Grand Chess Tour 2018

[Wayne Komer]

Grand Chess Tour 2018

February 1, 2018

From chess.com

https://www.chess.com/news/view/invi...tour-announced

2018 Grand Chess Tour Invitees, Dates Announced

Peter Doggers

Magnus Carlsen, the winner of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour, headlines the list of invitees for the 2018 tour. The organizers have announced the 10 invited players and the dates in a press release.

The tour organizers explained their criteria for inviting the players. Interestingly, FIDE ratings were giving higher value than the tour's own Universal Rating System (URS):

First, the top three finishers of last year's tour were selected.

Then, the three players (not yet selected) with the highest average FIDE rating of the 12 rating lists between February 1, 2017 and January 1, 2018.

Then, the three players (not yet selected) with the highest URS rating.

One player selected by the GCT Advisory Board.

2018 Grand Chess Tour - Invited Players # Fed Name Rtg Criteria

1 GM Magnus Carlsen 2834 1st place, 2017 Grand Chess Tour
2 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2793 2nd place, 2017 Grand Chess Tour
3 GM Levon Aronian 2797 3rd place, 2017 Grand Chess Tour
4 GM Fabiano Caruana 2811 1st Average FIDE Classic Rating
5 GM Wesley So 2792 2nd Average FIDE Classic Rating
6 GM Vladimir Kramnik 2787 3rd Average FIDE Classic Rating
7 GM Hikaru Nakamura 2781 1st Universal Rating System
8 GM Alexander Grischuk 2767 2nd Universal Rating System
9 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2804 3rd Universal Rating System
10 GM Viswanathan Anand 2767 GCT Advisory Board Nominee

As the organizers mention in their press release, Anand was selected "after taking account of his status as a former world champion and as the reigning World Rapid Chess Champion."

They also noted that was ranked ninth per the average FIDE ratings, and 11th according to the URS rating list per January 1.

Compared to last year, two invited players are missing: Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Alexander Grischuk, Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov were not in the initial participants list last year.

The dates for 2018:

Your Next Move GCT (Rapid & Blitz) June 10-17, 2018 | Brussels-Leuven, Belgium

Paris GCT (Rapid & Blitz) June 17-26, 2018 | Paris, France

Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz (Rapid & Blitz) August 9-16, 2018 | St. Louis, Missouri

Sinquefield Cup (Classical) August 16-29, 2018 | St. Louis, Missouri

At this point the exact dates for the 2018 London Chess Classic & GCT Tour Finals have not been confirmed yet, but these events will be held between December 10 and 21.

[Wayne Komer]

Re: Grand Chess Tour 2018

Grand Chess Tour 2018

March 10, 2018

from:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/final-...t-participants

Final 2018 GCT participants

The players for the next Grand Chess Tour circuit have been announced, settling the question of whether or not Magnus Carlsen would return to defend his 2017 win - he won't. The demanding schedule of the GCT was too much to commit to fully during a World Championship match year.

In addition to Carlsen, Ian Nepomniachtchi is also not in the tour, replaced by Alexander Grischuk, but the remaining seven players from last year are back. There will be single-event wildcards, so we know that Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri will play at least one event as well. Other wild cards for events in the second half of the year will be announced later, so Carlsen may yet have a chance to make an entrance as the 2018 tour progresses.

The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is pleased to release the names of the nine players that have signed full GCT Tour contracts for the 2018 GCT Tour.

GM Viswanathan Anand (IND)
GM Levon Aronian (ARM)
GM Fabiano Caruana (USA)
GM Alexander Grischuk (RUS)
GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS)
GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA)
GM Wesley So (USA)
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)

World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Ex-World Champion Vladimir Kramnik declined their full tour invitations and the GCT Advisory Board decided to extend a full tour invitation to GM Sergey Karjakin who was next in line based on the URS rating list.

The last place in each tournament will be filled by event level wildcards and two wildcard invitations have been extended and accepted to date:

GM Vladimir Kramnik accepted a wildcard invitation for the 2018 Paris GCT Rapid & Blitz; and
GM Anish Giri accepted a wildcard invitation for the 2018 YNM Leuven Rapid & Blitz

The playing dates for the 2018 Grand Chess Tour events in Paris and Leuven have also been finalised and will be as follows:

Activity - - - Leuven - - - Paris

Rapid Games 1-3 Tue Jun 12 - - Wed Jun 20
Rapid Games 4-6 Wed Jun 13 - - Thu Jun 21
Rapid Games 7-9 Thu Jun 14 - - Fri Jun 22
Blitz Games 1-9 Fri Jun 15 - - Sat Jun 23
Blitz Games 10-18 Sat Jun 16 - - Sun Jun 24

[Wayne Komer]

Grand Chess Tour 2018

June 25, 2018

For immediate release

Mr Michael Khodarkovsky Grand Chess Tour Spokesperson

Carlsen & Dominguez accept wildcard invitations for Grand Chess Tour tournaments in Saint Louis

The Grand Chess Tour is pleased to announce that reigning World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen from Norway and GM Leinier Dominguez Perez from Cuba have both accepted wildcard invitations to participate in the 2018 Grand Chess Tour at our forthcoming tournaments in Saint Louis, USA in August 2018.

GM Magnus Carlsen will participate in the 2018 Sinquefield Cup while GM Leinier Dominguez Perez, currently rated number 2 in the world on the June 2018 FIDE Rapid rating list, will participate in the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament.

During their respective tournaments, they will be joined by the nine full tour participants who are:

1. GM Fabiano Caruana, (USA)
2. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
3. GM Wesley So (USA)
4. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
5. GM Hikaru Nakamura (USA)
6. GM Sergey Karjakin (RUS)
7. GM Viswanathan Anand (IND)
8. GM Levon Aronian (ARM)
9. GM Alexander Grischuk (RUS)

The 2018 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will take place from August 11 until August 15 and offers a prize fund of $150,000.

The 2018 Sinquefield Cup will then take place from August 17 until August 28 with the players competing for a prize pool of $300,000.

Both tournaments will be held at the Saint Louis Chess Club while the traditional Ultimate Moves tournament will take place between the two events on August 16. The Sinquefield Cup will be the last scheduled encounter between the World Champion and contender Fabiano Caruana before their highly anticipated World Championship match in November.