[1][2] It was won by Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated Dmitry Andreikin 2½–1½ in the final match.

The winner of the Chess World Cup 2011, Peter Svidler, was defeated by Dmitry Andreikin in the quarter-finals.

Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand, and Veselin Topalov qualified for the event, but they declined to participate.

[6] Levon Aronian (who declined to play in 2009 and 2011) and Vladimir Kramnik (who had never played in a Chess World Cup) chose to participate because FIDE made participation in either the Chess World Cup or the FIDE Grand Prix series mandatory for qualification to the 2014 Candidates Tournament through rating.

[7] In particular, Alexander Grischuk was decidedly negative about the organization, as was noted coach Vladimir Chuchelov.