These are the matchups for round 2:
1 Ivanchuk – Cheparinov
2 Bacrot – Kempinski
3 Aronian – Sadvakasov
4 Grischuk – Istratescu
5 Gelfand – Felgaer
6 Shirov – Kotronias
7 Lane – Jobava
8 Radjabov – Kazhgaleyev
9 Ponomariov – Motylev
10 Tiviakov – Korneev
11 I.Sokolov – Zhang. Z
12 Dreev – Paragua
13 Kamsky – Bocharov
14 Bologan – Efimenko
15 Lautier – A. Ivanov
16 Bruzon – Onischuk
17 Bareev – Naiditsch
18 Mamedyarov – Najer
19 Vallejo – Leitao
20 Smirin – Wang Yue
21 Harikrishna – Vescovi
22 Malakhov – Nikolic
23 Sakaev – Erenburg
24 Cao – Xu Jun
25 Moiseenko – van Wely
26 Sasikiran – Rublevsky
27 Eljanov – M.Gurevich
28 Ganguly – Pantsulaia
29 Shulman – Khalifman
30 Balogh – Areshchenko
31 Timofeev – Sutovsky
32 Carlsen – Ammonatov 
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
The garbage is the knockout format.
Calling this “World Cup Knockout Lottery Round 2”, is very unfair! It is always true that the player who plays better in a game wins that. So I don’t understand why it should be called a “Lottery” round.
Because to decide a match in 2 games is ridiculous! It’s the lottery.
Jan
Because the players’ strength among many of these matchups are so close. It is almost impossible to pick the favorites for all of them.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
well, knockout is a avlid form of tournament in many sports. Why should it be so strange for chess?
The “knock out” format is used in many team sports, such as soccer (World Cup) and college basketball tournaments. I think there is a difference between using it with a team sport, where one person’s untimely poor performance doesn’t necessarily mean loss, versus chess where there simply isn’t anyone else there to cover for you. One bad game, one error, and your chance is over. This is why I personally prefer matches to decide on a champion. That format does a better job of removing the chance elements such as an uncharacteristic blunder and determining a winner through a series of games where talent, skill, and stamina are the deciding factors.
Susan, Calling knock out format ‘Lottery’ is not fair!! I would say well prepared player wins, ranking does not matter. Knock out format is everwhere..Tennis, Badminton amd many individual events of atheletics!!!!If Nakamura lost, that means he was not well prepared or he underestimated his opponent!!!
We cannot take credit away from the lowly ranked players who are winning by calling it a ‘Lottery’
Remember, in tennis lowly ranked player is awarded bonus points for win over highly ranked player!!!
Prakash,
I just explained it a few comments above yours. Please look at it. I called it lottery because it is impossible for me or anyone else to pick the winners for the 32 matchups this round. Anyone can beat anyone and I think you will see a lot of upsets. That is the exciting part about it. Trying to pick the winners is like trying to pick lottery numbers. I am not sure why you think that is negative.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
http://www.SusanPolgar.com
Hi,
What is this tournament exactly, do the top few qualify for something bigger ? I mean, no big names are here..