Grand Chess Tour 2017

Grand Chess Tour
2017
	2017 Grand Chess Tour winner Magnus Carlsen.
Tournament information
Dates	12 June–21 December 2017
Final positions
Champion	Magnus Carlsen
Runner-up	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
3rd place	Levon Aronian
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titles	Magnus Carlsen (2)
Prize money leader	Magnus Carlsen ($245,417)
Points leader	Magnus Carlsen (41)
	← 2016 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	United States	2808	Winner of Grand Chess Tour 2016
2	Hikaru Nakamura	United States	2785	Runner-up of Grand Chess Tour 2016
3	Fabiano Caruana	United States	2827	Third place in Grand Chess Tour 2016
4	Magnus Carlsen	Norway	2840	Average FIDE rating
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	France	2796	Average FIDE rating
6	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Russia	2767	URS
7	Sergey Karjakin	Russia	2785	URS
8	Viswanathan Anand	India	2786	Wildcard
9	Levon Aronian	Armenia	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	TB	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	14	10	24	1½	12	$31,250
2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	11	13	24	½	10	$31,250
3	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	12	11	23		8	$20,000
4	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	13	9	22		WC (7)	$15,000
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	11	9	20		WC (6)	$12,500
6	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	8	10	18		5	$10,000
7	Wesley So (USA)	9	6	15		4	$7,500
8	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	3	11	14		3	$7,500
9	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	5	6½	11½		WC (2)	$7,500
10	Étienne Bacrot (FRA)	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	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2896	Does not appear	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	14
2	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2822	1	Does not appear	0	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	13
3	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2796	1	2	Does not appear	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	12
4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2770	0	1	2	Does not appear	0	1	2	2	2	1	11
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2825	0	0	1	2	Does not appear	1	2	2	1	2	11
6	Wesley So (USA)	2759	0	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	0	1	2	2	9
7	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2773	1	0	1	0	0	2	Does not appear	1	2	1	8
8	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2715	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	5
9	Étienne Bacrot (FRA)	2710	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	Does not appear	2	4
10	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2752	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	Does not appear	3

Paris GCT Blitz, June 24–25
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2825	Does not appear	½ 1	0 ½	0 ½	1 1	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	13
2	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2865	½ 0	Does not appear	1 ½	1 1	½ 1	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	1 0	1 0	11
3	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2800	1 ½	0 ½	Does not appear	1 1	0 1	½ 0	1 0	1 0	1 1	½ 1	11
4	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2791	1 ½	0 0	0 0	Does not appear	½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	1 0	10
5	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2914	0 0	½ 0	1 0	½ 0	Does not appear	0 ½	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	10
6	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2813	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 ½	1 ½	Does not appear	½ 0	0 1	½ 0	1 ½	9
7	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2772	0 0	0 1	0 1	½ 0	0 ½	½ 1	Does not appear	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	9
8	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2710	0 ½	½ 0	0 1	½ ½	0 0	1 0	½ 0	Does not appear	½ 0	½ 1	6½
9	Wesley So (USA)	2791	0 0	0 1	0 0	0 0	0 0	½ 1	½ ½	½ 1	Does not appear	0 1	6
10	Étienne Bacrot (FRA)	2627	0 0	0 1	½ 0	0 1	0 0	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	1 0	Does not appear	5½

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	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	11	14½	25½	13	$37,500
2	Wesley So (USA)	14	8½	22½	10	$25,000
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	12	10	22	8	$20,000
4	Anish Giri (NED)	10	10	20	WC (7)	$15,000
5	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	9	9½	18½	WC (5.5)	$11,250
6	Levon Aronian (ARM)	9	9½	18½	5.5	$11,250
7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	9	9	18	4	$7,500
8	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	8	8	16	3	$7,500
9	Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR)	7	8½	15½	WC (2)	$7,500
10	Baadur Jobava (GEO)	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	Wesley So (USA)	2759	Does not appear	1	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	14
2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2770	1	Does not appear	1	1	2	0	1	2	2	2	12
3	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2896	0	1	Does not appear	1	1	2	2	1	1	2	11
4	Anish Giri (NED)	2750	1	1	1	Does not appear	0	2	1	1	2	1	10
5	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2819	1	0	1	2	Does not appear	2	1	0	0	2	9
6	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2797	0	2	0	0	0	Does not appear	2	2	1	2	9
7	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	2798	0	1	0	1	1	0	Does not appear	2	2	2	9
8	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2789	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	Does not appear	2	2	8
9	Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR)	2827	1	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	Does not appear	2	7
10	Baadur Jobava (GEO)	2649	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	Does not appear	1

