Grand Chess Tour 2021

Grand Chess Tour 2021
	Wesley So – winner of the tour
Details
Duration	3 June 2021 – 27 August 2021
Tournaments	5
Achievements (singles)
Most tournament titles	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2)
Prize money leader	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ($156,250)
Points leader	Wesley So (36.6)
	← Grand Chess Tour 2019 →

Grand Chess Tour 2021 – was a series of chess tournaments, which was sixth edition of Grand Chess Tour. It consisted five tournaments, including two tournaments with classical time control and three tournaments with faster time controls.^[1] It was won by American grandmaster Wesley So.^[2]

Format[]

Tour consists five tournaments, two classicals and three rapid & blitz, respectively. Rapid & Blitz tournaments consisted 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. The tour points are 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.

Schedule[]

Dates	Tournament Name	Host city
3 June – 15 June 2021	Superbet Chess Classic	Bucharest
20 June – 24 June 2021	Paris Rapid & Blitz	Paris
7 July – 11 July 2021	Croatia Rapid & Blitz	Zagreb
11 August – 16 August 2021	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	St. Louis
17 August – 27 August 2021	Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis

Results[]

Dates	Tournament Name	Winner	Runner-Up	Third place
3 June – 15 June 2021	Superbet Chess Classic	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Levon Aronian Wesley So Alexander Grischuk	–
20 June – 24 June 2021	Paris Rapid & Blitz	Wesley So	Ian Nepomniachtchi	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Alireza Firouzja
7 July – 11 July 2021	Croatia Rapid & Blitz	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Viswanathan Anand	Anish Giri
11 August – 16 August 2021	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	Hikaru Nakamura	Fabiano Caruana	Richard Rapport
17 August – 27 August 2021	Sinquefield Cup	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Fabiano Caruana Leinier Domínguez Wesley So	–

Tournaments[]

Superbet Chess Classic[]

First leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Bucharest, Romania in 3–15 June, 2021. It was won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan.^[3]

Superbet Chess Classic, 3-15 June Bucharest, Romania, Category XXI (2750.5)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H	Wins	SB	TPR	Tour Points
1	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2770	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	6				2882	13
2	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2781	0	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	½	5	1½			2791	8.3
3	Wesley So (United States)	2770	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	5	1			2793	8.3
4	Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	2776	½	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	½	1	½	5	½			2792	8.3
5	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	2780	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	0	1	4½	½	1		2747	5.5
6	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	2765	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	4½	½	0		2749	5.5
7	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania)	2627	½	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	4	½	1	17.25	2720	3.5
8	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2820	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	4	½	1	16.75	2698	3.5
9	Constantin Lupulescu (Romania)	2656	0	½	½	0	1	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	3½	½	1		2672	1.5
10	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2760	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	3½	½	0		2660	1.5

Paris Rapid & Blitz[]

Second leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour was won by Wesley So.

Paris Grand Chess Tour Rapid, 20–22 June 2021, Paris, France
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H	Wins	SB
1	Wesley So (United States)	2741		½	½	½	1	½	1	½	1	½	6
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2778	½	Does not appear	1	½	0	1	½	1	½	½	5½
3	Etienne Bacrot (France)	2667	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	0	1	½	1	½	5
4	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2742	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	1	0	½	0	½	4½	1
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2860	0	1	0	0	Does not appear	½	½	1	½	1	4½	0
6	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2778	½	0	1	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	4	1½	1	18.00
7	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2773	0	½	0	1	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	4	1½	1	17.25
8	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	2758	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	1	4	1½	1	17.25
9	Richard Rapport (Hungary)	2727	0	½	0	1	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	4	1½	1	17.25
10	Alireza Firouzja (FIDE)	2703	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	½	Does not appear	3½

Paris Grand Chess Tour Blitz, 23–24 June 2021, Paris, France
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H
1	Wesley So (United States)	2816		1 1	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ 1	12½
2	Alireza Firouzja (FIDE)	2770	0 0	Does not appear	1 1	1 ½	1 0	1 0	0 0	½ 1	1 1	1 1	11
3	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2785	½ 0	0 0	Does not appear	1 ½	½ ½	½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	1 ½	10½
4	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2739	1 0	0 ½	0 ½	Does not appear	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	1 0	½ 1	9½	1½
5	Richard Rapport (Hungary)	2759	½ ½	0 1	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9½	½
6	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2822	0 0	0 1	½ 0	1 0	½ ½	Does not appear	1 ½	0 ½	½ 1	1 1	9
7	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2711	½ ½	1 1	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	0 ½	Does not appear	½ 1	0 1	½ 0	8½
8	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2754	½ ½	½ 0	½ 0	0 ½	1 ½	1 ½	½ 0	Does not appear	1 0	0 1	8
9	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	2757	0 ½	0 0	0 ½	0 1	½ 0	½ 0	1 0	0 1	Does not appear	1 0	6
10	Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)	2797	½ 0	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 ½	0 0	½ 1	1 0	0 1	Does not appear	5½

