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Grand Prix: who plays where?
12 March 2008 16:42 PM | Last modified: 16:56
In about a month time, the first Grand Prix will already be played. What do we know of it? Who will play, and where? All info and a video interview with Geoffrey Borg.
Last week, Geoffrey Borg (commercial manager of FIDE and CEO of Global Chess BV) dropped by for one day in Linares. Right on that day, at the FIDE website the cities and participants of the first Grand Prix Series was published, a complex set of data which have been created mainly by Borg - not a bad result by itself.
On April 20th, the first of six Grand Prix tournaments will start in Baku, Azerbaijan. It’s the start of a new, long-term world championship cycle, that will be combined with the results of the already planned matches Anand-Kramnik and Kamsky-Topalov.
I took the opportunity to interview Mr Borg, and in the video Borg tells us about the six upcoming tournaments. He also comments on Morozevich’s recent criticism and tries to take away any left skepticism.
At the FIDE website, in PDF you can download the schedule and list of participants of the first Grand Prix Series. Here’s an overview of each tournament. Every player has to play four of the six tournaments and the eventual winner will be the player who scored most cumulative points. The cumulative score will be calculated from the three best results for each player.
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April 20th - May 6th, 2008 Baku, Azerbaijan |
July 30th - August 15th, 2008 Soci, Russia |
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| No. | Name | Fed | Rating | No. | Name | Fed | Rating | |
| 1 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2763 | 1 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2763 | |
| 2 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2760 | 2 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2751 | |
| 3 | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2735 | 3 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2739 | |
| 4 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2733 | 4 | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2737 | |
| 5 | Karjakin, Sergei | UKR | 2732 | 5 | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2735 | |
| 6 | Adams, Michael | ENG | 2726 | 6 | Karjakin, Sergei | UKR | 2732 | |
| 7 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2726 | 7 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2726 | |
| 8 | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2713 | 8 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2720 | |
| 9 | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2711 | 9 | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2713 | |
| 10 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2700 | 10 | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2711 | |
| 11 | Wang Yue | CHN | 2698 | 11 | Wang Yue | CHN | 2698 | |
| 12 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | RUS | 2681 | 12 | Navara, David | CZE | 2680 | |
| 13 | Navara, David | CZE | 2680 | 13 | Gashimov, Vugar | AZE | 2665 | |
| 14 | Gashimov, Vugar | AZE | 2665 | 14 | Al Modiahki, Mohamad | QTR | 2569 | |
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December 13th - 29th, 2008 Doha, Qatar |
April 14th - 28th, 2009 Montreux, Switzerland |
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| No. | Name | Fed | Rating | No. | Name | Fed | Rating | |
| 1 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2760 | 1 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2763 | |
| 2 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2753 | 2 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2760 | |
| 3 | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2735 | 3 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2753 | |
| 4 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2733 | 4 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2751 | |
| 5 | Adams, Michael | ENG | 2726 | 5 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2739 | |
| 6 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2720 | 6 | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2737 | |
| 7 | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2713 | 7 | Radjabov, Teimour | AZE | 2735 | |
| 8 | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2711 | 8 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2733 | |
| 9 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2700 | 9 | Karjakin, Sergei | UKR | 2732 | |
| 10 | Wang Yue | CHN | 2698 | 10 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2726 | |
| 11 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | RUS | 2681 | 11 | Grischuk, Alexander | RUS | 2711 | |
| 12 | Gashimov, Vugar | AZE | 2665 | 12 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2700 | |
| 13 | Pelletier, Yannick | SWZ | 2600 | 13 | Pelletier, Yannick | SWZ | 2600 | |
| 14 | Al Modiahki, Mohamad | QTR | 2569 | 14 | Al Modiahki, Mohamad | QTR | 2569 | |
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August 8th - 24th, 2009 Elista, Russia |
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December 7th - 23th, 2009 Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic |
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| No. | Name | Fed | Rating | No. | Name | Fed | Rating | |
| 1 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2753 | 1 | Svidler, Peter | RUS | 2763 | |
| 2 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2751 | 2 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | AZE | 2760 | |
| 3 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2739 | 3 | Leko, Peter | HUN | 2753 | |
| 4 | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2737 | 4 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | UKR | 2751 | |
| 5 | Karjakin, Sergei | UKR | 2732 | 5 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2739 | |
| 6 | Adams, Michael | ENG | 2726 | 6 | Gelfand, Boris | ISR | 2737 | |
| 7 | Kamsky, Gata | USA | 2726 | 7 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2733 | |
| 8 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2720 | 8 | Adams, Michael | ENG | 2726 | |
| 9 | Bacrot, Etienne | FRA | 2700 | 9 | Jakovenko, Dmitry | RUS | 2720 | |
| 10 | Wang Yue | CHN | 2698 | 10 | Cheparinov, Ivan | BUL | 2713 | |
| 11 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | RUS | 2681 | 11 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | RUS | 2681 | |
| 12 | Navara, David | CZE | 2680 | 12 | Navara, David | CZE | 2680 | |
| 13 | Gashimov, Vugar | AZE | 2665 | 13 | Pelletier, Yannick | SWZ | 2600 | |
| 14 | Pelletier, Yannick | SWZ | 2600 | 14 | Al Modiahki, Mohamad | QTR | 2569 | |
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I’d be interested in a list of 2700+ players missing…let’s see:
- Anand, Kramnik, Topalov, because of the games they’ll be playing anyway?
- Morozevich out of protest.
- Polgar because of ….?
- Shirov because of ….?
- Akopian, Alekseev, Ponomariov
Following frogbert’s day to day rating, actual 2700+ players
Movsesian, Bu and Ni
are missing too.
Instead of this we find one or two pretty weak players.
I by the way find it interesting that although China has quite some strong and promising players these days (I only mentioned the three strongest ones), only Wang Yu is present.
Any reason for that?
Part of your question is answered when you take into account that qualification is based on “an average calculation to two decimal places, of the January 2007 rating list and the October 2007 rating list in the year prior to start of the cycle.” See the qualification criteria.
Great interview! Very informative. I like the line-up, but I really wish we’d have seen Nakamura, and Polgar included.
polgar must have declined since she was in a spot to take one of the places for one of those who declined. would be interesting to know for sure and why.
@ Peter
Cheers. I was to lazy to read through all the criteria.
Nevertheless I find that quite some strong players are missing…
“Weak” is a relative term! Al Modiahki is the weakest with 2569 and I think that rating is already stratosferic for 99,999% of the readers of this site.
@xtra
I posted on one of Susan’s blogs and asked her why she is not in the Grand Prix.
http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2008/03/chess-trivia_12.html#links
bobmutch, I don’t think Susan is close to ELO for this kind of tournament. It is her sister that should be in the match.
The last few players are the local players. Each host country can nominate one (their top) player. So Pelletier, Al Modiakhi, Navara, Gashimov, Inkarkiev and I think Jakovenko have qualified as local players so it is not relevant to ask why these players play instead of some player 2700 or a bit below.
Cheparinov, Wang and Bacrot, are president nominee’s (because Anand, Topalov and Kramnik do not participate and these positions are supposed to be filled like this).
However, they are very strong (close or above 2700). Maybe Wang was selected to have one chineese player (fair since many are close to 2700). Bacrot probably was in line as reserve as for Cheparinov .. he has Danailov as manager
(ok, he is very strong and close to the line anyway).
Very good video. It has made me understand the Grand Prix and the World Championship Cycle much better. Thank you.
@manyoso
Right now I am confused again. It is not Susan but Judit that is rated 2707. I am sure Susan gets this all the time.