Shahriyar Mammadyarov, the holder of the highest Elo coefficient (2709) among the Azerbaijani chess-players, will play in the tournament A to be held in Dutch town Veyk-an-Zee from 13 to 29 January.
It became possible after refusal of Kramnik from participation in the tournament due to arthritis. Mammadyarov planned to participate in the tournament B took the place of Kramnik.
Attending the competition will be world grand masters such as Veselin Topalov, g BUL 2801, Vishvanatan Anand g IND 2792, Levon Aronian g ARM 2752, Peter Leco g HUN 2740, Vasiliy Ivanchuk g UKR 2729, Boris Gelfand g ISR 2723, Ethien Bacro g FRA 2717, Michael Adams g ENG 2707, Ivan Sokolov g NED 2689, Gata Kamskiy g USA 2686, Sergey Tivyakov g NED 2669, Sergey Karyakin g UKR 2660, Luk Van Veli g NED 2647.