FIDE Grand Prix 2022

FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022

Tournament information
Sport	Chess
Location	Berlin Belgrade[1]
Dates	February 2022– April 2022
Administrator(s)	FIDE
Tournament format(s)	Series of Single-elimination tournaments
← FIDE Grand Prix 2019

The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 is a series of three chess tournaments to be played between 3 February and 4 April 2022.^[1] The top two finishers qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022,^[2] which is the final qualification stage for the World Chess Championship 2023. Two of the tournaments will be played in Berlin, Germany, and one in Belgrade, Serbia.^[3][1]

Organization[]

Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, all three tournaments were initially to be played in a single city instead of playing in various cities as in previous editions.

The series is organized by World Chess. The company has chosen Berlin to host most of the series following a popular vote.^[4]

Players[]

Twenty-four players were originally invited to the Grand Prix:^[5]

• The players who placed third to eighth at the Chess World Cup 2021, who were not World Champion or already qualified for the Candidates. Five out of a possible six players qualified in this way, because World Champion Magnus Carlsen placed third in the World Cup.
• The players who placed third to eighth in the FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021, who were not World Champion, or already qualified for the Candidates or Grand Prix. Six players qualified in this way.
• Hikaru Nakamura, nominee of the FIDE president.^[6]
• Daniil Dubov, organizer's nominee.^[7]
• The remaining places were filled by the top players in the December 2021 rating list,^[8] so long as they had participated in the FIDE World Cup 2021, or played at least nine games which counted in the FIDE rating lists from February to December 2021^[a]. With 13 players qualifying by the other methods, 11 players qualified in this way.

On February 1, it was announced that Ding Liren and Dmitry Andreikin would not compete in the first tournament as originally scheduled, and they would be replaced, in the first tournament only, by Andrey Esipenko and Radosław Wojtaszek. Therefore Ding, Andreikin, Esipenko and Wojtaszek each only play one tournament instead of two.^[9] The replacements are eligible to qualify for the Candidates.^[5]

The table below shows the players who qualified for the Grand Prix:^[1]

Seeding	Name	Qualifying method	Rating (December 2021)	World rank
1	Ding Liren	Rating list (3rd)	2799	3
2	Levon Aronian	Rating list (6th)	2772	6
3	Anish Giri	Rating list (7th)	2772	7
4	Wesley So	Rating list (8th)	2772	8
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Rating list (9th)	2767	9
6	Alexander Grischuk	Rating list (10th)	2764	10
7	Richárd Rapport	Rating list (11th)	2763	11
8	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Grand Swiss (6th)	2761	12
9	Leinier Domínguez	Rating list (15th)	2752	15
10	Hikaru Nakamura	Presidential nominee	2736	–
11	Nikita Vitiugov	Rating list (19th)	2731	19
12	Vidit Gujrathi	World Cup (5th-8th)	2727	22
13	Dmitry Andreikin	Rating list (23rd)	2724	23
14	Daniil Dubov	Organizer's nominee	2720	24
15	Pentala Harikrishna	Rating list (25th)[b]	2717	25
-	Andrey Esipenko	Presidential nominee[c]	2714	26
16	Yu Yangyi	Grand Swiss (4th)	2713	27
17	Sam Shankland	World Cup (5th-8th)	2708	29
18	Alexei Shirov	Grand Swiss (8th)	2704	31
19	Vladimir Fedoseev	World Cup (4th)	2704	32
-	Radosław Wojtaszek	Presidential nominee[d]	2686	45
20	Alexandr Predke	Grand Swiss (7th)	2682	52
21	Grigoriy Oparin	Grand Swiss (3rd)	2681	55
22	Vincent Keymer	Grand Swiss (5th)	2664	74
23	Amin Tabatabaei	World Cup (5th-8th)	2643	108
24	Étienne Bacrot	World Cup (5th-8th)	2642	111

Format[]

Each player will play in two out of three of the tournaments. Each tournament will have 16 players, and have a two-stage format.^[5]

In the first stage, the players are divided into four pools of four, and the players in each pool play a double round-robin mini-tournament. The four winners of the pools progress to the second stage.

