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

The intent for a Grand Prix in 2016-17 has been announced by FIDE/Agon, with the days already theoretically fixed to ensure scheduling consistency, but no further details have been revealed other than the existence of a bidding process being put forth to federations by September 15, 2015.[5] This is perhaps not unexpected, as the previous Grand Prix was only announced in August 2014 (including the reduction from 6 events to 4 events), with the two initial events moved to October 2014 from the original May 2014 and July 2014 calendar dates.[6] Agon's website lists the dates as May 11 to May 25 for the first Grand Prix leg, confirming the FIDE calendar. Most participants will be in top 25 of the world, and again the top two finishers will qualify for the next Candidates.[7] There is no conjunction for the successful challenger who emerges from the March 2016 Candidates tournament, so top players may be unwilling to commit to the Grand Prix before this event concludes. The succesful challenger would not only be busy preparing for the World Championship, but would also have no reason to compete in the Grand Prix, as qualification to the 2018 Candidates would already be warranted (at worst) from the title match.[8]

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. ↑ Agon letter to FIDE Congress, section 4
  6. ↑ FIDE announces Grand Prix 2014-15
  7. ↑ Grand Prix Cycle, first leg
  8. ↑ FIDE Grand Prix Regulations
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