FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009

The FIDE Grand Prix 2008-2009 is a series of six chess tournaments, which form part of the qualification for the World Chess Championship 2011. It is being administered by FIDE, the World Chess Federation.

The winner of the Grand Prix will play a match in 2010 against the winner of the Chess World Cup 2009. The winner of that match will be the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2011. [ [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4576 First FIDE Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan] , Chessbase, April 19 2008]

Format

There are six tournaments spread over 2008 and 2009. Each of the 21 participating players plays in exactly four of the six tournaments.

Each tournament is a 14 player, single round-robin tournament. In each round players score 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 for a loss. Grand prix points are then allocated according to each player's standing in the tournament: 180 grand prix points for first place, 150 for second place, 130 for third place, and then 110 down to 10 points for places four to fourteen (decreasing by 10 points for each place). (Grand Prix points are split between players on equal tournament points).

Players only count their best three tournament results. The player with the most grand prix points is the winner.

If a tie-break is needed for the overall grand prix winner, the system is: [ [http://grandprix.fide.com/regulations.html Grand Prix Regulations, section 7.2] , FIDE web site, accessed May 5, 2008]
# The fourth result not already in the top three performances
# The number of actual game points scored in the four tournaments
# The number of first place finishes
# The number of second place finishes
# The number of won games
# Drawing of lots

Tournament dates

The tournament dates and locations are as follows: [http://www.chessdom.com/news/chess-grand-prix Chess Grand Prix 2008-2009 (updated)] , Chessdom.com, accessed April 30 2008]

* April 20–May 6, 2008, Baku, Azerbaijan
* July 30–August 15, 2008, Sochi, Russia
* December 13–29, 2008, Doha, Qatar
* April 14–28, 2009, Montreux, Switzerland
* August 1–17, 2009, Elista, Russia
* December 7–23, 2009, Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Draw rules

A variation from normal chess rules is that the players are not allowed to talk to each other during the game and a draw by agreement is not allowed. A draw has to be claimed with the arbiter, who is assisted by an active grandmaster who has had the title for at least ten years. The only draws allowed (except for stalemate) are: [ [http://grandprix.fide.com/regulations.html Grand Prix Regulations, section 4.4] , FIDE web site, accessed May 2, 2008]
* Threefold repetition of position
* Fifty move rule
* Perpetual check
* A theoretical draw.

Qualification

* The four players who (at the start of 2008) were still in contention for the 2008 and 2009 championships qualify: Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky.

* Apart from the winner Kamsky, the next top three finishers at the Chess World Cup 2007 qualify: Alexei Shirov, Sergey Karjakin and Magnus Carlsen.

* Seven players are selected on rating. The rating used is the average of the January and October 2007 rating. FIDE released a list of the top 25 players according to this formula. [ [http://www.fide.com/news/download/Top25.xls Top 25 Players] , (Excel spreadsheet) FIDE web site, accessed April 30 2008] The first seven players on the list (apart from those who had otherwise qualified) had automatic qualification: Vassily Ivanchuk, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich, Levon Aronian, Teimour Radjabov and Boris Gelfand. FIDE also announced that the first four reserves, in order, were Michael Adams, Peter Svidler, Judit Polgar and Alexander Grischuk. [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4433 FIDE announces its Grand Prix Circuit 2008/09] , Chessbase, February 6 2008]

* The FIDE president may nominate one player from the top 40 in the world. If there are withdrawals, he may nominate more than one.

* The six host cities may each nominate one player rated above 2500. The host cities nominated the following players:
** Baku, Azerbaijan - Vugar Gashimov
** Sochi, Russia - Dmitry Jakovenko
** Doha, Qatar - Mohamad Al-Modiahki
** Montreux, Switzerland - Yannick Pelletier
** Elista, Russia - Ernesto Inarkiev
** Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic - David Navara

Participants

On March 5 2008, FIDE released the list of participants, along with their world rankings according to the January 2008 ratings list (shown here in brackets). [ [http://grandprix.fide.com/participants.html Participants - Grand Prix] , FIDE web site, accessed April 30 2008] [http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/3-news/1541-32-fide-grand-prix-participants-host-cities-schedule FIDE Grand Prix. Participants, host cities, schedule.] FIDE press release, , March 5 2008, with a link to [http://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS/download/gp_2008_participants.pdf List of participants PDF file] ]

