World Junior Champion)
Vallejo Pons, Francisco (36) ESP 2660 – Kudrin, Sergey (93) USA 2563
Navara, David (38) CZE 2656 – Ivanov, Alexander (91) USA 2565
Bareev, Evgeny (41) RUS 2653 – Becerra Rivero, Julio (88) USA 2568
Roiz, Michael (49) ISR 2644 – Akobian, Varuzhan (80) USA 2585
Gurevich, Mikhail (58) TUR 2627 – Kaidanov, Gregory S (71) USA 2597
Shabalov, Alexander (59) USA 2626 – Pavasovic, Dusko (70) SLO 2597
Shulman, Yuri (60) USA 2616 – Leitao, Rafael (69) BRA 2601
Rodshtein, Maxim (61) ISR 2615 – Gustafsson, Jan (68) GER 2606
Laznicka, Viktor (62) CZE 2610 – Macieja, Bartlomiej (67) POL 2606
Kozul, Zdenko (63) CRO 2609 -Bruzon Batista, Lazaro (66) CUB 2607
Bartel, Mateusz (64) POL 2608 – Galkin, Alexander (65) RUS 2608

You can download the full pairings here.

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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