Azerbaijan, Baku / Тrend corr Z. Safarov / The Azerbaijani grand master Teymur Rajabov is the favourite for the prestigious tournament to begin in Biel, Switzerland on 23 July.
The chess player, who is ranked 8th place in the FIDE table, is way ahead of his main rival, Alexander Grishchuk, who is ranked 14th. Rajabov also leaves behind other participants of the forthcoming tournament, namely Magnus Karlsen from Norway, Yudit Palgar from Hungary, Xiangzhi Bu from China, Loek Van Wely from the Netherlands, Alexander Onischuk from the United States, Alexander Motilev, from Russia, Ilya Avrukh from Israel and Yanik Peletye from Switzerland.
Before the tournament in Biel, Rajabov has participated in the competition on fast chess in Odessa, Ukraine, where he won the 3rd place.