FIDE Grand Prix

FIDE Grand Prix is a biennial series of chess tournaments, organized by FIDE and its commercial partner Agon. Each series consist of four or six chess tournaments, which form part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship or Women's World Chess Championship.

History

The Grand Prix was first played in 2008. The initial Grand Prix saw Magnus Carlsen withdraw (along with Michael Adams) due to changed incentives toward the World Chess Championship.[1]

The first two Grand Prix consisted of six tournaments, but the 2014-2015 edition had only four. Often there were problems finding sponsors and many announced host cities were changed eventually (to date, 8 of the 16 locations have been changed). The 2014-15 edition was announced late, with only 4 events instead of 6, reduced the prizes per event by about 1/3, and had no money for overall placings (as in the earlier editions). . In 2014-2015, four top 10 players (Carlsen, Anand, Topalov and Aronian) didn't participate, with the small prize funds and organizational uncertainty being the usual reasons given.[2][3][4]

The winner of the men's Grand Prix (and sometimes lower finishers) gets entry to the Candidates Tournament. The winner of the women's cycle is directly qualified to a championship match. The women's edition has been dominated by Chinese GM Hou Yifan, who won all editions so far.

Men's competitions

Years Stops Total prize money Winner Runner-up Third place
2008–10 6 €1,272,000 Armenia Levon Aronian Azerbaijan Teimour Radjabov Russia Alexander Grischuk
2012–13 6 €1,440,000 Bulgaria Veselin Topalov Azerbaijan Shakhriyar Mamedyarov Italy Fabiano Caruana
2014–15 4 €480,000 Italy Fabiano Caruana United States Hikaru Nakamura Russia Dmitry Jakovenko
2016–17 4 €520,000

The format will change for the 2016-2017 Grand Prix with 24 players taking part in the cycle. Four events will take place with 18 players in competing in each nine-round Swiss tournament.[5] The events will take place on Oct. 12 to 23, 2016; Feb. 10 to 21, 2017; May 11 to 22, 2017; and July 5 to 16, 2017. Venues are yet to be announced. The top two finishers will qualify for the next Candidates.[6]

Women's competitions

In the first three editions the two rating favorites Hou Yifan and Koneru Humpy always shared the top two places in the overall standings.

Years Stops Total prize money Winner Runner-up Third place
2009–11 6 €300,000 China Hou Yifan India Koneru Humpy Georgia (country) Nana Dzagnidze
2011–12 6 €300,000 China Hou Yifan India Koneru Humpy Slovenia Anna Muzychuk
2013–14 6 €450,000 China Hou Yifan India Koneru Humpy China Ju Wenjun
2015–16 4 €330,000

See also

External links

  1. ↑ Magnus Carlsen withdraws from Grand Prix
  2. ↑ I am not giving up the fight! (Morozevich)
  3. ↑ FIDE Grand Prix Events (item 25, scroll down)
  4. ↑ I'm friendly in everyday life (Aronian)
  5. ↑ "The Grand Prix, Remade". World Chess. Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  6. ↑ "FIDE GP Regulations 2016-2017" (PDF). FIDE. FIDE. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
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