Grand Chess Tour 2022 Explained

Grand Chess Tour
Year:	2022
Start Date:	3 May
End Date:	13 September 2022
Host:	Bucharest Warsaw Zagreb St. Louis
Champion:	Alireza Firouzja
Runner-Up1:	Wesley So
3Rd Place:	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Stat1 Label:	Most tournament titles
Stat1:	Alireza Firouzja (2)
Stat2 Label:	Prize money leader
Stat2:	Alireza Firouzja ($272,250)
Stat3 Label:	Points leader
Stat3:	Alireza Firouzja (36.5)
Previous:	GCT 2021
Next:	GCT 2023

The Grand Chess Tour 2022 was a series of chess tournaments, which was the seventh edition of the Grand Chess Tour. It consisted of five tournaments with a total prize pool of US$1.4 million, including two tournaments with classical time control and three tournaments with faster time controls.^[1] The winner of the tour was Alireza Firouzja.

Format

The tour consisted of five tournaments, two classicals and three rapid & blitz, respectively. Rapid & Blitz tournaments consisted of two parts – rapid (2 points for win, 1 for draw) and blitz (1 point for win, 0.5 for draw). Combined result for both portions was counted in overall standings.^[2]

The tour points were awarded 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

• If a player wins 1st place outright (without the need for a playoff), they are awarded 13 points instead of 12.
• Tour points are shared equally between tied players.

Lineup

The lineup was announced on February 16, 2022. As in 2021, it consisted of nine players, including top-three finishers of previous edition. Remaining six players were selected, based on several factors, including URS, FIDE rating, "fighting spirit and sportsmanship".^[3]

	Player	Country	FIDE Rating (January 2022)
1	Wesley So		2772
2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave		2761
3	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov		2767
4	Alireza Firouzja		2804
5	Fabiano Caruana		2792
6	Ian Nepomniachtchi		2773
7	Levon Aronian		2772
8	Richárd Rapport		2763
9	Leinier Domínguez		2752

Schedule

Dates	Tournament Name	Host city
May 3–15, 2022	Superbet Chess Classic	Bucharest
May 17–24, 2022	Superbet Rapid & Blitz	Warsaw
July 18–25, 2022	SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz	Zagreb
August 24–31, 2022	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	St. Louis
August 31 – 13 September 2022	Sinquefield Cup

Results

Dates	Tournament Name	Winner	Runner-Up	Third place
May 3–15, 2022	Superbet Chess Classic	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Wesley So Levon Aronian	–
May 17–24, 2022	Poland Rapid & Blitz	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (WC)	Levon Aronian Viswanathan Anand (WC)	–
July 18–25, 2022	Croatia Rapid & Blitz	Magnus Carlsen (WC)	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Alireza Firouzja	–
August 24–31, 2022	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	Alireza Firouzja	Hikaru Nakamura (WC)	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Fabiano Caruana
September 1–12, 2022	Sinquefield Cup	Alireza Firouzja	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Wesley So Fabiano Caruana

Tournaments

Superbet Chess Classic

The first leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Bucharest, Romania from 3–15 May 2022.

2022 GCT Superbet Chess Classic, 3–15 May Bucharest, Romania, Category XXI (2761.4)! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! TPR !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1	align=left		2750		½	0	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	5½	2	2843	10	$77,677
2	align=left		2766	½		½	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	5½	1	2841	10	$67,677
3	align=left		2765	1	½		1	½	½	½	½	½	½	5½	0	2841	10	$67,667
4	align=left		2753	½	½	0		½	1	½	0	1	½	4½		2762	6	$26,333
5	align=left		2786	0	½	½	½		½	½	½	1	½	4½		2759	6	$26,333
6	align=left		2671	½	½	½	0	½		½	½	½	1	4½		2771	WC (6)	$26,333
7	align=left		2773	½	0	½	½	½	½		1	0	½	4		2720	3.5	$17,250
8	align=left		2804	0	½	½	1	½	½	0		½	½	4		2717	3.5	$17,250
9	align=left		2770	½	0	½	0	0	½	1	½		½	3½		2680	1.5	$11,750
10	align=left		2776	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½		3½		2679	1.5	$11,750

First place playoff!Place!Player!Rapid rating!1!2!3!Score

1		2743		1	1	2
2		2784	0		1	1
3		2751	0	0		0

Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland

The second leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Warsaw, Poland from 17–24 May 2022.

