Zug 2013 FIDE Grand Prix
The third Grand Prix of the 2012/13 series runs from 17 April - 1 May in Zug, Switzerland.
The overall winner and runner-up of the 2012/13 Grand Prix series will qualify for the next Candidates Tournament, expected to be held in March 2014. The first two events took place last year, in London and Tashkent. The current standings are shown below.
Each tournament is a single round-robin featuring 12 out of the 18 players in the Grand Prix, and each player competes in four of the six events. The best 3 scores of each player count towards their overall score. The official regulations for the 2012/13 FIDE Grand Prix can be found here.
The venues for the three remaining Grand Prix competitions are in considerable doubt. Zug was itself a late replacement for Lisbon, Portugal.
Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand declined to participate in the Grand Prix as they are likely to qualify for the 2014 Candidates by virtue of their high ratings (or status as World Champion).
London Grand Prix winners (l to r) Boris Gelfand, Veselin Topalov and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
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The line-up for the Zug Grand Prix
| Name | Fed | Elo |
| Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2793 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | 2786 |
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | 2772 |
| Topalov, Veselin | BUL | 2771 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2767 |
| Mamedyarov, Shakriyar | AZE | 2766 |
| Morozevich, Alexander | RUS | 2758 |
| Leko, Peter | HUN | 2744 |
| Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2741 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 2733 |
| Giri, Anish | NLD | 2727 |
| Kasimdzhanov, Rustam | UZB | 2709 |
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Gata Kamsky has replaced Vugar Gashimov for the rest of the series. Gashimov has been suffering from a prolonged illness and hasn't played competitively since Tata Steel 2012, so is regarded as an 'inactive' player by FIDE. Although Gashimov would currently be ranked #19 in the world, he doesn't appear on the latest rating list. Best wishes to Gashimov for better health in the future!
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The schedule for the 2013 Zug Grand Prix
| 17th April 2013 | Arrival & Opening Ceremony |
| 18th April 2013 | Round 1 |
| 19th April 2013 | Round 2 |
| 20th April 2013 | Round 3 |
| 21st April 2013 | Round 4 |
| 22nd April 2013 | Free Day |
| 23rd April 2013 | Round 5 |
| 24th April 2013 | Round 6 |
| 25th April 2013 | Round 7 |
| 26th April 2013 | Round 8 |
| 27th April 2013 | Free Day |
| 28th April 2013 | Round 9 |
| 29th April 2013 | Round 10 |
| 30th April 2013 | Round 11 & Closing Ceremony |
| 1st May 2013 | Departure |
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All rounds start at 14:00 local time (12:00 UTC) except the final round which starts 2 hours earlier. The time control used is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, then 15 minutes plus a 30 second increment after move 60.
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The current standings in the 2012/13 Grand Prix
| Name | London | Tashkent | Total |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | 140 | 80 | 220 |
| Wang Hao | 70 | 140 | 210 |
| Boris Gelfand | 140 | 30 | 170 |
| Veselin Topalov | 140 | 140 | |
| Sergey Karjakin | 140 | 140 | |
| Alexander Morozevich | 140 | 140 | |
| Peter Leko | 80 | 50 | 130 |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 35 | 80 | 115 |
| Alexander Grischuk | 90 | 90 | |
| Fabiano Caruana | 80 | 80 | |
| Michael Adams | 55 | 55 | |
| Vasily Ivanchuk | 55 | 55 | |
| Leinier Dominguez Perez | 35 | 20 | 55 |
| Peter Svidler | 50 | 50 | |
| Ruslan Ponomariov | 50 | 50 | |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 15 | 15 | |
| Anish Giri | 15 | 15 | |
| Gata Kamsky | 10 | 10 | |
| Teimour Radjabov | 0 | ||
| Vugar Gashimov | 0 |
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The main sponsor of the Zug Grand Prix is the Renova Group, a large Russian conglomerate.
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Information from the Zug Grand Prix website. Photo by Ray Morris-Hill.