Leuven GCT Blitz, July 1–2
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2899	Does not appear	0 ½	1 1	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	14½
2	Anish Giri (NED)	2723	1 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	0 ½	0 ½	½ 0	1 ½	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	10
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2890	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	0 0	1 1	0 1	1 0	1 1	0 1	1 1	10
4	Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)	2760	½ 0	1 ½	1 1	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 0	9½
5	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2786	0 ½	1 ½	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 1	1 0	½ ½	0 1	1 1	9½
6	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2793	0 0	½ 1	1 0	½ 1	½ 0	Does not appear	1 0	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9
7	Vasyl Ivanchuk (UKR)	2768	0 0	0 ½	0 1	½ ½	0 1	0 1	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	8½
8	Wesley So (USA)	2724	0 ½	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	Does not appear	1 0	1 1	8½
9	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2766	0 ½	½ ½	1 0	½ ½	1 0	½ 0	½ 0	0 1	Does not appear	1 ½	8
10	Baadur Jobava (GEO)	2734	0 0	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 ½	Does not appear	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	Wins	H2H	TPR	Tour Points
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2789		1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	6			2907	13
2	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2822	0	Does not appear	½	1	1	½	½	½	1	½	5½	3		2862	9
3	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2783	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	5½	2		2866	9
4	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2799	½	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	0	1	1	1	5	3		2825	6.5
5	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2773	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	1	½	5	2		2828	6.5
6	Peter Svidler (RUS)	2751	½	½	½	½	0	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	4½			2792	WC (5)
7	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2807	½	½	0	1	½	0	Does not appear	½	½	½	4			2747	4
8	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2792	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	0	3½			2709	3
9	Wesley So (USA)	2810	0	0	½	0	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	3	1	1	2665	1.5
10	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2751	0	½	0	0	½	½	½	1	0	Does not appear	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	Levon Aronian (ARM)	12	12½	24½	13	$37,000
2	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	11	10½	21½	9	$22,500
3	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	8	13½	21½	9	$22,500
4	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	10	10	20	7	$15,000
5	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	11	5½	16½	5	$10,000
6	Lê Quang Liêm (VIE)	8	8½	16½	WC (5)	$10,000
7	Leinier Domínguez (CUB)	9	7½	16½	WC (5)	$10,000
8	Garry Kasparov (RUS)	7	9	16	WC (3)	$7,500
9	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	7	7	14	2	$7,500
10	David Navara (CZE)	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	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2794	Does not appear	2	1	0	2	0	2	2	2	1	12
2	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2700	0	Does not appear	1	1	2	0	2	2	1	2	11
3	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2822	1	1	Does not appear	2	1	0	1	2	2	1	11
4	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2810	2	1	0	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	1	2	10
5	Leinier Domínguez (CUB)	2803	0	0	1	1	Does not appear	2	1	2	1	1	9
6	Lê Quang Liêm (VIE)	2761	2	2	2	1	0	Does not appear	0	0	1	0	8
7	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2765	0	0	1	1	1	2	Does not appear	0	2	1	8
8	David Navara (CZE)	2737	0	0	0	1	0	2	2	Does not appear	0	2	7
9	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2778	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	2	Does not appear	1	7
10	Garry Kasparov (RUS)	2812	1	0	1	0	1	2	1	0	1	Does not appear	7

Saint Louis Blitz, August 17–18
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2807	Does not appear	½ ½	1 0	1 ½	½ 1	1 1	1 1	1 ½	1 0	1 1	13½
2	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2794	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	1 1	1 1	1 ½	½ 0	0 1	12½
3	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2868	0 1	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 0	½ 0	1 0	½ 1	1 1	1 1	10½
4	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2787	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	1 1	½ 0	1 ½	1 1	10
5	Garry Kasparov (RUS)	2812	½ 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	Does not appear	0 ½	1 1	½ ½	½ ½	0 1	9
6	Lê Quang Liêm (VIE)	2747	0 0	0 0	½ 1	½ 0	1 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	0 1	1 1	8½
7	Leinier Domínguez (CUB)	2796	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 0	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 1	1 1	1 1	7½
8	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2756	0 ½	0 ½	½ 0	½ 1	½ ½	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 0	7
9	David Navara (CZE)	2748	0 1	½ 1	0 0	0 ½	½ ½	1 0	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	0 0	6
10	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2806	0 0	1 0	0 0	0 0	1 0	0 0	0 0	½ 1	1 1	Does not appear	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	TB	Wins	H2H	TPR	Tour Points	Place
1	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2799		½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	6	2½			2901	12	1
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2729	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	6	1½			2909	10	2
3	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2837	½	0	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	5		2		2815	7	3
4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2789	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	½	½	5		1	½	2820	7	4–5
5	Wesley So (USA)	2788	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	½	5		1	½	2820	7	4–5
6	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2781	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	4½				2778	5	6
7	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2805	½	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	4				2733	4	7
8	Sergey Karjakin (RUS)	2760	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	3½				2701	3	8
9	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2782	0	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	3		0	½	2653	1.5	9–10
10	Michael Adams (ENG)	2715	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	3		0	½	2661	WC (1.5)	9–10

