15.12.2006 THE LINE-UP OF THE ACP WORLD CUP IS ANNOUNCED

The joint press release of Pivdennyj Bank and Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) on the 1stACP World Rapid Cup in Odessa     A new move in the history of professional chess!     The line-up of the ACP World Cup is announced! (Press release, 13 December 2006)

On the 13th of December 2006 at the press conference in the PIVDENNYJ Bank (Odessa, Ukraine) the line-up of the 1st ACP World Rapid Cup was announced. The event will be held in Odessa, hotel Londonskaya, 4th – 8th January 2007. The International Grandmaster, the President of the Association of Chess Professionals (ACP) Mr. Pavel Tregubov and the Vice President of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, the President of Odessa Chess Federation, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pivdennyj Bank Mr. Vadim Morokhovsky took part in the press conference.

The event organized by the Pivdennyj Bank is the final part of the ACP Tour which is the most large-scaled Association’s project since its foundation in 2003. The prize fund of the tournament is 136.000 USD. The Cup will be the only tournament of the elite level which is formed on a basis of the strict sporting principles. Those who have gained a right to participate in the World Cup are 14 players scoring the best results in accordance with the ACP rating system in 64 first-rate tournaments held in 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 seasons. Three grandmasters of the main list withdrew and were substituted by the players who had taken the first places in the candidate list.

So the participants are Alexander Morozevich (Russia), Peter Leko (Hungary), Boris Gelfand (Israel), Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Alexey Shirov (Spain), Etienne Bacrot (France), Sergey Rublevsky (Russia), Evgeny Bareev (Russia), Arkady Naiditch (Germany), Penteala Harikrishna (India), Ivan Sokolov (Netherlands), Viorel Bologan (Moldova), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Farrukh Amonatov (Tajikistan).

Apart from this, according to the joint decision of the PIVDENNYJ Bank and ACP two Wild Card invitations were extended to Ilya Smirin (Israel) and one the strongest Ukrainian Grandmasters whose name will be announced later. Thus in the tournament which will be held by the knock out system 16 world class grandmasters will take part. On the ACP official website (www.chess-players.org/rus) the regulations and schedule are already published.

ACP Board

PIVDENNYJ Bank Press Service

For additional information and the accreditation of the mass media representatives please connect with us by phone or via email:

PIVDENNYJ Bank (website www.bank.com.ua)

ken@pivdenny.ua (Elena Korobkova, Press Secretary of the Bank), tel. (+38)-048-7871221

Association of Chess Professionals (website www.chess-players.org)

gmi@europe.com (Mikhail Golubev, member of the ACP Board), tel. (+38)-050-4957046