Grand Chess Tour 2019

The Grand Chess Tour 2019 was a series of chess tournaments, held in from 6 May to 10 December 2019. It was the fifth edition of Grand Chess Tour. The tour consisted of 8 tournaments, including 2 classical, 5 fast tournaments and tour final in London, the United Kingdom. It was won by Ding Liren from China.

Grand Chess Tour

2019
2019 Grand Chess Tour winner Ding Liren.
Tournament information
Dates	6 May–10 December 2019
Final positions
Champion	Ding Liren
Runner-up	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
3rd place	Magnus Carlsen
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titles	Magnus Carlsen (3)
Prize money leader	Magnus Carlsen ($302,500)
Points leader	Magnus Carlsen (67.5)

Format

The tour featured 8 tournaments, including 12 full participants and 14 wildcard. Top 4 after 7 tournaments qualifies to the tour finals in London. The points awarded as follows:

Place	Points (classical)	Points (rapid/blitz)
1st	18/20*	12/13*
2nd	15	10
3rd	12	8
4th	10	7
5th	8	6
6th	7	5
7th	6	4
8th	5	3
9th	4	2
10th	3	1
11th	2	N/A
12th	1	N/A

Schedule and results

Dates	Tournament Name	Host city	Winner	Runner-up	Third place
6 May – 13 May 2019	Cote d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz	Abidjan	Magnus Carlsen	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Hikaru Nakamura	–
24 June – 9 July 2019	Croatia Grand Chess Tour	Zagreb	Magnus Carlsen	Wesley So	Levon Aronian Fabiano Caruana
26 July – 6 August 2019	Paris Rapid & Blitz	Paris	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Viswanathan Anand	Ian Nepomniachtchi Alexander Grischuk
8 August – 15 August 2019	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	St. Louis	Levon Aronian	Ding Liren Yu Yangyi Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	–
15 August – 30 August 2019	Sinquefield Cup	St. Louis	Ding Liren	Magnus Carlsen	Sergey Karjakin Viswanathan Anand
4 November – 11 November 2019	Superbet Rapid & Blitz	Bucharest	Levon Aronian	Sergey Karjakin	Viswanathan Anand
20 November – 27 November 2019	Tata Steel India Rapid & Blitz	Kolkatta	Magnus Carlsen	Hikaru Nakamura	Anish Giri Wesley So
30 November – 10 December 2019	London Chess Classic	London	Ding Liren	Magnus Carlsen	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Tournaments

Cote d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz

Cote d'Ivoire Grand Chess Tour Rapid, 8–10 May 2019, Abidjan, Ivory Coast

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2869		½	1	1	½	1	½	1	1	1	7½
2	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	2824	½	Does not appear	½	1	1	½	1	½	0	1	6
3	Wesley So (United States)	2801	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	1	1	5½
4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2800	0	0	½	Does not appear	½	1	1	½	1	1	5½
5	Ding Liren (China)	2760i	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	0	½	1	1	1	5
6	Wei Yi (China)	2698	0	½	½	0	1	Does not appear	½	½	1	½	4½
7	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2781	½	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	0	½	3
8	Sergey Karjakin (Russia)	2781	0	½	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	3
9	Bassem Amin (Egypt)	2617	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	½	Does not appear	0	2½
10	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2785	0	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	1	Does not appear	2½

Croatia Grand Chess Tour

Zagreb Chess Classic, 24 June – 9 July 2019, Zagreb, Croatia, Category XXII (2782)

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Points	TB	Place	TPR	GCT Points
1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2875		½	½	½	1	1	1	½	1	½	½	1	8		1	2955	20
2	Wesley So (United States)	2754	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	7		2	2893	15
3	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2752	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	6		3–4	2821	11
4	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2819	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	0	½	1	½	½	1	6		3–4	2815	11
5	Ding Liren (China)	2805	0	0	½	½	Does not appear	1	1	½	½	½	½	½	5½		5–7	2780	7
6	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	2779	0	½	½	½	0	Does not appear	1	½	½	1	½	½	5½		5–7	2782	7
7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2775	0	½	½	1	0	0	Does not appear	½	½	1	1	½	5½		5–7	2782	7
8	Sergey Karjakin (Russia)	2748	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	5		8	2748	5
9	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2779	0	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	4½		9–11	2709	3
10	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2774	½	0	½	½	½	0	0	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	4½		9–11	2710	3
11	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2767	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	4½		9–11	2710	3
12	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	2754	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	4		12	2675	1