Final standings

2022 GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, 19–23 May 2022, Warsaw, Poland! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		12	12	24	WC (13)	$40,000
T-2		10	13½	23½	9	$27,500
T-2		14	9½	23½	WC (9)	$27,500
4		9	14	23	7	$20,000
5		11	9½	20½	6	$15,000
6		13	6½	19½	5	$11,000
7		7	6½	13½	WC (4)	$10,000
8		5	7½	12½	WC (3)	$9,000
9		7	4½	11½	WC (2)	$8,000
10		2	6½	8½	WC (1)	$7,000

2022 GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland – Rapid, 19–21 May 2022, Warsaw, Poland! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2675		0	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	14
2		2785	2		0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	13
3		2806	1	2		0	2	0	2	1	2	2	12
4		2770	0	2	2		1	1	1	2	1	1	11
5		2751	0	1	0	1		2	1	1	2	2	10
6		2790	1	0	2	1	0		1	1	1	2	9
7		2647	0	0	0	1	1	1		1	2	1	7
8		2573	0	0	1	0	1	1	1		1	2	7
9		2677	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1		2	5
10		2457	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0		2

2022 GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland – Blitz, 22–23 May 2022, Warsaw, Poland^[4] ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2744		½ ½	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 0	1 1	1 0	14
2		2773	½ ½		½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	13½
3		2760	½ 0	½ ½		0 1	0 1	1 0	½ 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	12
4		2758	0 ½	½ 0	1 0		1 ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ 1	0 ½	1 1	9½
5		2814	0 0	½ 0	1 0	0 ½		1 1	1 1	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9½
6		2650	0 0	0 ½	0 1	½ 1	0 0		0 1	½ 1	0 1	0 1	7½
7		2646	0 0	0 0	½ 0	½ 0	0 0	1 0		0 1	1 1	½ 1	6½
8		2610	0 1	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	1 ½	½ 0	1 0		½ 0	½ ½	6½
9		2367	0 0	0 ½	0 0	1 ½	½ 0	1 0	0 0	½ 1		½ 1	6½
10		2624	0 1	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 ½	1 0	½ 0	½ ½	½ 0		4½

SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia

The third leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Zagreb, Croatia from 18–25 July 2022.

2022 GCT SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia, 20–24 July 2022, Zagreb, Croatia! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		11	11½	22½	WC (13)	$40,000
T-2		10	12	22	9	$27,500
T-2		11	11	22	9	$27,500
T-4		9	12	21	6.5	$17,500
T-4		11	10	21	6.5	$17,500
6		12	7	19	WC (5)	$11,000
T-7		8	7	15	3.5	$9,500
T-7		7	8	15	3.5	$9,500
9		5	7	12	WC (2)	$8,000
10		6	4½	10½	WC (1)	$7,000

2022 GCT SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia – Rapid, 20–22 July 2022, Zagreb, Croatia! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2645		0	2	0	1	2	2	2	1	2	12
2		2847	2		1	1	1	1	0	1	2	2	11
3		2670	0	1		1	1	1	2	1	2	2	11
4		2779	2	1	1		1	1	1	1	2	1	11
5		2764	1	1	1	1		0	2	1	1	2	10
6		2821	0	1	1	1	2		0	2	0	2	9
7		2699	0	2	0	1	0	2		1	1	1	8
8		2729	0	1	1	1	1	0	1		1	1	7
9		2645	1	0	0	0	1	2	1	1		0	6
10		2627	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	2		5

2022 GCT SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia – Blitz, 23–24 July 2022, Zagreb, Croatia! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2784		0 1	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	1 1	0 1	0 1	1 1	12
2		2740	1 0		0 0	½ 0	½ 1	1 1	1 ½	½ 1	1 1	1 1	12
3		2828	1 ½	1 1		1 0	0 ½	0 ½	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	1 0	11½
4		2791	½ 0	½ 1	0 1		½ 1	0 1	½ ½	½ 1	1 1	0 1	11
5		2763	½ ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ 0		½ 0	½ 1	1 1	0 ½	1 1	10
6		2729	0 0	0 0	1 ½	1 0	½ 1		½ 0	1 ½	½ 0	1 ½	8
7		2667	0 0	0 ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ 1		1 0	1 1	0 0	7
8		2778	1 0	½ 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 ½	0 1		½ ½	1 1	7
9		2609	1 0	0 0	0 0	0 0	1 ½	½ 1	0 0	½ ½		1 1	7
10		2550	0 0	0 0	0 1	1 0	0 0	0 ½	1 1	0 0	0 0		4½

Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz

2022 GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, 26–30 August 2022, St. Louis, Missouri, United States! !! Player !! Rapid !! Blitz !! Total !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		11	15	26	13	$40,000
2		7	14	21	WC (10)	$30,000
T-3		8	11	19	7.5	$22,500
T-3		11	8	19	7.5	$22,500
5		9	9	18	6	$15,000
6		9	8½	17½	5	$11,000
T-7		8	9	17	3.5	$9,500
T-7		9	8	17	WC (3.5)	$9,500
9		10	3½	13½	WC (2)	$8,000
10		8	4	12	1	$7,000

2022 GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Rapid, 26–28 August 2022, St. Louis, Missouri, United States! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2704		1	1	1	2	1	0	1	2	2	11
2		2763	1		1	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	11
3		2616	1	1		2	1	0	1	1	1	2	10
4		2795	1	1	0		2	1	1	1	1	1	9
5		2695	0	0	1	0		2	2	1	2	1	9
6		2725	1	1	2	1	0		2	1	1	0	9
7		2766	2	0	1	1	0	0		1	1	2	8
8		2728	1	1	1	1	1	1	1		1	0	8
9		2705	0	1	1	1	0	1	1	1		2	8
10		2836	0	1	0	1	1	2	0	2	0		7

2022 GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Blitz, 29–30 August 2022, St. Louis, Missouri, United States! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points

1		2795		½ 1	½ 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	15
2		2850	½ 0		1 1	1 0	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	14
3		2847	½ 0	0 0		1 ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 1	½ 1	1 1	1 1	11
4		2850	½ 0	0 1	0 ½		1 ½	1 0	1 ½	0 ½	1 0	1 ½	9
5		2791	0 ½	½ 0	½ ½	0 ½		1 ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	9
6		2710	0 0	½ ½	½ 0	0 1	0 ½		0 0	1 ½	1 1	1 1	8½
7		2714	½ 0	0 0	1 0	0 ½	0 ½	1 1		½ ½	1 0	1 ½	8
8		2812	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	1 ½	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½		1 1	½ ½	8
9		2714	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 1	0 0	0 1	0 0		½ ½	4
10		2645	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½		3½

Sinquefield Cup

The final leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Saint Louis, Missouri, United States from 2–11 September 2022.

2022 GCT Sinquefield Cup, 2–11 September Saint Louis, Missouri, United States Category XXI (2766.6)! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! Points !! !! TPR !! Tour Points !! Prize money

1		2778		0	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	–	5	1½	2844	11	$87,500
2		2792	1		½	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	5	½	2804	11	$77,500
3		2771	0	½		1	½	1	½	½	½	–	4½		2799	7.5	$40,000
4		2758	½	½	0		½	1	½	1	½	–	4½		2801	7.5	$40,000
5		2745	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	–	4		2758	6	$26,000
6		2688	½	½	0	0	½		½	½	1	1	3½		2775	WC (4.5)	$19,750
7		2759	0	0	½	½	½	½		1	½	½	3½		2727	4.5	$19,750
8		2757	½	½	½	0	½	½	0		½	–	3		2665	2.5	$14,500
9		2757	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½		–	3		2665	2.5	$14,500
10		2861	–	1	–	–	–	0	½	–	–		–		2746	–	–

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

Rapid	Score
1		2732	½	1	1½
2		2779	½	0	½

• Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the tournament after Round 3. All his game results got annulled. See Carlsen–Niemann controversy.

Tour Standings

The wildcards (in italics) are not counted in overall standings.

	Player	ROU	POL	CRO	STL	SIN	Total points	Prize money
	1		3.5		9	13	11	36.5	$272,250
2		10	6	6.5		7.5	30	$190,167
3		10		9	7.5	2.5	29	$165,167
4		6	7		7.5	7.5	28	$108,833
T-5		10	9		3.5	4.5	27	$124,417
T-5		3.5		6.5	6	11	27	$127,250
7		6		3.5	1	6	16.5	$68,833
8		1.5		3.5	5	2.5	12.5	$46,750
9		1.5	5				6.5	$22,750
				13		w/d	13	$40,000
			13				13	$40,000
					10		10	$30,000
			9				9	$27,500
		6					6	$26,333
				5			5	$11,000
						4.5	4.5	$19,750
			4				4	$10,000
					3.5		3.5	$9,500
			3				3	$9,000
			2				2	$8,000
					2		2	$8,000
				2			2	$8,000
			1				1	$7,000
				1			1	$7,000

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2022 Grand Chess Tour.
2. Web site: 2022 GCT Tour Regulations .
3. Web site: Full Tour Participants Confirmed For The 2022 Grand Chess Tour And Total Prize Fund Increased To $1.4 Million Across All Five Tournaments. March 9, 2023.
4. Web site: Standings Grand Chess Tour . 2022-05-24 . grandchesstour.org.