Grand Chess Tour 2015

Grand Chess Tour 2015 was the 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
Dates	15 June–14 December 2015
Host(s)	Stavanger St. Louis London
Final positions
Champion	Magnus Carlsen
Runner-up	Anish Giri
3rd place	Levon Aronian
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titles	Veselin Topalov Levon Aronian Magnus Carlsen (1)
Prize money leader	Magnus Carlsen ($215,000)
Points leader	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

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

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)
Magnus Carlsen	Norway	2862
Fabiano Caruana	Italy[a]	2820
Alexander Grischuk	Russia	2810
Veselin Topalov	Bulgaria	2800
Viswanathan Anand	India	2797
Levon Aronian	Armenia	2797
Anish Giri	Netherlands	2784
Hikaru Nakamura	United States	2776
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	France	2757

Schedule and results

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

Norway Chess

Wildcard qualifier

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	3½	7½
4	GM Nils Grandelius (SWE)	2623	0	1	1	Does not appear	2	1	5	2623	½	½	½	Does not appear	0	0	1½	6½
5	GM Curt Hansen (DEN)	2621	0	0	1	0	Does not appear	2	3	2621	0	0	0	1	Does not appear	½	1½	4½
6	GM Simen Agdestein (NOR)	2620	0	0	1	1	0	Does not appear	2	2575	0	0	0	1	½	Does not appear	1½	3½

Blitz tournament

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	6½
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	5½	5	4	3
4	Magnus Carlsen (NOR)	2933	0	1	1	Does not appear	½	½	0	1	½	1	5½	5	4	2
5	Anish Giri (NED)	2771	½	½	1	½	Does not appear	0	½	½	1	1	5½	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	2½
10	Jon Ludvig Hammer (NOR)	2648	0	0	0	0	0	0	½	0	1	Does not appear	1½

Classical tournament

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	6½				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	5½				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	3½	2			2691	4
8	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2781	0	½	½	0	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	1	3½	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

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	4½	3			2797	5
7	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2816	½	1	1	0	½	½	Does not appear	0	½	½	4½	2			2792	4
8	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2808	0	0	½	½	½	0	1	Does not appear	½	½	3½	1			2713	3
9	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2816	½	½	0	½	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	3½	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

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	5½	2	1	24.00	2859	12
2	Anish Giri (NED)	2784	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	5½	2	1	23.00	2864	10
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2773	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	5½	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	4½	1			2788	6
6	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2787	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	4½	0	½	20.25	2784	4.5
7	Michael Adams (ENG)	2737	½	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	4½	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	3½				2703	2
10	Veselin Topalov (BUL)	2803	½	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	0	Does not appear	2½				2616	1

First place play-off

	Semifinal					Final
						1	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	1½
	2	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	1			3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	½
	3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	2

Standings

	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