In the second stage, the four pool winners play a knock-out tournament, consisting of semi-finals and a final. Both the semi-finals and final will consist of 2 classical time limit games, plus tie-breaks if required.

The time control for classical games is 90 minutes for 40 moves, plus an extra 30 minutes after move 40. There is also an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 1.

Players receive Grand Prix points according to their finishing position in each tournament. The two players with the most Grand Prix points qualify for the Candidates Tournament 2022.

Tie-breaks[]

In the pool stage, if there is a tie for first, the tied players play tie-breaks.

In the knockout stage, tie-breaks are played if the match is tied after the 2 regular time limit games.

In both stages, two-way or three-way tie-breaks take the following format:

• Players play two rapid chess games at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. In the case of a three-way tie, a single round-robin is played.
• If players are still tied, they play two blitz chess games at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. In the case of a three-way tie, a single round-robin is played.
• If players are still tied, a single armageddon chess game is played to decide the winner, in which black is declared the winner if the game is drawn. The time limit is 5 minutes for white, 4 minutes for black, and a 2 second per move increment from move 61. In the case of a three-way tie, lots are drawn to determine the players, and the loser of the lot shares second place with the loser of the Armageddon game.

In the case of a four-way tie, the players are divided into pairs and each pair plays a two-player tie-break by the above method. The two tie-break winners then play a tie-break by the above method, while the losers share third and fourth place in the pool.

Grand Prix points[]

Grand Prix points will be awarded as follows:^[5]

Round	Grand Prix points
Winner	13
Runner-Up	10
Semi-final loser	7
2nd in pool	4
3rd in pool	2
4th in pool	0

In other words, the top three players in each pool earn 7, 4, and 2 points, respectively, and 3 additional points are awarded for winning a semifinal or final.

The grand prix points for pool placings take into account tie-breaks played to determine first place. Players tied for other places, or still tied after tie-breaks, share grand prix points.

If players finish tied on Grand Prix points, then the following tie-breaks are applied, in order:

• number of tournament first-place finishes;
• number of tournament second-place finishes;
• number of points scored in regular time limit games;
• number of wins in regular time limit games;
• drawing of lots.

Prize money[]

The prize money for each event is €150,000 which will be awarded as follows:^[5]

Round	Prize money
Winner	€24,000
Runner-Up	€18,000
Semi-finals losers	€12,000
2nd in pools	€9,000
3rd in pools	€7,000
4th in pools	€5,000

In other words, each player receives €5,000, Grand Prix points earned in the pool are worth an additional €1,000, and Grand Prix points earned in a semi-final or final are worth an additional €2,000.

Tournament 1 - Berlin, Germany[]

The first tournament is being held in Berlin, Germany from February 4th to 17th.^[10] Due to health and visa issues, Dmitry Andreikin and Ding Liren were replaced with Andrey Esipenko and Radoslaw Wojtaszek, respectively.^[9]

Round-robin stage[]

The double round-robin stage had the six rounds of standard time control games on February 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10; and tie-breaks on February 11. Players in bold advanced to the knockout stage.

Pool A[]

Rank	Player	Rating December 2021	NAK		ESI		GRI		BAC		Total Points
1	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2736			1	½	1	½	½	½	4
2	Andrey Esipenko (RUS)	2714	½	0			½	½	1	1	3.5
3	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2764	½	0	½	½			1	½	3
4	Étienne Bacrot (FRA)	2642	½	½	0	0	½	0			1.5

Pool B[]

Rank	Player	Rating December 2021	RAP		WOJ		FED		OPA		Total Points	Tiebreak Points
1	Richárd Rapport (HUN)	2763			½	0	1	1	½	½	3.5	1.5
2	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	2686	1	½			½	½	½	½	3.5	0.5
3	Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS)	2704	0	0	½	½			1	1	3	-
4	Grigoriy Oparin (RUS)	2681	½	½	½	½	0	0			2	-

