FIDE Grand Prix Series 2012/13 Update

FIDE have announced further changes to the previously announced tournament allocation for the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix series.

Sergey Karjakin was due to play in the first Grand Prix in London, but will now play in Berlin instead.  Peter Svidler is swapping places with him, and will now play in London rather than Berlin.

The other change is that Ruslan Ponomariov will not play in London, but Tashkent instead.  Vassily Ivanchuk is the player swapping places with him and playing in London in September.

This tournament allocation is described by FIDE as 'final', but history suggests the possibility of further changes cannot be ruled out!

The overall winner and runner-up of the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix will qualify for the March 2014 Candidates Tournament.  Before then, we are due to have the 2013 Candidates in March 2013 in London, with the winner challenging Vishy Anand for the title in October/November 2013.

The eight players in the 2013 London candidates tournament are:

• Boris Gelfand (loser of the 2012 World Championship)
• The top 3 in the 2011 World Cup (Peter Svidler, Alexander Grischuk, Vassily Ivanchuk)
• The top 3 rated players not otherwise qualified (Magnus Carlsen, Lev Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik)
• A wildcard nominee from the original hosts Azerbaijan (Teimour Radjabov)