Grand Chess Tour 2022

Grand Chess Tour
2022
	2022 Grand Chess Tour winner Alireza Firouzja.
Tournament information
Dates	3 May–13 September 2022
Host(s)	Bucharest; Warsaw; Zagreb; St. Louis
Final positions
Champion	Alireza Firouzja
Runner-up	Wesley So
3rd place	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titles	Alireza Firouzja (2)
Prize money leader	Alireza Firouzja ($272,250)
Points leader	Alireza Firouzja (36.5)
	← GCT 2021 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)
Wesley So	United States	2772
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	France	2761
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Azerbaijan	2767
Alireza Firouzja	France	2804
Fabiano Caruana	United States	2792
Ian Nepomniachtchi	FIDE^[a]	2773
Levon Aronian	United States	2772
Richárd Rapport	Hungary	2763
Leinier Domínguez	United States	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	St. Louis

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	TB	TPR	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2750	Does not appear	½	0	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	5½	2	2843	10	$77,677
2	Wesley So (USA)	2766	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	5½	1	2841	10	$67,677
3	Levon Aronian (USA)	2765	1	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	5½	0	2841	10	$67,667
4	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2753	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	½	0	1	½	4½		2762	6	$26,333
5	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2786	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	½	4½		2759	6	$26,333
6	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU)	2671	½	½	½	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	4½		2771	WC (6)	$26,333
7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	2773	½	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	0	½	4		2720	3.5	$17,250
8	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2804	0	½	½	1	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	½	4		2717	3.5	$17,250
9	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2770	½	0	½	0	0	½	1	½	Does not appear	½	3½		2680	1.5	$11,750
10	Richárd Rapport (HUN)	2776	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	3½		2679	1.5	$11,750