Pool C[]

Rank	Player	Rating December 2021	ARO		GUJ		DUB		KEY		Total Points
1	Levon Aronian (USA)	2772			1	½	½	½	1	1	4.5
=2	Vidit Gujrathi (IND)	2727	½	0			1	½	½	½	3
=2	Daniil Dubov (RUS)	2720	½	½	½	0			1	½	3
4	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2664	0	0	½	½	½	0			1.5

Pool D[]

Rank	Player	Rating December 2021	DOM		WSO		HAR		SHI		Total Points	Tiebreak Points
1	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2752			0	½	½	1	1	1	4	1.5
2	Wesley So (USA)	2772	½	1			½	½	1	½	4	0.5
3	Pentala Harikrishna (IND)	2717	0	½	½	½			½	½	2.5	-
4	Alexei Shirov (ESP)	2704	0	0	½	0	½	½			1.5	-

Knockout stage[]

	Semi-finals (February 12–14)					Final (February 15–17)
	10	Hikaru Nakamura	1.5
	7	Richárd Rapport	0.5
						10	Hikaru Nakamura
						2	Levon Aronian
	2	Levon Aronian	1.5
	9	Leinier Domínguez	0.5

Semi-final 1[]

Seed	Name	December 2021 rating	1	2	Total Points
10	Hikaru Nakamura	2736	1	½	1.5
7	Richárd Rapport	2763	0	½	0.5

Semi-final 2[]

Seed	Name	December 2021 rating	1	2	Total Points
2	Levon Aronian	2772	1	½	1.5
9	Leinier Domínguez	2752	0	½	0.5

Final[]

Seed	Name	December 2021 rating	1	2	Tiebreaks	Total Points
10	Hikaru Nakamura	2736
2	Levon Aronian	2772

Grand Prix standings[]

The following table shows the overall Grand Prix standings, including points the players are scoring in the ongoing tournament. The symbol ⩾ indicates that the player is scoring at least that many points in the ongoing tournament but still has the opportunity to score more. An entry without this symbol in a tournament column indicates the final number of points the player scored in that tournament. The top two players qualify for the Candidates Tournament. Tie-breaks, in order, are: tournament first places (TF), tournament second places (TS), game points (GP), and game wins (GW).

Rank	Player	Berlin	Belgrade	Berlin	Total GP points	TF	TS	GP	GW	Prize money
1	Levon Aronian (USA)	⩾10			10			6	4	€18,000
2	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	⩾10			10			5.5	3	€18,000
3	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	7			7			4.5	3	€12,000
4	Richárd Rapport (HUN)	7			7			4	2	€12,000
5	Wesley So (USA)	4			4			4	2	€9,000
6	Andrey Esipenko (RUS)	4			4			3.5	2	€9,000
7	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	4			4			3.5	1	€9,000
=8	Vidit Gujrathi (IND)	3			3			3	1	€8,000
	Daniil Dubov (RUS)	3			3			3	1	€8,000
10	Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS)	2			2			3	2	€7,000
11	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2			2			3	1	€7,000
12	Pentala Harikrishna (IND)	2			2			2.5	0	€7,000
13	Grigoriy Oparin (RUS)	0			0			2	0	€5,000
=14	Alexei Shirov (ESP)	0			0			1.5	0	€5,000
	Vincent Keymer (GER)	0			0			1.5	0	€5,000
	Étienne Bacrot (FRA)	0			0			1.5	0	€5,000
=17	Ding Liren (CHN)
	Anish Giri (NED)
	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)
	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)
	Nikita Vitiugov (RUS)
	Dmitry Andreikin (RUS)
	Yu Yangyi (CHN)
	Sam Shankland (USA)
	Alexandr Predke (RUS)
	Amin Tabatabaei (IRI)

Standings table legend
Players				Results
	Qualified for the Candidates		Cannot qualify for the Candidates		Did not participate		Eliminated in group stage		Lost in the semi-finals		Runner-up		Winner

References[]