Grand Chess Tour 2019

[Wayne Komer]

Grand Chess Tour 2019

February 13, 2019

From the official site:

https://grandchesstour.org/2019-grand-chess-tour

2019 Grand Chess Tour

The fifth edition of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) will see the tour expand to eight tournaments and increase the number of full tour participants to twelve. The tour will also welcome fourteen event level wildcards in 2019. Tour participants will fight for a record prize fund of $1.75 million as the GCT expands its reach to four continents to include tournaments in Africa, Asia, Europe and America.

The prize money on offer for the classical tournaments has been increased to $325,000 per event ($90,000 for 1st place and $60,000 for 2nd) while the prize fund for the GCT Finals in London will also be raised to $350,000 ($150,000 for 1st place and $100,000 for 2nd).

The new tournaments will be in Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Kolkata (India), Bucharest (Romania) and Zagreb (Croatia). Major sponsors already confirmed for the 2019 season include Vivendi SA, Colliers International, Tata Steel India, St Louis Chess Club and Superbet Group. Gameplan Sports have been appointed as the official sponsorship and branding partner of the tour.

Croatia GCT and the Sinquefield Cup will be classical tournaments with five rapid and blitz tournaments to be held in Abidjan, Paris, St Louis, Bucharest and Kolkata. The GCT Finals will once again be held in London as part of the 2019 London Chess Classic.

The twelve full tour participants will play in both classical events as well as in three of the five rapid and blitz tournaments. The classical events will be expanded to eleven-rounds while the rapid and blitz events will all use the GCT’s traditional ten player formats.

The full schedule for the 2019 regular season (including arrival and departure days) is as follows:

Cote d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz, May 6 - 13, 2019, Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Croatia GCT (Classical), June 24 - July 9, 2019, Zagreb, Croatia

Paris Rapid & Blitz, July 26 - August 2, 2019, Paris, France

St Louis Rapid & Blitz, August 8 - 15, 2019, St. Louis, Missouri USA

Sinquefield Cup (Classical), August 15 - 30, 2019, St. Louis, Missouri USA

Superbet Rapid & Blitz, November 4 - 11, 2019, Bucharest, Romania

Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz, November 20 - 27, 2019, Kolkata, India

The top four players by cumulative score will qualify for the 2019 GCT Finals which will be held during the London Chess Classic in London, UK between November 30 and December 10, 2019.

From Chessbase:

https://en.chessbase.com/post/grand-...he-2019-season

The list of the twelve full tour participants:

No. Name Federation URS (Rank) FIDE (Rank)

1 Carlsen, Magnus NOR 2859 (1) 2835 (1)
2 Nakamura, Hikaru USA 2806 (2) 2749 (16)
3 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime FRA 2796 (3) 2780 (6)
4 Caruana, Fabiano USA 2794 (4) 2828 (2)
5 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar AZE 2792 (5) 2817 (3)
6 Ding, Liren CHN 2788 (6) 2813 (4)
7 Aronian, Levon ARM 2782 (7) 2767 (10)
8 So, Wesley USA 2779 (8) 2765 (11)
9 Nepomniachtchi, Ian RUS 2778 (8) 2763 (13)
10 Karjakin, Sergey RUS 2776 (10) 2753 (15)
11 Giri, Anish NED 2765 (14) 2783 (5)
12 Anand, Viswanathan IND 2761 (16) 2773 (8)

Ratings as of January 1, 2019

Karjakin replaces Kramnik who announced his retirement from chess

[Wayne Komer]

Grand Chess Tour 2019

February 20, 2019

From the official site:

https://grandchesstour.org/news-pres...and-chess-tour

Saint Louis, MO, February 19, 2019 –

World Champion and GCT Champion to play in Africa and Asia as part of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour

The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is pleased to announce that the 2019 GCT tournament roster has been finalised and the schedule will see World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen and 2018 GCT Champion Hikaru Nakamura participating in the rapid and blitz events in both Africa and Asia. The twelve full tour players will participate in the following events with scheduling having been finalised in cooperation with FIDE to avoid direct clashes with the Grand Prix series.

