GRAND CHESS TOUR ANNOUNCES FIELD FOR 2016 SEASON
The world’s top-ten rated players confirmed to participate.
SAINT LOUIS (April 7 2016) – The Grand Chess Tour announced today that the world’s top-ten ranked players will compete in the 2016 Tour. Nine of the top-ten will compete in all four tournaments: Rapid and Blitz in Paris and Brussels-Leuven, the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic. World Champion Magnus Carlsen will compete in as a wildcard in both the Paris and Brussels-Leuven stops.
“It’s great news that the Grand Chess Tour have expanded with two new tournaments in Paris and Brussels,” said Carlsen. “I’m looking forward to playing both. Unfortunately, due to a very busy schedule, I won’t be able to play in Saint Louis or London this year. Hopefully I will get a new chance to fight for the GCT title again next year.”
In addition to the nine players, each tournament will have a wildcard entry. The wildcard for Saint Louis will be Ding Liren and another wildcard in Paris will be Laurent Fressinet. The London wildcard will be determined at a later date. The Grand Chess Tour will feature the world’s top players competing for over one million dollars in a mixture of traditional, rapid and blitz events in four countries.
Players participating in all four tournaments are shown below.
2016 Grand Chess Tour Field
GM Vladimir Kramnik 2801 Russia
GM Fabiano Caruana 2787 USA
GM Anish Giri 2798 Netherlands
GM Hikaru Nakamura 2787 USA
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2785 France
GM Levon Aronian 2792 Armenia
GM Veselin Topalov 2780 Bulgaria
GM Wesley So 2773 USA
GM Viswanathan Anand 2784 India
Average Rating 2787
“The class and strength of the field this year is truly remarkable, said Michael Khodarkovsky, Grand Chess Tour spokesperson. Chess fans around the world will be able to see and enjoy the greatest players compete in these four tournaments during the year.”
All four tournaments will be broadcast online and can be seen at grandchesstour.org.
The 2016 Grand Chess Tour season will include rapid and blitz tournaments in Paris and Brussels-Leuven in addition to the Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic.
2016 Grand Chess Tour Location Date Prize Fund
GCT Rapid and Blitz Paris, France June 7th - 13th $150,000
GCT Rapid and Blitz Brussels-Leuven June 15th – 21st $150,000
Sinquefield Cup Saint Louis, USA August 4th – September 16th $300,000
London Chess Classic London, England December 8th – 20th $300,000
Bonus Pool 2016 $150,000
Total Prize Funds for Grand Chess Tour 2016 $1,050,000