Sinquefield Cup

7th Sinquefield Cup, 17–29 August 2019, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Category XXII (2783)

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Points	TB	Place	TPR	GCT Points
1	Ding Liren (China)	2805		½	½	½	1	1	½	½	½	½	½	½	6½	3	1	2845	16½
2	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2882	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	½	6½	1	2	2838	16½
3	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2756	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	½	6		3–4	2820	11
4	Sergey Karjakin (Russia)	2750	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	6		3–4	2821	11
5	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	2818	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	5½		5–8	2779	6½
6	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	2779	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	½	½	5½		5–8	2782	6½
7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	2774	½	½	0	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	0	1	1	1	5½		5–8	2783	6½
8	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2764	½	½	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	5½		5–8	2784	6½
9	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2778	½	0	½	0	½	½	1	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	5		9–10	2746	3½
10	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	2743	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	5		9–10	2750	3½
11	Wesley So (United States)	2776	½	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	4½		11–12	2718	1½
12	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2765	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	4½		11–12	2719	1½

First place playoff, 29 August 2019, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

Place	Player	Rapid rating	Blitz rating	Rapid		Blitz		Score
1	Ding Liren (China)	2786	2779	½	½	1	1	3
2	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2895	2920	½	½	0	0	1

Grand Chess Tour Finals

	Semifinals					Final
	1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	14½
	4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	15½
						4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	12
						2	Ding Liren (China)	16
	2	Ding Liren (China)	19
	3	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	9			Third place
						1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	17
						3	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	11

Tour standings

Wildcards (in italics) are not counted in overall standings.

Player	Côte d'Ivoire Rapid & Blitz May 6 – 13	Croatia GCT June 24 – July 9	Paris GCT Rapid & Blitz July 26 – August 1	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz August 8 – 15	Sinquefield Cup August 15 – 30	Superbet Rapid & Blitz November 4 – 11	Tata Steel Rapid & Blitz November 20 – 27	Total points	Prize money
Ding Liren (China)	6	7		8.3	16.5		6	43.8	$144,833
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	9	3	13	8.3	3.5			36.8	$100,000
Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	13	20		5	16.5		13	67.5	$242,500
Levon Aronian (Armenia)		11		13	1.5	11	1	37.5	$121,250
Sergey Karjakin (Russia)	3.5	5		6	11	11		36.5	$99,250
Viswanathan Anand (India)		3	10		11	8	4	36	$97,500
Wesley So (United States)	7	15			1.5	2.5	7.5	33.5	$110,000
Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	3.5	7	7.5		6.5		5	29.5	$68,583
Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	9	1	4		3.5		10	27.5	$75,000
Fabiano Caruana (United States)		11	5	3	6.5	1		26.5	$76,250
Anish Giri (Netherlands)		7	1		6.5	4.5	7.5	26.5	$67,333
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)		3	3	1	6.5	2.5		16	$48,750
Yu Yangyi (China)				8.3				8.3	$20,000
Alexander Grischuk (Russia)			7.5					7.5	$17,500
Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)						7		7	$15,000
Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)			6					6	$12,500
Anton Korobov (Ukraine)						6		6	$12,500
Wei Yi (China)	5							5	$10,000
Vladislav Artemiev (Russia)						4.5		4.5	$8,750
Richárd Rapport (Hungary)				4				4	$7,500
Vidit Gujrathi (India)							2.5	2.5	$7,500
Pentala Harikrishna (India)							2.5	2.5	$7,500
Daniil Dubov (Russia)			2					2	$7,500
Leinier Domínguez (United States)				2				2	$7,500
Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2							2	$7,500
Bassem Amin (Egypt)	1							1	$7,500