Grand Chess Tour 2016 Explained

Grand Chess Tour
Year:	2016
Start Date:	9 June
End Date:	18 December 2016
Host:	Paris Leuven St. Louis London
Champion:	Wesley So
Runner-Up1:	Hikaru Nakamura
3Rd Place:	Fabiano Caruana
Stat1 Label:	Most tournament titles
Stat1:	Wesley So (2)
Stat2 Label:	Prize money leader
Stat2:	Wesley So ($295,000)
Stat3 Label:	Points leader
Stat3:	Wesley So (36)
Previous:	2015
Next:	2017

Grand Chess Tour 2016 was a second edition of Grand Chess Tour, a series of chess tournaments, that took place from June to December 2016. It consisted of four tournaments and was won by Wesley So.^[1]

On January 6, 2016, the Grand Chess Tour saw the withdrawal of Norway Chess, one of three tournaments that were parts of the tour, along with Sinquefield Cup and London Chess Classic. The reason was different views on the funding issue.^[2] However, on February 11, Grand Chess Tour announced an inclusion of two fast chess events in Paris and Leuven.^[3] ^[4]

Format

The tour consisted of four events, two fast chess and two classical chess events, with each tournament having one wildcard. Eegular tour players were scheduled to participate in every event, with the exception of Viswanathan Anand, with three best results going into account. The point system was as follows:

Place	Points
1st	12/13*
2nd	10
3rd	8
4th	7
5th	6
6th	5
7th	4
8th	3
9th	2
10th	1

Lineup

2016 Grand Chess Tour included nine participants. Among notable absentees were incumbent World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and World Chess Championship 2016 challenger Sergey Karjakin.^[5] The roster was selected based on several criteria, including top-three finish in previous tour, average rating for 2015 and personal invitation.^[6]

	Player	Rating (April 2016)	Qualification
1	Anish Giri	2790	Runner-up of 2015 Grand Chess Tour
2	Levon Aronian	2784	Third place in 2015 Grand Chess Tour
3	Veselin Topalov	2754	Average rating for 2015
4	Viswanathan Anand	2770	Average rating for 2015
5	Fabiano Caruana	2795	Average rating for 2015
6	Hikaru Nakamura	2787	Average rating for 2015
7	Vladimir Kramnik	2801	Average rating for 2015
8	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2788	Wildcard
9	Wesley So	2773	Replacement for Magnus Carlsen

Schedule and results

Dates	Tournament	Host city	Winner
June 9-12	Paris Grand Chess Tour	Paris	Hikaru Nakamura
June 17-20	Your Next Move	Leuven	Magnus Carlsen (WC)
August 5-16	Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	Wesley So
December 9-18	London Chess Classic	London	Wesley So

Tournaments

Paris Grand Chess Tour

Paris Grand Chess Tour was the first event of 2016 edition, which was won by Hikaru Nakamura. Viswanathan Anand declined his invitation due to him playing in tournament in León, Spain on the same time, and thus, Laurent Fressinet was given the additional wildcard.

2016 Paris GCT, June 9–12 Paris, France! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! !! Tour Points !! Prize money
1	14	11½	25½	13	$37,500
2	13	11½	24½	WC (10)	$30,000
3	11	11	22	8	$15,000
4	11	8½	19½	7	$15,000
5	9	10	19	6	$15,000
6	9	9	18	5	$7,500
7	10	5½	15½	4	$7,500
8	4	10	14	3	$7,500
9	4	8	12	2	$7,500
10	5	5	10	WC (1)	$7,500

Paris GCT Rapid, June 9-10! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points
1	2846		1	1	2	1	1	2	2	2	2	14
2	2878	1		0	2	2	1	2	1	2	2	13
3	2652	1	2		0	1	1	2	2	1	1	11
4	2784	0	0	2		2	1	1	1	2	2	11
5	2799	1	0	1	0		1	1	2	2	2	10
6	2738	1	1	1	1	1		1	2	0	1	9
7	2739	0	0	0	1	1	1		2	2	2	9
8	2695	0	1	0	1	0	0	0		1	2	5
9	2771	0	0	1	0	0	2	0	1		0	4
10	2829	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2		4

Paris GCT Blitz, June 11-12! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points
1	2915		1 1	½ ½	½ 0	1 0	1 0	½ 1	½ 0	1 1	1 1	11½
2	2883	0 0		½ 0	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 1	11½
3	2871	½ ½	½ 1		1 1	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	0 1	1 ½	10½
4	2665	½ 1	0 ½	0 0		0 0	1 0	1 0	1 1	1 1	1 1	10
5	2798	0 1	½ ½	½ 0	1 1		½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	10
6	2822	0 1	0 0	½ ½	0 1	½ ½		½ 0	1 0	1 ½	1 1	9
7	2726	½ 0	0 ½	½ ½	0 1	½ ½	½ 1		½ ½	0 1	½ ½	8½
8	2644	½ 1	0 ½	1 ½	0 0	0 ½	0 1	½ ½		½ 1	0 ½	8
9	2841	0 0	½ 0	1 0	0 0	½ ½	0 ½	1 0	½ 0		1 0	5½
10	2630	0 0	0 0	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	0 0	½ ½	1 ½	0 1		5

