The second memorial tournament in honor of Vugar Gashimov starts in just a few hours in Shamkir, Azerbaijan (at 3 p.m. local time = 11 a.m. CET = 6 a.m. ET - ugh), and has a fantastic lineup. Here are the pairings for round 1 of this round-robin event, with live ratings (rounded up) and world rankings given in parentheses:
Carlsen is obviously the favorite, but with five black games, including black against both Anand and Kramnik, he'll have his hands full. Fabiano Caruana lost a lot of ground after St. Louis, possibly due to his non-stop playing schedule. He has had a couple of months off, and is likely to have refreshed both his physical resources and his stock of dangerous opening ideas. Anand has continued to play well since his last match with Carlsen, and there's no reason to think he can't contend here as well. Giri and So are both young and climbing, and if either gets off to a good start they could be dangerous. Kramnik has been a feast-or-famine player for several years now: either he contends for first or bombs; we'll have to see which Kramnik shows up. Vachier-Lagrave, Adams and Mamedyarov seem less likely to contend for first, but nothing is impossible for them - especially Adams, who has beaten everyone (well, not Kasparov, but he's long retired) and won plenty of top tournaments. Finally, Mamedov is probably too big an underdog to contend for first, but he's a tricky player who might ruin someone else's tournament at a key moment.
The fun begins in five and a hours; tournament site here.