Croatia Rapid & Blitz[]

Third leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Zagreb, Croatia in 7-11 July, 2021. It had a lot of attention from media because of participation of former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. The event was won by French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Croatia Grand Chess Tour Rapid, 7–9 July 2021, Zagreb, Croatia
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H	Wins	SB
1	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2791		0	½	½	½	1	½	1	1	½	5½
2	Ivan Šarić (Croatia)	2650	1	Does not appear	½	½	1	½	½	½	0	½	5	2	2	23.50
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2831	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	0	1	½	½	½	5	2	2	22.50
4	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)	2774	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	1	½	5	1	2	21.50
5	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	2731	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	1	½	1	½	5	1	2	21.50
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2761	0	½	1	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	4½	½	2	19.50
7	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2753	½	½	0	½	0	½	Does not appear	½	1	1	4½	½	2	18.50
8	Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	2784	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	4
9	Anton Korobov (Ukraine)	2781	0	1	½	0	0	½	0	½	Does not appear	1	3½
10	Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)	2543	½	½	½	½	½	0	0	½	0	Does not appear	3

Croatia Grand Chess Tour Blitz, 10–11 July 2021, Paris, France
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2794		½ ½	0 1	1 ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	13
2	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2785	½ ½	Does not appear	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	0 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	12
3	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	2744	1 0	1 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	½ 0	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	10½
4	Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	2765	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	1 0	½ 1	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	½ 1	10	2½
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2716	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	0 1	Does not appear	0 1	1 1	0 0	1 1	1 1	10	2
6	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)	2799	½ 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ 0	1 0	Does not appear	0 1	1 1	0 1	1 1	10	1½
7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2807	0 ½	1 0	½ 0	½ ½	0 0	1 0	Does not appear	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	9
8	Anton Korobov (Ukraine)	2668	½ 0	0 0	1 0	0 1	1 1	0 0	0 0	Does not appear	1 1	1 1	8½
9	Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)	2622	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	½ 0	0 0	1 0	0 ½	0 0	Does not appear	1 0	4½
10	Garry Kasparov (Russia/Croatia)	2801	0 0	0 0	0 ½	½ 0	0 0	0 0	0 ½	0 0	0 1	Does not appear	2½

Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz[]

Saint Louis Grand Chess Tour Rapid, 12–14 August 2021, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H	Wins	SB
1	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	2829		½	1	½	1	½	½	½	1	½	6
2	Richard Rapport (Hungary)	2724	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	1	½	1	0	½	5½	1
3	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2758	0	0	Does not appear	1	½	0	1	1	1	1	5½	0
4	Wesley So (United States)	2774	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	½	½	4½	1½
5	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2745	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	0	½	1	1	4½	1
6	Sam Shankland (United States)	2609	½	0	1	0	½	Does not appear	1	0	½	1	4½	½
7	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2756	½	½	0	½	1	0	Does not appear	½	1	0	4	½	2	18.25
8	Jeffery Xiong (United States)	2730	½	0	0	½	½	1	½	Does not appear	0	1	4	½	2	17.00
9	Leinier Domínguez (United States)	2786	0	1	0	½	0	½	0	1	Does not appear	½	3½
10	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	2744	½	½	0	½	0	0	1	0	½	Does not appear	3