Your Next Move

2016 Your Next Move GCT, June 17–20 Leuven, Belgium! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! !! Tour Points !! Prize money
1	12	11	23	WC (13)	$37,500
2	11	9½	20½	10	$30,000
3	10	10	20	8	$15,000
4	10	9½	19½	7	$15,000
5	9	8½	17½	6	$15,000
6	8	9	17	5	$7,500
7	7	9½	16½	4	$7,500
8	7	9	16	2.5	$7,500
9	8	8	16	2.5	$7,500
10	8	5½	13½	1	$7,500

Leuven GCT Rapid, June 17–18! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points
1	2878		1	2	2	0	1	2	2	0	2	12
2	2652	1		1	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	11
3	2795	0	1		1	1	2	2	2	1	0	10
4	2739	0	1	1		2	1	2	0	2	1	10
5	2829	2	0	1	0		1	1	2	0	2	9
6	2784	1	1	0	1	1		0	1	1	2	8
7	2738	0	1	0	0	1	2		1	2	1	8
8	2771	0	0	0	2	0	1	1		2	2	8
9	2846	2	1	1	0	2	1	0	0		0	7
10	2799	0	1	2	1	0	0	1	0	2		7

Leuven GCT Blitz, June 19–20! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points
1	2915		½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	0 1	0 1	½ 0	1 1	11
2	2798	½ ½		½ 1	½ ½	1 ½	0 ½	½ ½	1 0	½ ½	1 ½	10
3	2764	½ 0	½ 0		½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	0 ½	½ ½	½ 1	9½
4	2883	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0		0 ½	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	9½
5	2726	0 ½	0 ½	½ ½	1 ½		0 0	1 ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	9½
6	2841	0 ½	1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 1		0 0	1 0	½ 1	½ 0	9
7	2871	1 0	½ ½	0 0	0 1	0 ½	1 1		1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	9
8	2665	1 0	0 1	1 ½	½ 0	0 ½	0 1	0 ½		1 ½	0 1	8½
9	2822	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	0 ½		0 1	8
10	2644	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	½ 0	0 0	½ 1	½ ½	1 0	1 0		6

Sinquefield Cup

Vladimir Kramnik has withdrawn due to health issues and was replaced by Peter Svidler.^[7]

4th Sinquefield Cup, 4–16 August 2016, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Category XXII (2778.6)^[8] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! TPR !! Tour Points
1	align=left	2771		½	1	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	5½	2859	13
2	align=left	2792	½		½	½	½	1	0	½	1	½	5	2820	7.75
3	align=left	2761	0	½		½	½	½	½	1	1	½	5	2823	7.75
4	align=left	2770	½	½	½		½	½	1	½	½	½	5	2822	7.75
5	align=left	2807	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	1	5	2818	7.75
6	align=left	2791	0	0	½	½	½		½	1	½	1	4½	2777	4.5
7	align=left	2819	½	1	½	0	½	½		½	½	½	4½	2774	4.5
8	align=left	2755	½	½	0	½	½	0	½		1	½	4	2738	WC (3)
9	align=left	2751	½	0	0	½	½	½	½	0		1	3½	2701	WC (2)
10	align=left	2769	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	0		3	2654	1

London Chess Classic

8th London Chess Classic, 9–18 December 2016, London, England, Category XXII (2785)^[9] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! TPR !! Tour Points
1	align=left	2794		½	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	6	2909	13
2	align=left	2823	½		1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	5½	2861	10
3	align=left	2779	0	0		1	½	½	1	½	½	1	5	2829	7
4	align=left	2779	½	½	0		½	½	1	½	½	1	5	2829	7
5	align=left	2809	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	1	5	2826	7
6	align=left	2771	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	4½	2787	5
7	align=left	2804	½	½	0	0	½	½		1	½	½	4	2740	3
8	align=left	2785	½	½	½	½	½	½	0		1	0	4	2742	3
9	align=left	2748	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	0		1	4	2746	WC (3)
10	align=left	2760	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	1	0		2	2568	1

Standings

	Paris	Leuven	Sinquefield	London	Total points	Prize money
1		10	13	13	36	$295,000
2	13		4.5	7	24.5	$144,166
3		6	7.75	10	23.75	$108,750
T-4	6	8	7.75		21.75	$81,250
T-4		7	7.75	7	21.75	$82,916
6	8	5	4.5		17.5	$55,000
7	4	2.5		7	13.5	$46,666
8	5	2.5		5	12.5	$50,000
9	2		7.75	1	10.75	$66,250
	10	13			23	$67,500
			3		3	$15,000
				3	3	$15,000
			2		2	$15,000
	1				1	$7,500

Notes and References

Web site: Grand Chess Tour 2016 – ChessHive. chesshive.com. 12 August 2017.
Web site: Norway Chess Leaves Grand Chess Tour. Peter. Doggers . Chess.com. 6 January 2016 .
Web site: Grand Chess Tour Adds 2 Events, Keeps $1 Million+ Purse. Mike. Klein . Chess.com. 12 February 2016 .
Web site: Grand Chess Tour 2016 with two new events. ChessBase.com. 11 February 2016 .
Web site: Grand Chess Tour Announces Field For 2016 Season. 7 April 2016 .
Web site: Grand Chess Tour Announces 2016 Participants. Peter. Doggers . Chess.com. 8 April 2016 .
Web site: Kramnik Withdraws From Sinquefield Cup, Cites Back Problems. Peter. Doggers . Chess.com. 29 July 2016 .
Web site: Sinquefield Cup 2016 - The Week in Chess. theweekinchess.com. 12 August 2017.
Web site: THE WEEK IN CHESS 1154. Mark Crowther. The Week in Chess. 19 December 2016.