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2021 Grand Chess Tour: All The Information

2021 Grand Chess Tour: All The Information

PedroPinhata
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The 2021 Grand Chess Tour is a series of over-the-board chess events comprised of two classical and three rapid & blitz tournaments featuring top chess players. The entire tour has a total prize fund of $1,275,000, with $325,000 per classical event, $150,000 per rapid & blitz event, and a $175,000 bonus for the overall winners of the tour.


Format

  • The tour consists of five different tournaments;
  • There are two classic tournaments and three rapid & blitz tournaments;
  • Each tour event has a separate prize fund;
  • Players receive Grand Chess Tour Points based on their final standings in each tour tournament;
  • The top three players with the most points at the end of the tour receive additional prizes.

Events

Classical

  • Superbet Chess Classic Romania
  • Sinquefield Cup

Rapid & Blitz

Schedule

  • June 5-14: Superbet Chess Classic Romania
  • June 18-22: Paris Rapid & Blitz
  • July 7-11: Croatia Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz
  • August 11-15: St Louis Rapid & Blitz
  • August 17–26: Sinquefield Cup
  • August 27: Grand Chess Tour Playoff

Grand Chess Tour Points

The final standings in each separate event will determine how many Grand Chess Tour points the participant players receive, according to the table below:

Place GCT Tour Points
1st 13*
2nd 10
3rd 8
4th 7
5th 6
6th 5
7th 4
8th 3
9th 2
10th 1

*12 points if the winner is decided in a tiebreaker.

Players

Below you can see the list of players participating in the entire tour. They will play in both classical events and two of the three rapid & blitz tournaments:

Ten other players will participate in the rapid & blitz events as wildcards.

Results

Below you can see each player's current position in the overall tour:

Position Player Federation GCT Points
1 Wesley So 28.3
2 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 22.5
6 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 22
4 Fabiano Caruana 17
5 Ian Nepomniachtchi 16.5
6 Levon Aronian 13.8
7 Richárd Rapport 13.5
8 Anish Giri 13.5
9 Hikaru Nakamura 13
10 Alexander Grischuk 12.3
11 Viswanathan Anand 10
12 Alireza Firouzja 7.5
13 Teimour Radjabov 6.5
14 Peter Svidler 6.5
15 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 6.5
16 Le Quang Liem 6
17 Leinier Dominguez Peres 4.5
18 Bogdan-Daniel Deac 3.5
19 Anton Korobov 3
20 Etienne Bacrot 2
20 Vladimir Kramnik 2
21 Ivan Saric 2
21 Garry Kasparov 2
22 Jeffery Xiong 2
23 Constantin Lupulescu 1.5
24 Jorden van Foreest 1
25 Sam Shankland 1
Darius Swiercz

Prizes

The tour has a total prize fund of $1,275,000, distributed as follows:

Classic Events

Every classic event will have a $325,000 prize fund:

  • 1st: $90,000
  • 2nd: $60,000
  • 3rd: $45,000
  • 4th: $30,000
  • 5th: $25,000
  • 6th: $20,000
  • 7th: $17,500
  • 8th: $15,000
  • 9th: $12,500
  • 10th: $10,000

Rapid & Blitz Events

Every classic event will have a $150,000 prize fund:

  • 1st: $37,500
  • 2nd: $25,00
  • 3rd: $20,000
  • 4th: $15,000
  • 5th: $12,500
  • 6th: $10,000
  • 7th: $9,000
  • 8th: $8,000
  • 9th: $7,000
  • 10th: $6,000

Grand Chess Tour Overall Winners

There is an additional $175,000 prize fund for the three overall winners of the tour:

  • 1st: 100,000
  • 2nd: 50,000
  • 3rd: 25,000

Locations

  • 2021 Superbet Chess Classic: Sheraton Bucharest Hotel, Bucharest, Romania;
  • 2021 Paris Rapid & Blitz: Mobilier National, Paris, France;
  • 2021 Croatia Grand Chess Tour: Kongresni Centar NSK, Zagreb, Croatia;
  • 2021 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA;
  • 2021 Sinquefield Cup: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
PedroPinhata
Pedro Pinhata

Pedro Pinhata is a Sr. Digital Content Writer for Chess.com who writes articles, feature announcements, event guides, and more. He has been playing chess since 2019 and lives in Brazil.

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