The sixth edition of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT) will feature five tournaments with the participation of ten full tour players and ten wildcards. Tour participants will compete for a total prize fund of $1.275 million over the course of the season. The prize money on offer for two classical tournaments will be $325,000 per event while the prize fund for the rapid and blitz events will be $150,000 each. In addition, bonus prize fund totalling $175,000 will be awarded to the top three overall tour finishers.
Following the success of the inaugural tournament in Bucharest last year, the Romanian capital will host, in May, the first classical event of the 2020 tour season. The 2020 Sinquefield Cup in September will be the final leg of the tour. The 2020 Grand Chess Tour major sponsors are Vivendi SA, Colliers International, Saint Louis Chess Club, Croatia National Tourist Board and Superbet Foundation.
The 2020 Superbet Chess Classic Romania and the 2020 Sinquefield Cup will be the two classical tournaments and the tour will also feature three rapid and blitz events which will be held in Zagreb, Paris and Saint Louis. Due to the busy 2020 chess calendar which includes the Candidates tournament, the World Chess Olympiad and the World Championship match, there will be no “GCT Finals” tournament in 2020. The final tour standings will hence be decided based on the GCT points accumulated by all full tour players over the course of the five tournaments.
The ten full tour participants will all play in both classical events as well as in two of the three rapid and blitz tournaments. The full schedule for the 2020 season (including arrival and departure days) is as follows:
- Superbet Chess Classic Romania: May 3 - 16, 2020, Bucharest, Romania
- Paris Rapid & Blitz: June 22 - 29, 2020, Paris, France
- Croatia Rapid & Blitz: July 2 - 9, 2020, Zagreb, Croatia
- Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 22 - 31, 2020, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
- Sinquefield Cup: August 29 - September 11, 2020, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
|
Event |
Paris GCT R&B |
Croatia R&B |
Saint Louis R&B |
|
Playing Dates |
June 24 - 28 |
July 4 - 8 |
August 25 - 29 |
|
City |
Paris, France |
Zagreb, Croatia |
Saint Louis, USA |
|
1 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
Carlsen, Magnus |
Ding, Liren |
|
2 |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
Ding, Liren |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
|
3 |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
Caruana, Fabiano |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
|
4 |
Caruana, Fabiano |
So, Wesley |
Grischuk, Alexander |
|
5 |
So, Wesley |
Grischuk, Alexander |
Aronian, Levon |
|
6 |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
Giri, Anish |
|
7 |
Aronian, Levon |
Giri, Anish |
Wildcard (TBC) |
|
8 |
Wildcard (TBC) |
Wildcard (TBC) |
Wildcard (TBC) |
|
9 |
Wildcard (TBC) |
Wildcard (TBC) |
Wildcard (TBC) |
|
10 |
Wildcard (TBC) |
Wildcard (TBC) |
Wildcard (TBC) |