Saint Louis Grand Chess Tour Blitz, 15–16 August 2021, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H
1	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	2900		1 ½	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	1 ½	12
2	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	2690	0 ½	Does not appear	1 0	0 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	1 1	1 1	1 1	11½
3	Leinier Domínguez (United States)	2654	½ ½	0 1	Does not appear	½ 1	½ 0	1 0	0 1	1 ½	½ 1	½ ½	10	1½
4	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2734	½ 0	1 1	½ 0	Does not appear	1 1	0 ½	½ ½	0 ½	0 1	1 1	10	½
5	Wesley So (United States)	2861	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	0 0	Does not appear	1 0	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	0 1	9½
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2755	½ 0	½ ½	0 1	1 ½	0 1	Does not appear	½ 0	½ 1	1 0	1 0	9
7	Richard Rapport (Hungary)	2776	½ ½	0 0	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	Does not appear	0 ½	0 1	½ 1	8½
8	Jeffery Xiong (United States)	2724	0 0	0 0	0 ½	1 0	0 ½	½ 0	1 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	1 0	7	1½
9	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2743	½ ½	0 0	½ 0	1 0	0 ½	0 1	1 0	0 ½	Does not appear	½ 1	7
10	Sam Shankland (United States)	2704	0 ½	0 0	½ ½	0 0	1 0	0 1	½ 0	0 1	½ 0	Does not appear	5½

Sinquefield Cup[]

8th Sinquefield Cup, 16-28 August St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Category XX (2742.0)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	H2H	Wins	SB	TPR	Tour Points
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2751	Does not appear	½	0	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	6				2919	13
2	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2806	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	0	1	½	1	5½	1	3		2824	8.3
3	Leinier Domínguez (United States)	2758	1	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	5½	1	2	24.00	2829	8.3
4	Wesley So (United States)	2772	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	1	5½	1	2	22.75	2828	8.3
5	Richard Rapport (Hungary)	2763	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	0	1	½	4½				2740	6
6	Sam Shankland (United States)	2709	0	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	4	1½			2701	4
7	Jeffery Xiong (United States)	2710	0	1	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	0	4	1			2701	4
8	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2782	½	0	½	½	1	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	4	½			2693	4
9	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2714	0	½	½	0	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	3½				2656	2
10	Dariusz Świercz (United States)	2655	0	0	0	0	½	½	1	½	0	Does not appear	2½				2574	1

Tour Standings[]

The wildcards (in italics) are not counted in overall standings.

Player	Superbet Chess Classic Romania June 3 – 15	Paris GCT Rapid & Blitz June 16 – 23	Croatia GCT Rapid & Blitz July 5 – 12	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz August 9 – 16	Sinquefield Cup August 16 – 28	Total points	Prize money
Wesley So (United States)	8.3	13		7	8.3	36.6	$142,500
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	1.5	7.5	13		13	35	$156,250
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	13		5	4.5	4	26.5	$127,000
Fabiano Caruana (United States)	3.5	3		10	8.3	24.8	$94,750
Richárd Rapport (Hungary)		5.5		8	6	19.5	$56,250
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)		10	6.5			16.5	$36,750
Levon Aronian (Armenia)	8.3	5.5				13.8	$56,250
Anish Giri (Netherlands)	5.5		8			13.5	$42,500
Hikaru Nakamura (United States)				13		13	$37,500
Leinier Domínguez Pérez (United States)				4.5	8.3	12.8	$54,500
Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	8.3		4			12.3	$54,000
Viswanathan Anand (India)			10			10	$25,000
Peter Svidler (Russia)		4		3	2	9	$29,000
Alireza Firouzja (FIDE)		7.5				7.5	$17,500
Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	5.5	1				6.5	$28,500
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)			6.5			6.5	$11,250
Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)				6		6	$12,500
Jeffery Xiong (United States)				2	4	6	$24,500
Sam Shankland (United States)				1	4	5	$23,500
Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania)	3.5					3.5	$16,250
Anton Korobov (Ukraine)			3			3	$8,000
Etienne Bacrot (France) Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)^[a]		2				2	$7,000
Ivan Šarić (Croatia) Garry Kasparov (Russia/Croatia)^[b]			2			2	$7,000
Constantin Lupulescu (Romania)	1.5					1.5	$11,250
Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)			1			1	$6,000
Dariusz Świercz (United States)					1	1	$10,000

Notes[]

^ Bacrot and Kramnik compete as a team, with Bacrot playing the Rapid portion and Kramnik playing the Blitz portion.
^ Šarić and Kasparov compete as a team, with Šarić playing the Rapid portion and Kasparov playing the Blitz portion.

References[]

[4] Bacrot and Kramnik compete as a team, with Bacrot playing the Rapid portion and Kramnik playing the Blitz portion.

[5] Šarić and Kasparov compete as a team, with Šarić playing the Rapid portion and Kasparov playing the Blitz portion.

[1] "2021 Grand Chess Tour".

[2] "Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Wins 2021 Sinquefield Cup; So Bags Tour".

[3] "Shakhriyar Mamedyarov wins Superbet Classic".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[a]

[b]