For more information, please contact:
Mr Michael Khodarkovsky
Grand Chess Tour Spokesperson
Phone: +1 201 317 8581
Email: press@grandchesstour.org
For Immediate Release
Grand Chess Tour Confirms Full Tour Participants for the 2019 Season
Saint Louis, MO, February 7, 2019 – The Grand Chess Tour is pleased to confirm the names of the twelve players that will be competing as full tour participants in 2019. They are as follows:
|
# |
Name |
FED |
URS (Rank) |
FIDE (Rank) |
|
1 |
Carlsen, Magnus |
NOR |
2859 (1) |
2835 (1) |
|
2 |
Nakamura, Hikaru |
USA |
2806 (2) |
2749 (16) |
|
3 |
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
FRA |
2796 (3) |
2780 (6) |
|
4 |
Caruana, Fabiano |
USA |
2794 (4) |
2828 (2) |
|
5 |
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
AZE |
2792 (5) |
2817 (3) |
|
6 |
Ding, Liren |
CHN |
2788 (6) |
2813 (4) |
|
7 |
Aronian, Levon |
ARM |
2782 (7) |
2767 (10) |
|
8 |
So, Wesley |
USA |
2779 (8) |
2765 (11) |
|
9 |
Nepomniachtchi, Ian |
RUS |
2778 (9) |
2763 (13) |
|
10 |
Karjakin, Sergey |
RUS |
2776 (10) |
2753 (15) |
|
11 |
Giri, Anish |
NED |
2765 (14) |
2783 (5) |
|
12 |
Anand, Viswanathan |
IND |
2761 (16) |
2773 (8) |
* Ratings per the URS™ and FIDE Classic rating lists as at January 1, 2019 (selection date)
The only player to decline his invitation was GM Vladimir Kramnik following the announced of his retirement from professional chess at the end of January 2019. He was replaced by GM Sergey Karjakin who accepted his full tour invitation as the first alternate.
The process of finalising the allocation of players to individual events has already commenced and further announcements regarding the participant lists for each event as well as the selection of wildcards will be made in due course.
The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world's best players. The Tour was created in partnership between the St Louis Chess Club (Sinquefield Cup) and Chess Promotions, Ltd. (London Chess Classic). The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world's greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers.