Grand Chess Tour 2017 Explained

Grand Chess Tour
Year:	2017
Start Date:	12 June
End Date:	21 December 2017
Host:	Paris Leuven St. Louis London
Champion:	Magnus Carlsen
Runner-Up1:	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
3Rd Place:	Levon Aronian
Stat1 Label:	Most tournament titles
Stat1:	Magnus Carlsen (2)
Stat2 Label:	Prize money leader
Stat2:	Magnus Carlsen ($245,417)
Stat3 Label:	Points leader
Stat3:	Magnus Carlsen (41)
Previous:	2016
Next:	2018

Grand Chess Tour 2017 was a circuit of chess tournaments, which was the third edition of Grand Chess Tour. It took place from June 21 to December 12, 2017, and was won by reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Format

The tour consisted of five events, including three fast chess and two classical events. Scoring system looked 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

The tour consisted of nine regular players, who were selected to participate based on different criteria, including performance in previous edition, average rating for last twelve months, URS rating and invitation by organizers. Almost all invitees accepted, with only exception being former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who refused to participate due to busy schedule.^[1]

	Player	Country	Rating (January 2017)	Qualification method
1	Wesley So		2808	Winner of Grand Chess Tour 2016
2	Hikaru Nakamura		2785	Runner-up of Grand Chess Tour 2016
3	Fabiano Caruana		2827	Third place in Grand Chess Tour 2016
4	Magnus Carlsen		2840	Average FIDE rating
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave		2796	Average FIDE rating
6	Ian Nepomniachtchi		2767	URS
7	Sergey Karjakin		2785	URS
8	Viswanathan Anand		2786	Wildcard
9	Levon Aronian		2780	Replacement for Vladimir Kramnik

Schedule and results

Dates	Tournament	Host city	Winner
June 21-25	Paris Rapid and Blitz	Paris	Magnus Carlsen
June 28-July 27	Your Next Move	Leuven	Magnus Carlsen
August 1-17	Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
August 13-17	Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz	St. Louis	Levon Aronian
December 1-17	London Chess Classic	London	Fabiano Caruana

Tournaments

Paris

2017 Grand Chess Tour opened with Paris Rapid and Blitz event. It was won by Magnus Carlsen, who defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on tie-break.^{[2] [3] [4]}

2017 Paris GCT, June 21–25 Paris, France! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		14	10	24	1½	12	$31,250
2		11	13	24	½	10	$31,250
3		12	11	23		8	$20,000
4		13	9	22		WC (7)	$15,000
5		11	9	20		WC (6)	$12,500
6		8	10	18		5	$10,000
7		9	6	15		4	$7,500
8		3	11	14		3	$7,500
9		5	6½	11½		WC (2)	$7,500
10		4	4½	8½		WC (1)	$7,500

Paris GCT Rapid, June 21–23! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2896		1	1	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	14
2		2822	1		0	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	13
3		2796	1	2		0	1	1	1	2	2	2	12
4		2770	0	1	2		0	1	2	2	2	1	11
5		2825	0	0	1	2		1	2	2	1	2	11
6		2759	0	1	1	1	1		0	1	2	2	9
7		2773	1	0	1	0	0	2		1	2	1	8
8		2715	0	0	0	0	0	1	1		1	2	5
9		2710	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1		2	4
10		2752	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0		3

Paris GCT Blitz, June 24–25! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2825		½ 1	0 ½	0 ½	1 1	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	13
2		2865	½ 0		1 ½	1 1	½ 1	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	1 0	1 0	11
3		2800	1 ½	0 ½		1 1	0 1	½ 0	1 0	1 0	1 1	½ 1	11
4		2791	1 ½	0 0	0 0		½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	1 0	10
5		2914	0 0	½ 0	1 0	½ 0		0 ½	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	10
6		2813	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 ½	1 ½		½ 0	0 1	½ 0	1 ½	9
7		2772	0 0	0 1	0 1	½ 0	0 ½	½ 1		½ 1	½ ½	1 1	9
8		2710	0 ½	½ 0	0 1	½ ½	0 0	1 0	½ 0		½ 0	½ 1	6½
9		2791	0 0	0 1	0 0	0 0	0 0	½ 1	½ ½	½ 1		0 1	6
10		2627	0 0	0 1	½ 0	0 1	0 0	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	1 0		5½

First place playoff!Place!Player!Rapid rating!colspan=2

Rapid	Score
1		2896	1	½	1½
2		2770	0	½	½

Leuven

Leuven Grand Chess Tour took place from June 28 to July 2 in Leuven, Belgium. As well as previous event, it was won by Magnus Carlsen.

2017 Leuven GCT, June 28–July 2 Leuven, Belgium! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		11	14½	25½		13	$37,500
2		14	8½	22½		10	$25,000
3		12	10	22		8	$20,000
4		10	10	20		WC (7)	$15,000
5		9	9½	18½		WC (5.5)	$11,250
6		9	9½	18½		5.5	$11,250
7		9	9	18		4	$7,500
8		8	8	16		3	$7,500
9		7	8½	15½		WC (2)	$7,500
10		1	2½	3½		WC (1)	$7,500

Leuven GCT Rapid, June 28–30! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2759		1	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	14
2		2770	1		1	1	2	0	1	2	2	2	12
3		2896	0	1		1	1	2	2	1	1	2	11
4		2750	1	1	1		0	2	1	1	2	1	10
5		2819	1	0	1	2		2	1	0	0	2	9
6		2797	0	2	0	0	0		2	2	1	2	9
7		2798	0	1	0	1	1	0		2	2	2	9
8		2789	0	0	1	1	2	0	0		2	2	8
9		2827	1	0	1	0	2	1	0	0		2	7
10		2649	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		1

Leuven GCT Blitz, July 1–2! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2899		0 ½	1 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	14½
2		2723	1 ½		½ ½	0 ½	0 ½	½ 0	1 ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	10
3		2890	0 0	½ ½		0 0	1 1	0 1	1 0	1 1	0 1	1 1	10
4		2760	½ 0	1 ½	1 1		½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 0	9½
5		2786	0 ½	1 ½	0 0	½ ½		½ 1	1 0	½ ½	0 1	1 1	9½
6		2793	0 0	½ 1	1 0	½ 1	½ 0		1 0	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9
7		2768	0 0	0 ½	0 1	½ ½	0 1	0 1		½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	8½
8		2724	0 ½	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½		1 0	1 1	8½
9		2766	0 ½	½ ½	1 0	½ ½	1 0	½ 0	½ 0	0 1		1 ½	8
10		2734	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 ½		2½

Sinquefield Cup

Sinquefield Cup, 2–11 August 2017, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Category XXII (2787.7)! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! !! TPR !! Tour Points

1	align=left		2789		1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	6			2907	13
2	align=left		2822	0		½	1	1	½	½	½	1	½	5½	3		2862	9
3	align=left		2783	½	½		½	½	½	1	½	½	1	5½	2		2866	9
4	align=left		2799	½	0	½		½	½	0	1	1	1	5	3		2825	6.5
5	align=left		2773	½	0	½	½		1	½	½	1	½	5	2		2828	6.5
6	align=left		2751	½	½	½	½	0		1	½	½	½	4½			2792	WC (5)
7	align=left		2807	½	½	0	1	½	0		½	½	½	4			2747	4
8	align=left		2792	½	½	½	0	½	½	½		½	0	3½			2709	3
9	align=left		2810	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	½		1	3	1	1	2665	1.5
10	align=left		2751	0	½	0	0	½	½	½	1	0		3	1	0	2672	1.5

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz

The inaugural Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz was the fourth leg of 2017 Grand Chess Tour and took place in Saint Louis Chess Club from August 13 to August 19. It brought some attention from the media due to participation of former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov, who has retired from competitive chess in 2005, 12 years prior to the event.^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

2017 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, August 10–16 St. Louis, Missouri, United States! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		12	12½	24½		13	$37,000
2		11	10½	21½		9	$22,500
3		8	13½	21½		9	$22,500
4		10	10	20		7	$15,000
5		11	5½	16½		5	$10,000
6		8	8½	16½		WC (5)	$10,000
7		9	7½	16½		WC (5)	$10,000
8		7	9	16		WC (3)	$7,500
9		7	7	14		2	$7,500
10		7	6	13		WC (1)	$7,500

Saint Louis Rapid, August 14-16! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2794		2	1	0	2	0	2	2	2	1	12
2		2700	0		1	1	2	0	2	2	1	2	11
3		2822	1	1		2	1	0	1	2	2	1	11
4		2810	2	1	0		1	1	1	1	1	2	10
5		2803	0	0	1	1		2	1	2	1	1	9
6		2761	2	2	2	1	0		0	0	1	0	8
7		2765	0	0	1	1	1	2		0	2	1	8
8		2737	0	0	0	1	0	2	2		0	2	7
9		2778	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	2		1	7
10		2812	1	0	1	0	1	2	1	0	1		7