Standings

	Player	Paris	Leuven	Sinquefield	St. Louis	London	Total points	Prize money
1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	12	13	9	—	7	41	$245,417
2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	10	8	13	—	7	38	$207,917
3	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	—	5.5	6.5	13	4	29	$91,250
4	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	8	—	3	9	5	25	$77,500
5	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	3	—	4	5	12	24	$95,000
6	Sergey Karjakin (Russia)	5	—	6.5	9	3	23.5	$75,000
T-7	Wesley So (United States)	4	10	1.5	—	7	22.5	$79,167
T-7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	—	4	1.5	7	10	22.5	$100,000
9	Viswanathan Anand (India)	—	3	9	2	1.5	15.5	$75,000
	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	—	7	—	—	—	7	$15,000
	Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	7	—	—	—	—	7	$15,000
	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	6	—	—	—	—	6	$12,500
	Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)	—	5.5	—	—	—	5.5	$11,250
	Peter Svidler (Russia)	—	—	5	—	—	5	$20,000
	Leinier Domínguez (Cuba)	—	—	—	5	—	5	$10,000
	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	—	—	—	5	—	5	$10,000
	Garry Kasparov (Russia)	—	—	—	3	—	3	$7,500
	Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine)	—	2	—	—	—	2	$7,500
	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2	—	—	—	—	2	$7,500
	Michael Adams (England)	—	—	—	—	1.5	1.5	$15,000
	Étienne Bacrot (France)	1	—	—	—	—	1	$7,500
	Baadur Jobava (Georgia)	—	1	—	—	—	1	$7,500
	David Navara (Czech Republic)	—	—	—	1	—	1	$7,500

References

^ "Carlsen, So In Grand Chess Tour; Kramnik Declines". Chess.com. Peter Doggers. February 2, 2017.
^ "Grand Chess Tour 2017 - Paris Rapid Chess mission accomplished!". Simonsen Vogt Wiig. Magnus Carlsen.
^ "Grand Chess Tour Paris Rapid and Blitz 2017". The Week in Chess. June 21, 2017.
^ "Carlsen Beats MVL In Playoff, Wins Paris Grand Chess Tour". Chess.com. Peter Doggers.
^ "Гарри Каспаров блицнул мастерством". Kommersant (in Russian). Alexei Dospekhov. August 21, 2017.
^ "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.
^ "Garry Kasparov comes out of retirement for inaugural Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Event". The Indian Express. July 6, 2017.
^ "Chess Legend Garry Kasparov Is Coming Out Of Retirement To Compete In St. Louis Tournament". Forbes. Alex Knapp. July 5, 2017.
^ Mark Crowther (11 December 2017). "THE WEEK IN CHESS 1205". The Week in Chess.

[1] "Carlsen, So In Grand Chess Tour; Kramnik Declines". Chess.com. Peter Doggers. February 2, 2017.

[2] "Grand Chess Tour 2017 - Paris Rapid Chess mission accomplished!". Simonsen Vogt Wiig. Magnus Carlsen.

[3] "Grand Chess Tour Paris Rapid and Blitz 2017". The Week in Chess. June 21, 2017.

[4] "Carlsen Beats MVL In Playoff, Wins Paris Grand Chess Tour". Chess.com. Peter Doggers.

[5] "Гарри Каспаров блицнул мастерством". Kommersant (in Russian). Alexei Dospekhov. August 21, 2017.

[6] "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] "Garry Kasparov comes out of retirement for inaugural Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz Event". The Indian Express. July 6, 2017.

[8] "Chess Legend Garry Kasparov Is Coming Out Of Retirement To Compete In St. Louis Tournament". Forbes. Alex Knapp. July 5, 2017.

[9] Mark Crowther (11 December 2017). "THE WEEK IN CHESS 1205". The Week in Chess.

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