Grand Chess Tour 2015 was an inaugural edition of Grand Chess Tour, an annual circuit of chess tournaments. It was won by incumbent World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen.

Grand Chess Tour
2015
2015 Grand Chess Tour winner Magnus Carlsen.
Tournament information
Dates15 June–14 December 2015
Host(s)Stavanger
St. Louis
London
Final positions
ChampionNorway Magnus Carlsen
Runner-upNetherlands Anish Giri
3rd placeArmenia Levon Aronian
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titlesBulgaria Veselin Topalov
Armenia Levon Aronian
Norway Magnus Carlsen (1)
Prize money leaderNorway Magnus Carlsen ($215,000)
Points leaderNorway Magnus Carlsen (26)
2016 →

The Grand Chess Tour was announced on April 24, 2015, prior to the match between Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short, and was billed as "the biggest announcement in professional chess since 1988."[1] It had three events – Norway Chess in June, Sinquefield Cup in August and London Chess Classic in December. Each tournament consisted of nine regular tour players, who were selected based on their rating, and one wildcard.

Format

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Scoring system was 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

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Eight players, including World Champion Magnus Carlsen, were selected based on their ratings in January 2015. Ninth player invited to the tour was Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Notably, Sergey Karjakin was absent, despite him being two-time Norway Chess winner and 11th on FIDE rankings in January 2015, while No. 8 Vladimir Kramnik and No. 10 Wesley So declined their invitations.[2]

Player Country Rating (January 2015)
1 Magnus Carlsen   Norway 2862
2 Fabiano Caruana   Italy[a] 2820
3 Alexander Grischuk   Russia 2810
4 Veselin Topalov   Bulgaria 2800
5 Viswanathan Anand   India 2797
6 Levon Aronian   Armenia 2797
7 Anish Giri   Netherlands 2784
8 Hikaru Nakamura   United States 2776
9 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave   France 2757

Schedule and results

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Dates Tournament Host city Winner Runner-up Third place
June 15–26 Norway Chess   Stavanger   Veselin Topalov   Viswanathan Anand   Hikaru Nakamura
August 22–September 3 Sinquefield Cup   St. Louis   Levon Aronian   Magnus Carlsen   Hikaru Nakamura
December 4–13 London Chess Classic   London   Magnus Carlsen   Anish Giri   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

Tournaments

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Norway Chess

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Wildcard qualifier

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EnterCard Chess Qualifier took place in Oslo, Norway on May 10–15, 2015, and determined last wildcard spot. Jon Ludvig Hammer of Norway won the tournament to qualify into the main event.[3]

EnterCard Chess Qualifier, May 10–15, Oslo, Norway
Player Classical Rapid Total
Points
Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points
1   GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2665 Does not appear 1 1 2 2 2 8 2578 Does not appear 1 ½ ½ 1 1 4 12
2   GM Laurent Fressinet (FRA) 2712 1 Does not appear 2 1 2 2 8 2707 0 Does not appear ½ ½ 1 1 3 11
3   IM Aryan Tari (NOR) 2520 1 0 Does not appear 1 1 1 4 2442 ½ ½ Does not appear ½ 1 1
4   GM Nils Grandelius (SWE) 2623 0 1 1 Does not appear 2 1 5 2623 ½ ½ ½ Does not appear 0 0
5   GM Curt Hansen (DEN) 2621 0 0 1 0 Does not appear 2 3 2621 0 0 0 1 Does not appear ½
6   GM Simen Agdestein (NOR) 2620 0 0 1 1 0 Does not appear 2 2575 0 0 0 1 ½ Does not appear

Blitz tournament

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Blitz tournament was played on June 15, 2015, to decide the pairings for the classical tournament. It was won by French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.[4]

3rd Norway Chess Blitz, 15 June 2015, Stavanger, Norway[5]
Player Blitz rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points Black Wins Black wins
1   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2826 Does not appear 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1
2   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2883 1 Does not appear ½ 0 ½ 1 0 1 1 1 6
3   Viswanathan Anand (IND) 2767 ½ ½ Does not appear 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 5 4 3
4   Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2933 0 1 1 Does not appear ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 5 4 2
5   Anish Giri (NED) 2771 ½ ½ 1 ½ Does not appear 0 ½ ½ 1 1 4
6   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2816 0 0 0 ½ 1 Does not appear ½ 1 1 1 5
7   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2839 ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½ Does not appear 0 0 ½ 4
8   Veselin Topalov (BUL) 2641 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 1 Does not appear 0 1 3
9   Fabiano Caruana (ITA) 2679 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 1 Does not appear 0
10   Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2648 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 Does not appear

