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Grand Chess Tour 2020
January 20, 2020
Press Release from grandchesstour.org
2020 GCT to Feature Ten Full Tour Participants and Five Events
Saint Louis, MO, January 17, 2020 – The sixth edition of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) will feature five tournaments with the participation of ten full tour players and ten wildcards. Tour participants will compete for a total prize fund of $1.275 million over the course of the season. The prize money on offer for two classical tournaments will be $325,000 per event while the prize fund for the rapid and blitz events will be $150,000 each. In addition, bonus prize fund totalling $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall tour finishers.
Following the success of the inaugural tournament in Bucharest last year, the Romanian capital will host, in May, the first classical event of the 2020 tour season. The 2020 Sinquefield Cup in September will be the final leg of the tour. The 2020 Grand Chess Tour major sponsors are Vivendi SA, Colliers International, Saint Louis Chess Club, Croatia National Tourist Board and Superbet Foundation.
The 2020 Superbet Chess Classic Romania and the 2020 Sinquefield Cup will be the two classical tournaments and the tour will also feature three rapid and blitz events which will be held in Zagreb, Paris and Saint Louis. Due to the busy 2020 chess calendar which includes the Candidates tournament, the World Chess Olympiad and the World Championship match, there will be no “GCT Finals” tournament in 2020. The final tour standings will hence be decided based on the GCT points accumulated by all full tour players over the course of the five tournaments.
The ten full tour participants will all play in both classical events as well as in two of the three rapid and blitz tournaments. The full schedule for the 2020 season (including arrival and departure days) is as follows:
Superbet Chess Classic Romania: May 3 - 16, 2020, Bucharest, Romania
Paris Grand Chess Tour: June 22 - 29, 2020, Paris, France
Croatia Grand Chess Tour: July 2 - 9, 2020, Zagreb, Croatia
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 22 - 31, 2020, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
Sinquefield Cup: August 29 - September 11, 2020, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
Full Tour Participants
The ten invited full tour players for the 2020 season were selected in the following order:
1-3 Top three winners from the 2019 GCT – Ding, MVL, Carlsen
4-6 Top 3 based on Jan. 1, 2020 FIDE Classical ratings – Caruana, Grischuk, Nepo
7-9 Top 3 based on the Universal Rating List, Jan. 1 – Nakamura, So, Aronian
10 GCT Nominee – Giri
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So, no London tournament at the end of the year, no Firouzja but there are 10 wildcards to be selected.
Comments - What are the criteria for the 10 players selected? I can see there are selected 9 players with top ratings. On the other hand I see Nakamura, when many high rated players are missing. Mamedyarov, Anand, Duda, Radjabov, Wang Hao, Rapport,, Karjakin, even Dominguez Perez, Topalov and Firouzja have higher rating than Nakamura.
- Nothing new as far as the participants. Same players, different year.
- Firo will probably get a wild card selection to one of these events. Most likely a blitz event...especially if he wins TATA Steel
- Yeah, you pretty much have to be in the top 10 to get into the Grand Prix. In a few years, maybe we'll see some younger players like Firouzja, Duda, Xiong, Artemiev and Van Foreest in there.
Comments from https://www.chess.com/news/view/2020...s-participants
January 20, 2020
Press Release from grandchesstour.org
2020 GCT to Feature Ten Full Tour Participants and Five Events
Saint Louis, MO, January 17, 2020 – The sixth edition of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) will feature five tournaments with the participation of ten full tour players and ten wildcards. Tour participants will compete for a total prize fund of $1.275 million over the course of the season. The prize money on offer for two classical tournaments will be $325,000 per event while the prize fund for the rapid and blitz events will be $150,000 each. In addition, bonus prize fund totalling $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall tour finishers.
Following the success of the inaugural tournament in Bucharest last year, the Romanian capital will host, in May, the first classical event of the 2020 tour season. The 2020 Sinquefield Cup in September will be the final leg of the tour. The 2020 Grand Chess Tour major sponsors are Vivendi SA, Colliers International, Saint Louis Chess Club, Croatia National Tourist Board and Superbet Foundation.
The 2020 Superbet Chess Classic Romania and the 2020 Sinquefield Cup will be the two classical tournaments and the tour will also feature three rapid and blitz events which will be held in Zagreb, Paris and Saint Louis. Due to the busy 2020 chess calendar which includes the Candidates tournament, the World Chess Olympiad and the World Championship match, there will be no “GCT Finals” tournament in 2020. The final tour standings will hence be decided based on the GCT points accumulated by all full tour players over the course of the five tournaments.
The ten full tour participants will all play in both classical events as well as in two of the three rapid and blitz tournaments. The full schedule for the 2020 season (including arrival and departure days) is as follows:
Superbet Chess Classic Romania: May 3 - 16, 2020, Bucharest, Romania
Paris Grand Chess Tour: June 22 - 29, 2020, Paris, France
Croatia Grand Chess Tour: July 2 - 9, 2020, Zagreb, Croatia
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 22 - 31, 2020, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
Sinquefield Cup: August 29 - September 11, 2020, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
Full Tour Participants
The ten invited full tour players for the 2020 season were selected in the following order:
1-3 Top three winners from the 2019 GCT – Ding, MVL, Carlsen
4-6 Top 3 based on Jan. 1, 2020 FIDE Classical ratings – Caruana, Grischuk, Nepo
7-9 Top 3 based on the Universal Rating List, Jan. 1 – Nakamura, So, Aronian
10 GCT Nominee – Giri
___________
So, no London tournament at the end of the year, no Firouzja but there are 10 wildcards to be selected.
Comments - What are the criteria for the 10 players selected? I can see there are selected 9 players with top ratings. On the other hand I see Nakamura, when many high rated players are missing. Mamedyarov, Anand, Duda, Radjabov, Wang Hao, Rapport,, Karjakin, even Dominguez Perez, Topalov and Firouzja have higher rating than Nakamura.
- Nothing new as far as the participants. Same players, different year.
- Firo will probably get a wild card selection to one of these events. Most likely a blitz event...especially if he wins TATA Steel
- Yeah, you pretty much have to be in the top 10 to get into the Grand Prix. In a few years, maybe we'll see some younger players like Firouzja, Duda, Xiong, Artemiev and Van Foreest in there.
Comments from https://www.chess.com/news/view/2020...s-participants
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