Armenia’s Levon Aronian will play against Alexander Grischuk of Russia in round 1 of the World Championship cycle.
Grischuk will replace Magnus Carlsen, who has withdrawn from the Candidates matches.
The other pairs are: Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) – Gata Kamsky (U.S), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) – Teymour Radjabov (Azerbaijan), Boris Gelfand (Israel) – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan).
In case on victory, Aronian will rival the winner of Kramnik – Radjabov pair, armchess.am reported.