Classical tournament

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3rd Norway Chess, 16–25 June 2015, Stavanger, Norway, Category XXII (2782)[6]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points Wins H2H SB TPR Tour points
1   Veselin Topalov (BUL) 2798 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 2946 13
2   Viswanathan Anand (IND) 2804 ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 6 3 ½ 24.75 2904 10
3   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2802 ½ ½ Does not appear ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6 3 ½ 24.50 2904 8
4   Anish Giri (NED) 2773 1 ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 2862 7
5   Fabiano Caruana (ITA) 2805 ½ ½ 0 ½ Does not appear ½ 1 ½ 0 ½ 4 1 ½ 17.75 2736 6
6   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2723 0 0 ½ ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ 1 ½ 4 1 ½ 15.75 2745 5
7   Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2876 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ Does not appear 1 1 0 2 2691 4
8   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2781 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 Does not appear ½ 1 1 2702 3
9   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2780 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ Does not appear ½ 3 1 ½ 13.00 2657 2
10   Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR) 2677 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ Does not appear 3 1 ½ 11.75 2668 WC (1)

Sinquefield Cup

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3rd Sinquefield Cup, 22 August – 3 September 2015, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Category XXII (2794.6)[7]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points Wins H2H SB TPR Tour Points
1   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2765 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 6 2923 13
2   Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2853 ½ Does not appear ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 5 3 ½ 21.25 2831 10
3   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2814 0 ½ Does not appear ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 5 3 ½ 20.25 2835 8
4   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2731 ½ 0 ½ Does not appear ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 5 2 2845 7
5   Anish Giri (NED) 2793 ½ ½ ½ ½ Does not appear 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 5 1 2838 6
6   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2771 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 Does not appear ½ 1 1 0 3 2797 5
7   Veselin Topalov (BUL) 2816 ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ Does not appear 0 ½ ½ 2 2792 4
8   Fabiano Caruana (USA) 2808 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 Does not appear ½ ½ 1 2713 3
9   Viswanathan Anand (IND) 2816 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ Does not appear ½ 0 2712 2
10   Wesley So (USA) 2779 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ Does not appear 3 2671 WC (1)

London Chess Classic

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7th London Chess Classic, 3–14 December 2015, London, England, Category XXII (2784)[8]
Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points Wins H2H SB TPR Tour Points
1   Magnus Carlsen (NOR) 2834 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 2 1 24.00 2859 12
2   Anish Giri (NED) 2784 ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 2 1 23.00 2864 10
3   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 2773 ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 2 1 22.75 2865 8
4   Levon Aronian (ARM) 2788 ½ ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 2827 7
5   Alexander Grischuk (RUS) 2747 0 ½ ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 2788 6
6   Fabiano Caruana (USA) 2787 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 20.25 2784 4.5
7   Michael Adams (ENG) 2737 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ Does not appear ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 20.25 2789 WC (4.5)
8   Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 2793 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ Does not appear 1 ½ 4 2740 3
9   Viswanathan Anand (IND) 2796 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 Does not appear 1 2703 2
10   Veselin Topalov (BUL) 2803 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 Does not appear 2616 1

First place play-off

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Semifinal Final
1   Magnus Carlsen (Norway)
2   Anish Giri (Netherlands) 1 3   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) ½
3   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) 2

Standings

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Player Norway[9] Sinquefield London Total points Prize money
1   Magnus Carlsen (Norway) 4 10 12 26 $215,000
2   Anish Giri (Netherlands) 7 6 10 23 $155,000
3   Levon Aronian (Armenia) 2 13 7 22 $145,000
4   Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) 5 7 8 20 $90,000
5   Hikaru Nakamura (United States) 8 8 3 19 $95,000
6   Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria) 13 4 1 18 $105,000
T-7   Alexander Grischuk (Russia) 3 5 6 14 $60,000
T-7   Viswanathan Anand (India) 10 2 2 14 $80,000
9   Fabiano Caruana (United States)[a] 6 3 4.5 13.5 $55,000
  Michael Adams (England) 4.5 4.5 $20,000
  Jon Ludvig Hammer (Norway) 1 1 $15,000
  Wesley So (United States) 1 1 $15,000

References

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  1. ^ Doggers, Peter (25 April 2015). "'Grand Chess Tour' Announced In St. Louis". Chess.com.
  2. ^ "Top 100 Players January 2015 - Archive". ratings.fide.com.
  3. ^ Doggers, Peter (16 May 2015). "Hammer Qualifies For Norway Chess, Brings Chess Drama To TV". Chess.com.
  4. ^ "Vachier-Lagrave wins the opening blitz of the 3rd Norway Chess tournament | the Week in Chess".
  5. ^ Mark Crowther (29 June 2015). "The Week in Chess 1077". The Week in Chess.
  6. ^ Mark Crowther (25 June 2015). "Topalov wins Norway Chess 2015". The Week in Chess.
  7. ^ Pein, Malcolm (4 September 2015). "Grand Chess Tour 2015: Magnus Carlsen back in contention for top prize after Aronian's win". The Telegraph.
  8. ^ Mark Crowther (14 December 2015). "THE WEEK IN CHESS 1101". The Week in Chess.
  9. ^ "Norway Chess 2015". Archived from the original on 2015-12-01. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  10. ^ Doggers, Peter (12 May 2015). "Breaking: Fabiano Caruana To Play For USA (Updated)". Chess.com.
  11. ^ Doggers, Peter (26 June 2015). "Topalov Wins Norway Chess After Quick Draw With Anand". Chess.com.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Although representing Italy when the roster was announced, Fabiano Caruana has switched federations and played under the flag of the United States after Norway Chess[10][11]