The World Chess Federation (FIDE) has issued the list of chess players for Grand Prix final to be held in Astrakhan, Russia, from May 9 to 25. Levon Aronian, the winner of 2009 Grand Prix will not be participating, according to an agreement with FIDE, armchess.am reported.

Armenia will be represented by Vladimir Akopian. Other participants are: Boris Gelfand (Israel), Peter Leko (Hungary), Vassily Ivanchuk, Ruslan Ponomarev, Pavel Elyanov (Ukraine). Peter Svidler, Dmitry Yakovenko, Evgeny Alekseev, Ernesto Inakriev (Russia), Vugar Gashimov, Teimour Radjabov, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) and Yue Wang (China).

Women will play in Nalchik, Russia, from April 25 to May 8. Participants: Elina Danielyan, Lilit Mkrtchyan (Armenia), Humpy Koneru (India), Zhao Xue, Yifan Hou (China) Zhu Chen (Qatar). Pia Cramling (Sweden), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia), Tatiana Kosintseva, Baira Kovanova (Russia), Batkhuyag Munguntuul (Mongolia) and Betul Yildiz (Turkey).