Le trophee Anatoly Karpov 2013

Ooh la la, what an interesting line up!  I like the format too -- a 14 double round to whittle the players down before a final rapid knock-out.  Holy Tough! 

Information from The Week in Chess and the official website:

Le trophee Anatoly Karpov takes place in Cap D'Agde 25th October to 2nd November 2013. Ivanchuk, Karpov, Bacrot, Pelletier, Muzychuk, Maisuradze, Zhao Xue and Sebag play in a 14 round double preliminary event. 4 players advance to the knockout. 25 mins + 10 seconds a move.

Official website (in French, but with Google "translation" to English provided - hilarious!)

Current standings:

Le classement après la ronde 12

Joueur	Elo	Pays	Pts	SB
Anatoly KARPOV	(2619)	RUS	10	52
Etienne BACROT	(2730)	FRA	8	34
Yannick PELLETIER	(2578)	SUI	7,5	32,5
Vassily IVANCHUK	(2733)	UKR	6,5	32,25
Mariya MUZYCHUK	(2491)	UKR	6,5	31,5
Marie SEBAG	(2510)	FRA	5,5	32,25
Xue ZHAO	(2579)	CHN	3,5	10,75
Nino MAISURADZE	(2302)	FRA	0,5	3,25

As I understand the rules, only the top 4 finishers will go into the knock-out rounds.  Looks like the ladies are going to be shut out unless one or more can pull some miracle chess out of their handbags...