First place playoff
Place	Player	Rapid rating	1	2	3	Score
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2743	Does not appear	1	1	2
2	Wesley So (USA)	2784	0	Does not appear	1	1
3	Levon Aronian (USA)	2751	0	0	Does not appear	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	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	12	12	24	WC (13)	$40,000
T-2	Levon Aronian (USA)	10	13½	23½	9	$27,500
T-2	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	14	9½	23½	WC (9)	$27,500
4	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	9	14	23	7	$20,000
5	Wesley So (USA)	11	9½	20½	6	$15,000
6	Richard Rapport (HUN)	13	6½	19½	5	$11,000
7	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	7	6½	13½	WC (4)	$10,000
8	Anton Korobov (UKR)	5	7½	12½	WC (3)	$9,000
9	Kirill Shevchenko (UKR)	7	4½	11½	WC (2)	$8,000
10	IM David Gavrilescu (ROU)	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	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2675	Does not appear	0	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	14
2	Richárd Rapport (HUN)	2785	2	Does not appear	0	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	13
3	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	2806	1	2	Does not appear	0	2	0	2	1	2	2	12
4	Wesley So (USA)	2770	0	2	2	Does not appear	1	1	1	2	1	1	11
5	Levon Aronian (USA)	2751	0	1	0	1	Does not appear	2	1	1	2	2	10
6	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2790	1	0	2	1	0	Does not appear	1	1	1	2	9
7	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	2647	0	0	0	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	1	7
8	Kirill Shevchenko (UKR)	2573	0	0	1	0	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	7
9	Anton Korobov (UKR)	2677	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	Does not appear	2	5
10	IM David Gavrilescu (ROU)	2457	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	Does not appear	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	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2744	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 0	1 1	1 0	14
2	Levon Aronian (USA)	2773	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	13½
3	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	2760	½ 0	½ ½	Does not appear	0 1	0 1	1 0	½ 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	12
4	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2758	0 ½	½ 0	1 0	Does not appear	1 ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ 1	0 ½	1 1	9½
5	Wesley So (USA)	2814	0 0	½ 0	1 0	0 ½	Does not appear	1 1	1 1	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9½
6	Anton Korobov (UKR)	2650	0 0	0 ½	0 1	½ 1	0 0	Does not appear	0 1	½ 1	0 1	0 1	7½
7	Richárd Rapport (HUN)	2646	0 0	0 0	½ 0	½ 0	0 0	1 0	Does not appear	0 1	1 1	½ 1	6½
8	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	2610	0 1	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	1 ½	½ 0	1 0	Does not appear	½ 0	½ ½	6½
9	IM David Gavrilescu (ROU)	2367	0 0	0 ½	0 0	1 ½	½ 0	1 0	0 0	½ 1	Does not appear	½ 1	6½
10	Kirill Shevchenko (UKR)	2624	0 1	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 ½	1 0	½ 0	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	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	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	11	11½	22½	WC (13)	$40,000
T-2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	10	12	22	9	$27,500
T-2	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	11	11	22	9	$27,500
T-4	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	9	12	21	6.5	$17,500
T-4	Wesley So (USA)	11	10	21	6.5	$17,500
6	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	12	7	19	WC (5)	$11,000
T-7	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	8	7	15	3.5	$9,500
T-7	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	7	8	15	3.5	$9,500
9	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	5	7	12	WC (2)	$8,000
10	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	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	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2645	Does not appear	0	2	0	1	2	2	2	1	2	12
2	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2847	2	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	0	1	2	2	11
3	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2670	0	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	11
4	Wesley So (USA)	2779	2	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	2	1	11
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2764	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	0	2	1	1	2	10
6	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	2821	0	1	1	1	2	Does not appear	0	2	0	2	9
7	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2699	0	2	0	1	0	2	Does not appear	1	1	1	8
8	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2729	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	Does not appear	1	1	7
9	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	2645	1	0	0	0	1	2	1	1	Does not appear	0	6
10	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2627	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	2	Does not appear	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	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2784	Does not appear	0 1	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	1 1	0 1	0 1	1 1	12
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	2740	1 0	Does not appear	0 0	½ 0	½ 1	1 1	1 ½	½ 1	1 1	1 1	12
3	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2828	1 ½	1 1	Does not appear	1 0	0 ½	0 ½	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	1 0	11½
4	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2791	½ 0	½ 1	0 1	Does not appear	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	½ 1	1 1	0 1	11
5	Wesley So (USA)	2763	½ ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ 0	Does not appear	½ 0	½ 1	1 1	0 ½	1 1	10
6	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2729	0 0	0 0	1 ½	1 0	½ 1	Does not appear	½ 0	1 ½	½ 0	1 ½	8
7	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2667	0 0	0 ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	½ 1	Does not appear	1 0	1 1	0 0	7
8	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2778	1 0	½ 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 ½	0 1	Does not appear	½ ½	1 1	7
9	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2609	1 0	0 0	0 0	0 0	1 ½	½ 1	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	1 1	7
10	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	2550	0 0	0 0	0 1	1 0	0 0	0 ½	1 1	0 0	0 0	Does not appear	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	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	11	15	26	13	$40,000
2	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	7	14	21	WC (10)	$30,000
T-3	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	8	11	19	7.5	$22,500
T-3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	11	8	19	7.5	$22,500
5	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	9	9	18	6	$15,000
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	9	8½	17½	5	$11,000
T-7	Levon Aronian (USA)	8	9	17	3.5	$9,500
T-7	Jeffery Xiong (USA)	9	8	17	WC (3.5)	$9,500
9	Sam Shankland (USA)	10	3½	13½	WC (2)	$8,000
10	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	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	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2704	Does not appear	1	1	1	2	1	0	1	2	2	11
2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2763	1	Does not appear	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	11
3	Sam Shankland (USA)	2616	1	1	Does not appear	2	1	0	1	1	1	2	10
4	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	2795	1	1	0	Does not appear	2	1	1	1	1	1	9
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2695	0	0	1	0	Does not appear	2	2	1	2	1	9
6	Jeffery Xiong (USA)	2725	1	1	2	1	0	Does not appear	2	1	1	0	9
7	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2766	2	0	1	1	0	0	Does not appear	1	1	2	8
8	Levon Aronian (USA)	2728	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	0	8
9	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2705	0	1	1	1	0	1	1	1	Does not appear	2	8
10	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2836	0	1	0	1	1	2	0	2	0	Does not appear	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	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2795	Does not appear	½ 1	½ 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	15
2	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2850	½ 0	Does not appear	1 1	1 0	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	14
3	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2847	½ 0	0 0	Does not appear	1 ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 1	½ 1	1 1	1 1	11
4	Levon Aronian (USA)	2850	½ 0	0 1	0 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	1 0	1 ½	0 ½	1 0	1 ½	9
5	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	2791	0 ½	½ 0	½ ½	0 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	9
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2710	0 0	½ ½	½ 0	0 1	0 ½	Does not appear	0 0	1 ½	1 1	1 1	8½
7	Jeffery Xiong (USA)	2714	½ 0	0 0	1 0	0 ½	0 ½	1 1	Does not appear	½ ½	1 0	1 ½	8
8	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2812	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	1 ½	½ ½	0 ½	½ ½	Does not appear	1 1	½ ½	8
9	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2714	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 1	0 0	0 1	0 0	Does not appear	½ ½	4
10	Sam Shankland (USA)	2645	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	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	TB	TPR	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2778	Does not appear	0	1	½	½	½	1	½	1	–	5	1½	2844	11	$87,500
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	2792	1	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	0	5	½	2804	11	$77,500
3	Wesley So (USA)	2771	0	½	Does not appear	1	½	1	½	½	½	–	4½		2799	7.5	$40,000
4	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2758	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	½	1	½	–	4½		2801	7.5	$40,000
5	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2745	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	–	4		2758	6	$26,000
6	Hans Niemann (USA)	2688	½	½	0	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	1	3½		2775	WC (4.5)	$19,750
7	Levon Aronian (USA)	2759	0	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	3½		2727	4.5	$19,750
8	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2757	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	–	3		2665	2.5	$14,500
9	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2757	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	–	3		2665	2.5	$14,500
10	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2861	–	1	–	–	–	0	½	–	–	Does not appear	–		2746	–	–

