One of the selected aspirations of a chess grandmaster is to become a world chess champion. Very few achieve such a distinction, but eligible grandmasters keep entering tournaments which offer them an opportunity to face the world champion, hoping for the best.
One such tournament, which offers a participating grandmaster an opportunity at fulfilling this desire, is the 2017 FIDE World Cup, currently being held in Tbilisi, Georgia. The winner and runner-up automatically qualify for the significant Candidates Tournament, joining other entrants who qualify via other routes. One hundred and twenty-eight grandmasters began the World Cup based on their rankings, but only two will be successful. Already some of the world’s top ten chess players have been eliminated, including world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway.