Armenian Grandmaster Levon Aronian started the tournament drawing with Vasiliy Ivanchuk (Ukraine) in the first round of FIDE Grand Prix, timed to the celebration of 80th anniversary of Chess Champion Tigran Petrosyan. Armenian Vladimir Hakopyan drew with Yevgeniy Alekseev (Russia).

In the frames of FIDE Grand Prix each player can participate in the four tournaments out of six. Alexander Grischuk (Russia) and Teymur Rajabov (Azerbaijan) head the standings, having 363.33 points each. Aronian is the third with 360 points. If Aronian wins, he will gain the right to participate in the Chess Challenge Tournament.