Here are the participants who will be competing, noting that only a small number of them were present last year.
Karjakin (3rd in 2009) and Kramnik (4th) as well as renowned Blitz player Hikaru Nakamura are the players who are perhaps the most likely to snatch Carlsen's crown.
Seed | Name | Country | Classical Rating | Age | World rank | 2009 standing |
01 | Magnus Carlsen | NOR | (2802) | 19 | 2 | 1 |
02 | Levon Aronian | ARM | (2801) | 28 | 3 | 12 |
03 | Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | (2791) | 35 | 4 | 4 |
04 | Alexander Grischuk | RUS | (2771) | 27 | 6 | 5 |
05 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | AZE | (2763) | 25 | 8 | 9 |
06 | Sergey Karjakin | RUS | (2760) | 20 | 9 | 3 |
07 | Ruslan Ponomariov | UKR | (2744) | 27 | 11 | 7 |
08 | Teimour Radjabov | AZE | (2744) | 23 | 12 | - |
09 | Pavel Eljanov | UKR | (2742) | 27 | 13 | - |
10 | Boris Gelfand | ISR | (2741) | 42 | 14 | 17 |
11 | Hikaru Nakamura | USA | (2741) | 23 | 15 | - |
12 | Peter Svidler | RUS | (2722) | 34 | 23 | 6 |
13 | Sergei Movsesian | SVK | (2721) | 32 | 24 | - |
14 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | RUS | (2720) | 20 | 26 | - |
15 | Fabiano Caruana | ITA | (2709) | 18 | 32 | - |
16 | Maxime Vachier Lagrave | FRA | (2703) | 20 | 36 | - |
17 | Dmitry Andreikin | RUS | (2683) | 20 | 54 | - |
18 | Rauf Mamedov | AZE | (2660) | 22 | 83 | - |
19 | Boris Grachev | RUS | (2654) | 24 | 91 | - |
20 | Boris Savchenko | RUS | (2632) | 24 | 124 | - |
The ages demonstrate that Blitz is very much a young players realm with many player's in their early twenties. Carlsen is second youngest (after Caruana) with veteran Boris Gelfand hoping to perform better than in 2009.
For more information go to the Official site