| Starting rank list | ||||
| No. | Title | Name | Fed | Rtg |
| 4 | GM | Shimanov Aleksandr | RUS | 2640 |
| 7 | GM | Hovhannisyan Robert | ARM | 2630 |
| 5 | IM | Belous Vladimir | RUS | 2553 |
| 6 | GM | Sethuraman S.P. | IND | 2538 |
| 9 | GM | Krejci Jan | CZE | 2529 |
| 1 | IM | Eliseev Urii | RUS | 2525 |
| 3 | IM | Mozharov Mikhail | RUS | 2510 |
| 10 | IM | Reshetnikov Alexey | RUS | 2508 |
| 8 | IM | Stukopin Andrey | RUS | 2495 |
| 2 | IM | Firat Burak | TUR | 2406 |