* 1 from the 2008/2009 cycle: Gata Kamsky (15).
* 2 from the Chess World Cup 2007: Magnus Carlsen (13), Sergey Karjakin (14).
* 6 from the rating list: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (6), Peter Leko (8), Vassily Ivanchuk (9), Levon Aronian (10), Boris Gelfand (11), Teimour Radjabov (12)
* 2 from the reserve ratings list: Michael Adams (16), Alexander Grischuk (21)
* 4 FIDE president nominees: Peter Svidler (5), Ivan Cheparinov (19), Etienne Bacrot (22), Wang Yue (25).
* 6 Host city nominees: Dmitry Jakovenko (17), Ernesto Inarkiev (34), David Navara (37), Vugar Gashimov (48), Yannick Pelletier (165), Mohamad Al-Modiahki (274).

Prominent non-participants

Of the original 14 players who qualified, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov (2008/2009 contenders), Shirov (World Cup 2007) and Morozevich (ratings list) are all not taking part. One of the first four nominated reserves, Judit Polgar is also not participating. The lineup for the Grand Prix included 13 of 20 top-rated Grandmasters at the time it was announced, though none of the top four.

The only one to publicly give a reason is Alexander Morozevich, who announced that he was boycotting the Grand Prix, saying the process was too long, unwieldy and disorganised. He claimed that Anand, Kramnik and Topalov were also boycotting. [ [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4477 Alexander Morozevich: “I am not giving up the fight!”] , Chessbase, February 27 2008] The Week in Chess reported that Kramnik and Topalov were not participating because the event had insufficient prize money. [ [http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic697.html#25 The Week in Chess 697] March 17 2008]

Event results

Baku, April-May 2008

The first Grand Prix event began on April 20 2008 and concluded on May 5 2008.

The final crosstable was as follows: [ [http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/twic704.html The Week in Chess 704] , May 5 2008]

Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 Tot GP-Pts 1 Gashimov, Vugar 2679 * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 8 153⅓ 2 Wang Yue 2689 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 8 153⅓ 3 Carlsen, Magnus 2765 ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 8 153⅓ 4 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 2752 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 1 0 7½ 105 5 Grischuk, Alexander 2716 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 7½ 105 6 Adams, Michael 2729 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 ½ ½ 6½ 85 7 Svidler, Peter 2746 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 6½ 85 8 Radjabov, Teimour 2751 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 6 60 9 Kamsky, Gata 2726 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 6 60 10 Karjakin, Sergey 2732 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 6 60 11 Cheparinov, Ivan 2696 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ * 0 0 1 5½ 35 12 Navara, David 2672 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 0 5½ 35 13 Bacrot, Etienne 2705 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * 0 5 15 14 Inarkiev, Ernesto 2684 ½ ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 1 * 5 15

ochi, July-August 2008

The second Grand Prix event began on July 31 2008 and concluded on August 14 2008.

The final crosstable was as follows:

Rtg 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 Tot GP-Pts 1 Aronian, Levon 2737 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 8½ 180 2 Radjabov, Teimour 2744 ½ * 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 8 150 3 Wang Yue 2704 ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 7½ 120 4 Kamsky, Gata 2723 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 7½ 120 5 Svidler, Peter 2738 ½ 1 ½ ½ * 1 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 7 90 6 Jakovenko, Dmitry 2709 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 7 90 7 Karjakin, Sergey 2727 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 1 7 90 8 Ivanchuk, Vassily 2781 1 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 6½ 65 9 Gashimov, Vugar 2717 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6½ 65 10 Grischuk, Alexander 2728 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 6 45 11 Cheparinov, Ivan 2687 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ ½ 6 45 12 Gelfand, Boris 2720 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 5½ 30 13 Navara, David 2646 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 4 15 14 Al-Modiahki, Mohamad 2556 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 * 4 15

Notes

External links

* [http://grandprix.fide.com/ Official website]