Saint Louis Blitz, August 17–18! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2807		½ ½	1 0	1 ½	½ 1	1 1	1 1	1 ½	1 0	1 1	13½
2		2794	½ ½		½ ½	1 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 ½	½ 0	0 1	12½
3		2868	0 1	½ ½		½ ½	½ 0	½ 0	1 0	½ 1	1 1	1 1	10½
4		2787	0 ½	0 0	½ ½		½ ½	½ 1	1 1	½ 0	1 ½	1 1	10
5		2812	½ 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½		0 ½	1 1	½ ½	½ ½	0 1	9
6		2747	0 0	0 0	½ 1	½ 0	1 ½		½ ½	½ ½	0 1	1 1	8½
7		2796	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 0	0 0	½ ½		½ 1	1 1	1 1	7½
8		2756	0 ½	0 ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0		½ ½	½ 0	7
9		2748	0 1	½ 1	0 0	0 ½	½ ½	1 0	0 0	½ ½		0 0	6
10		2806	0 0	1 0	0 0	0 0	1 0	0 0	0 0	½ 1	1 1		5½

London

9th London Chess Classic, 1–11 December 2017, London, England, Category XXII (2779)^[9] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! !! !! TPR !! Tour Points !! Place

1	align=left		2799		½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	6	2½			2901	12	1
2	align=left		2729	½		1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	6	1½			2909	10	2
3	align=left		2837	½	0		½	½	½	1	½	½	1	5		2		2815	7	3
4	align=left		2789	½	½	½		½	½	½	1	½	½	5		1	½	2820	7	4–5
5	align=left		2788	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	1	½	5		1	½	2820	7	4–5
6	align=left		2781	½	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	4½				2778	5	6
7	align=left		2805	½	½	0	½	½	½		½	½	½	4				2733	4	7
8	align=left		2760	0	½	½	0	½	½	½		½	½	3½				2701	3	8
9	align=left		2782	0	0	½	½	0	½	½	½		½	3		0	½	2653	1.5	9–10
10	align=left		2715	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½		3		0	½	2661	WC (1.5)	9–10

First place playoff! Place !! Player !! Rapid rating !! Blitz rating !! colspan="2"

Rapid !	Blitz		Score
1		2751	2804	½	½	½	1	2½
2		2780	2810	½	½	½	0	1½

Standings

	Player	Paris	Leuven	Sinquefield	St. Louis	London	Total points	Prize money
1		12	13	9		7	41	$245,417
2		10	8	13		7	38	$207,917
3			5.5	6.5	13	4	29	$91,250
4		8		3	9	5	25	$77,500
5		3		4	5	12	24	$95,000
6		5		6.5	9	3	23.5	$75,000
T-7		4	10	1.5		7	22.5	$79,167
T-7			4	1.5	7	10	22.5	$100,000
9			3	9	2	1.5	15.5	$75,000
			7				7	$15,000
		7					7	$15,000
		6					6	$12,500
			5.5				5.5	$11,250
				5			5	$20,000
					5		5	$10,000
					5		5	$10,000
					3		3	$7,500
			2				2	$7,500
		2					2	$7,500
						1.5	1.5	$15,000
		1					1	$7,500
			1				1	$7,500
					1		1	$7,500

Notes and References

1. Web site: Carlsen, So In Grand Chess Tour; Kramnik Declines. Chess.com. Peter Doggers. February 2, 2017.
2. Web site: Grand Chess Tour 2017 - Paris Rapid Chess mission accomplished!. Simonsen Vogt Wiig. Magnus Carlsen.
3. Web site: Grand Chess Tour Paris Rapid and Blitz 2017. The Week in Chess. June 21, 2017.
4. Web site: Carlsen Beats MVL In Playoff, Wins Paris Grand Chess Tour. Chess.com. Peter Doggers.
5. Web site: Гарри Каспаров блицнул мастерством. Kommersant. Alexei Dospekhov. August 21, 2017. Russian.
6. Web site: Historic Sinquefield Cup Brings Top World Chess Talent to Saint Louis; Legendary World Champion Garry Kasparov Comes out of Retirement for Inaugural Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Event. PR Newswire. July 5, 2017.
7. Web site: Garry Kasparov comes out of retirement for inaugural Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Event. The Indian Express. July 6, 2017.
8. Web site: Chess Legend Garry Kasparov Is Coming Out Of Retirement To Compete In St. Louis Tournament. Forbes. Alex Knapp. July 5, 2017.
9. Web site: THE WEEK IN CHESS 1205. Mark Crowther. The Week in Chess. 11 December 2017.