Ashot Vardapetian, Chief Arbiter of the World Cup, discusses organizational issues and sums up the first day of the Round 1.

— Mr. Vardapetian, could you tell a few words about the importance of this event? — The World Cup is one of the main parts of the World Championship cycle. Winning the World Cup brings you very close to challenging the chess crown.

Previous World Cups proved that these events cannot be won by an unknown player. All the winners belong to the chess elite, and we are confident that this tournament will be no different. The lineup is very strong, and the fighting spirit of the players is beyond doubt.

Another important factor that makes this event so interesting is that it gives not one, but three tickets to the Candidates tournament.

— The first two tickets will be given to the winner and the runner-up, how about the third one? — The losers of the semi-finals will compete for the third place.

— What are your impressions from the first day? — Everybody seems willing to fight. We did not put any restrictions on the number of moves, but the players kept fighting, and there were no short draws. I expect more exciting and uncompromising games as we go on.

— Can you introduce the arbiters of the competition? — All the arbiters are selected by FIDE. I am the Chief Arbiter, and Mikhail Kryukov from Russia is the Deputy Chief. By the way, he is also the Chairman of the Arbiters' Committee of the Russian Chess Federation. Three other arbiters will work at the first five rounds. All of them are excellent professionals from different countries, and worked in Khanty-Mansiysk many times.

— Can you make any predictions on the outcome? — Arbiters are not in a position to make any predictions. We want to see fair competition, and may the best player win.

— How do you like organization of the World Cup? — The Ugra Chess Academy hosts the World Cup for the first time. The first day showed that the organizers did everything possible to run the event smoothly and at the highest level. They quickly satisfy all the needs of players and arbiters, and make sure everybody feels comfortable here.