We referred to the Corsica Masters a few days ago in the context of a scandal and also the fascinating Cheparinov-Pesotskyi game. Now it's time to briefly discuss the event as a whole.
The tournament has gone in two stages. The first was an open event, won by Krishnan Sasikiran with 7.5/9, half a point better than Gawain Jones and a point ahead of 13 other players. Sasikiran, Jones and twelve of the thirteen 6.5 pointers qualified for the next stage, a knockout series at a rapid time control. Viswanathan Anand and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were invited as direct seeds in the knockout stage, and they have made it into tomorrow's final after defeated Sasikiran and Ivan Cheparinov, respectively, in the semi-finals.
The qualifying event was played with a "classical" time control and will be rated, but the rapid games won't be. However, FIDE decided this past week to introduce rapid and blitz ratings, effective January 1, 2012. (HT: Chess Today)