Cote d’Ivoire R&B
May 6 - 13
Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Carlsen, Magnus
Nakamura, Hikaru
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Ding, Liren
So, Wesley
Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Karjakin, Sergey
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)

Paris R&B
July 26 - Aug. 2
Paris, France

Nakamura, Hikaru
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Caruana, Fabiano
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Giri, Anish
Anand, Viswanathan
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)

Saint Louis R&B
Aug. 8 - 15
St Louis, USA

Carlsen, Magnus
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Caruana, Fabiano
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Ding, Liren
Aronian, Levon
Karjakin, Sergey
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)

Superbet R&B
Nov. 4 - 11
Bucharest, Romania

Caruana, Fabiano
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Aronian, Levon
So, Wesley
Karjakin, Sergey
Giri, Anish
Anand, Viswanathan
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)

Tata Steel India R&B
Nov. 20 - 27
Kolkata, India

Carlsen, Magnus
Nakamura, Hikaru
Ding, Liren
Aronian, Levon
So, Wesley
Nepomniachtchi, Ian
Giri, Anish
Anand, Viswanathan
Wildcard (TBC)
Wildcard (TBC)

All twelve full tour participants will also participate in the Croatia GCT tournament and in the Sinquefield Cup before the top four qualifiers proceed to the season ending GCT Finals in London in December

__________

About the Grand Chess Tour (http:/grandchesstour.org)

The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world's best players. The Tour was created in partnership between the St Louis Chess Club (Sinquefield Cup) and Chess Promotions, Ltd. (London Chess Classic). The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world's greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers.

__________

I don’t know why, but it pleases me greatly that the World Champion will be playing a tournament in Africa, in Côte d’Ivoire. It is in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea and in between Liberia and Ghana. For the purposes of a possible appearance on Jeopardy!, one must remember that the capital is Yamoussoukro.

[Wayne Komer]

Grand Chess Tour 2019

March 13, 2019

From the official site:

https://grandchesstour.org/news-pres...djan-and-paris

Grand Chess Tour Wildcards for Abidjan and Paris
Saint Louis, MO, March 12, 2019 – The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) has opted for a mix of youth and experience in selecting the six wildcards that will participate in the forthcoming rapid and blitz tournaments in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire and Paris, France. The following six players have accepted wildcard invitations and will showcase their talents alongside the seven full tour participants in each event.

Cote d’Ivoire Rapid and Blitz

May 6 - May 13

1 Wei Yi
2 Veselin Topalov
3 Bassem Amin

Paris Rapid and Blitz

July 26 – August 2

1 Alexander Grischuk
2 Jan-Krzysztof Duda
3 Daniil Dubov

The selections are consistent with the approach that will be adopted for all GCT events this year. While former FIDE World Champion GM Veselin Topalov and GM Alexander Grischuk are no strangers to the Tour, the other four wildcards will all be making their debut appearances at a GCT event.

GM’s Wei Yi, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Daniil Dubov represent the very best of a growing group of emerging junior players while GM Bassem Amin is the reigning African Individual Champion as well as the number one ranked player from the African continent. He will become the first player from Africa to participate in a GCT tournament when he participates in the tournament in Abidjan in May.

The full fields for these two rapid and blitz tournaments are now finalised and are as follows:

Cote d’Ivoire Rapid & Blitz

1 Magnus Carlsen
2 Hikaru Nakamura
3 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
4 Ding Liren
5 Wesley So
6 Ian Nepomniachtchi
7 Sergey Karjakin
8 Wei Yi
9 Veselin Topalov
10 Bassem Amin


Paris Rapid & Blitz

1 Hikaru Nakamura
2 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
3 Fabiano Caruana
4 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
5 Ian Nepomniachtchi
6 Anish Giri
7 Viswanathan Anand
8 Alexander Grischuk
9 Jan-Krzysztof Duda
10 Daniil Dubov

[Hans Jung]

Wei Yi, Duda, and Dubov good choices for exciting play!