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Thessaloniki 2013 FIDE Grand Prix

Thessaloniki 2013 FIDE Grand Prix

SonofPearl
| 18 | Chess Event Coverage

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The fourth Grand Prix of the 2012/13 series runs from 21 May - 4 June in Thessaloniki, Greece.

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 three events were held in London, Tashkent and Zug. 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.

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).

The line-up for the Thessaloniki Grand Prix

Name Fed Elo Rank
Topalov, Veselin  BUL  2793 4
Grischuk, Alexander  RUS  2779 6
Nakamura, Hikaru  USA  2775 7
Caruana, Fabiano  ITA 2774 8
Svidler, Peter  RUS  2769 9
Morozevich, Alexander  RUS  2760 11
Ivanchuk, Vassily  UKR  2755 12
Ponomariov, Ruslan  UKR  2742 17
Kamsky, Gata USA  2741 18
Bacrot, Etienne  FRA  2725 23
Dominguez Perez, Leinier  CUB  2723 25
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam  UZB  2699 48

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Teimour Radjabov has withdrawn from the Thessaloniki Grand Prix for personal reasons.  He is replaced by Etienne Bacrot of France.

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Grand Prix leader Veselin Topalov

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The Grand Prix standings after 3 of 6 events

# Player  Elo London  Tashkent  Zug  Pts
1  Veselin Topalov (BUL)  2752 140 –  170 310
2  Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)  2729 140 80 20 240
3  Alexander Morozevich (RUS)  2770 –  140 75 215
4  Wang Hao (CHN)  2726 70 140 –  210
5  Sergey Karjakin (RUS)  2785 –  140 50 190
6  Fabiano Caruana (ITA)  2773 –  80 100 180
7  Peter Leko (HUN)  2737 80 50 50 180
8  Boris Gelfand (ISR)  2738 140 30 –  170
9  Hikaru Nakamura (USA)  2778 15 –  140 155
10  Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)  2734 –  50 100 150
11  Rustam Kasimdzhanov (UZB)  2684 35 80 20 135
12  Alexander Grischuk (RUS)  2763 90 –  –  90
13  Gata Kamsky (USA) 2746 –  10 75 85
14  Anish Giri (NED)  2711 15 –  50 65
15  Michael Adams (ENG) 2722 55 –  –  55
16  Vassily Ivanchuk (UKR)  2769 55 –  –  55
17  Leinier Domínguez (CUB)  2725 35 20 –  55
18  Peter Svidler (RUS)  2749 –  50 –  50
19  Teimour Radjabov (AZE)  2788 –  –  20 20

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The schedule for the 2013 Thessaloniki Grand Prix

21st May 2013 Arrival & Opening Ceremony
22nd May 2013 Round 1 
23rd May 2013 Round 2 
24th May 2013 Round 3 
25th May 2013 Round 4 
26th May 2013 Free Day 
27th May 2013 Round 5 
28th May 2013 Round 6 
29th May 2013 Round 7 
30th May 2013 Round 8 
31st May 2013 Free Day 
1st June 2013 Round 9 
2nd June 2013  Round 10 
3rd June 2013  Round 11 & Closing Ceremony
4th June 2013  Departure 

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All rounds start at 14:00 local time (11:00 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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Information from the Thessaloniki Grand Prix website.

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