First place playoff
Place	Player	Rapid rating	Rapid		Score
1	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2732	½	1	1½
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)	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	Alireza Firouzja (France)	3.5	—	9	13	11	36.5	$272,250
2	Wesley So (United States)	10	6	6.5	—	7.5	30	$190,167
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	10	—	9	7.5	2.5	29	$165,167
4	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	6	7	—	7.5	7.5	28	$108,833
T-5	Levon Aronian (United States)	10	9	—	3.5	4.5	27	$124,417
T-5	Ian Nepomniachtchi (FIDE)^[a]	3.5	—	6.5	6	11	27	$127,250
7	Leinier Domínguez (United States)	6	—	3.5	1	6	16.5	$68,833
8	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	1.5	—	3.5	5	2.5	12.5	$46,750
9	Richárd Rapport (Hungary)^[b]	1.5	5	—	—	—	6.5	$22,750
	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	—	—	13	—	w/d	13	$40,000
	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)	—	13	—	—	—	13	$40,000
	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	—	—	—	10	—	10	$30,000
	Viswanathan Anand (India)	—	9	—	—	—	9	$27,500
	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania)	6	—	—	—	—	6	$26,333
	Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)	—	—	5	—	—	5	$11,000
	Hans Niemann (United States)	—	—	—	—	4.5	4.5	$19,750
	Radosław Wojtaszek (Poland)	—	4	—	—	—	4	$10,000
	Jeffery Xiong (United States)	—	—	—	3.5	—	3.5	$9,500
	Anton Korobov (Ukraine)	—	3	—	—	—	3	$9,000
	Kirill Shevchenko (Ukraine)	—	2	—	—	—	2	$8,000
	Sam Shankland (United States)	—	—	—	2	—	2	$8,000
	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	—	—	2	—	—	2	$8,000
	IM David Gavrilescu (Romania)	—	1	—	—	—	1	$7,000
	Ivan Šarić (Croatia)	—	—	1	—	—	1	$7,000

Notes

^ ^a ^b Russian players' flags are displayed as the FIDE flag due to FIDE banning Russian and Belarusian flags from FIDE-rated events in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[5]
^ Rapport had withdrawn from both St. Louis events due to COVID-19 restrictions in the United States and was replaced by Jeffery Xiong and Hans Niemann respectively.

References

^ "2022 Grand Chess Tour".
^ "2022 GCT Tour Regulations" (PDF).
^ "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.
^ "Standings | Grand Chess Tour". grandchesstour.org. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
^ FIDE Condemns Military Action; Takes Measures Against Russia, Belarus, chess.com, 28 February 2022

[flags-4] Russian players' flags are displayed as the FIDE flag due to FIDE banning Russian and Belarusian flags from FIDE-rated events in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[5]

[7] Rapport had withdrawn from both St. Louis events due to COVID-19 restrictions in the United States and was replaced by Jeffery Xiong and Hans Niemann respectively.

[1] "2022 Grand Chess Tour".

[2] "2022 GCT Tour Regulations" (PDF).

[3] "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.

[5] "Standings | Grand Chess Tour". grandchesstour.org. Retrieved 2022-05-24.

[6] FIDE Condemns Military Action; Takes Measures Against Russia, Belarus, chess.com, 28 February 2022

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