Grand Chess Tour 2021

The 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]

Grand Chess Tour

2021
2021 Grand Chess Tour winner Wesley So.
Tournament information
Dates	3 June–27 August 2021
Host(s)	Bucharest Paris Zagreb St. Louis
Final positions
Champion	Wesley So
Runner-up	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
3rd place	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titles	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2)
Prize money leader	Wesley So ($242,500)
Points leader	Wesley So (36.6)
← GCT 2019 GCT 2020 GCT 2022 →

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.

Lineup

The lineup was announced on January 13, 2021.^[3] Initially, ten players were invited as regular participants, with only difference from cancelled 2020 edition being the absence of Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura and participation of Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Teimour Radjabov.^[4][5] Later, Ding Liren has withdrawn from the Tour due to COVID-19 travel restrictions in China, being replaced by Richárd Rapport. After winning the Candidates Tournament 2020–2021 and qualifying for the World Chess Championship 2021, Ian Nepomniachtchi also withdrew from the Tour, reducing number of regular participants to nine.^[6]

Player	Country	FIDE Rating (January 2021)
Fabiano Caruana	United States	2823
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	France	2784
Wesley So	United States	2770
Alexander Grischuk	Russia	2777
Levon Aronian	Armenia	2781
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	Azerbaijan	2770
Teimour Radjabov	Azerbaijan	2765
Anish Giri	Netherlands	2764
Richárd Rapport	Hungary	2759

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 (WC)	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave Alireza Firouzja (WC)
7 July – 11 July 2021	Croatia Rapid & Blitz	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Viswanathan Anand (WC)	Anish Giri
11 August – 16 August 2021	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	Hikaru Nakamura (WC)	Fabiano Caruana	Richard Rapport
17 August – 27 August 2021	Sinquefield Cup	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Fabiano Caruana Leinier Domínguez (WC) Wesley So	–

Tournaments

Superbet Chess Classic

The first leg of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour was held in Bucharest, Romania in 3–15 June. It was won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov from Azerbaijan.^[7]

2021 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	TPR	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2770	Does not appear	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	½	6	2882	13	$90,000
2	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2781	0	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	½	5	2791	8.3	$45,000
3	Wesley So (USA)	2770	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	½	½	5	2793	8.3	$45,000
4	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2776	½	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	½	1	½	5	2792	8.3	$45,000
5	Anish Giri (NED)	2780	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	0	1	4½	2747	5.5	$22,500
6	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2765	½	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	4½	2749	5.5	$22,500
7	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU)	2627	½	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	1	4	2720	WC (3.5)	$16,250
8	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2820	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	½	4	2698	3.5	$16,250
9	Constantin Lupulescu (ROU)	2656	0	½	½	0	1	½	½	0	Does not appear	½	3½	2672	WC (1.5)	$11,250
10	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2760	½	½	½	½	0	½	0	½	½	Does not appear	3½	2660	1.5	$11,250

Paris Rapid & Blitz

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

2021 GCT Paris Rapid & Blitz, 20–24 June 2021, Paris, France

	Player	Rapid	Blitz	Total	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Wesley So (USA)	12	12½	24½	13	$37,500
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	11	10½	21½	WC (10)	$25,000
T-3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	9	9	18	7.5	$17,500
T-3	Alireza Firouzja (FIDE)	7	11	18	WC (7.5)	$17,500
T-5	Levon Aronian (ARM)	8	9½	17½	5.5	$11,250
T-5	Richard Rapport (HUN)	8	9½	17½	5.5	$11,250
7	Peter Svidler (RUS)	9	8	17	WC (4)	$9,000
8	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	8	8½	16½	3	$8,000
9	Etienne Bacrot (FRA)  Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)[a]	10	5½	15½	WC (2)	$7,000
10	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	8	6	14	1	$6,000

2021 GCT Paris Rapid & Blitz – Rapid, 20–22 June 2021, Paris, France

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Wesley So (USA)	2741	Does not appear	1	1	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	12
2	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2778	1	Does not appear	2	1	0	2	1	2	1	1	11
3	Etienne Bacrot (FRA)	2667	1	0	Does not appear	1	2	0	2	1	2	1	10
4	Peter Svidler (RUS)	2742	1	1	1	Does not appear	2	2	0	1	0	1	9
5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2860	0	2	0	0	Does not appear	1	1	2	1	2	9
6	Levon Aronian (ARM)	2778	1	0	2	0	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	8
7	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2773	0	1	0	2	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	8
8	Teimour Radjabov (AZE)	2758	1	0	1	1	0	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	8
9	Richard Rapport (HUN)	2727	0	1	0	2	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	8
10	Alireza Firouzja (FIDE)	2703	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	0	1	Does not appear	7

2021 GCT Paris Rapid & Blitz – Blitz, 23–24 June 2021, Paris, France

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Wesley So (USA)	2816	Does not appear	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 (RUS)	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 (ARM)	2739	1 0	0 ½	0 ½	Does not appear	½ 1	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	1 0	½ 1	9½
5	Richard Rapport (HUN)	2759	½ ½	0 1	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	0 ½	½ 1	1 ½	9½
6	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	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 (USA)	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 (RUS)	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 (AZE)	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 (RUS)	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

The 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.

2021 Croatia GCT Rapid & Blitz, 7–11 July 2021, Zagreb, Croatia

	Player	Rapid	Blitz	Total	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	10	13	23	13	$37,500
2	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	9	12	21	WC (10)	$25,000
3	Anish Giri (NED)	10	10½	20½	8	$20,000
T-4	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	11	9	20	WC (6.5)	$13,750
T-4	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	10	10	20	WC (6.5)	$13,750
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	9	10	19	10	$10,000
7	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	8	10	18	4	$9,000
8	Anton Korobov (UKR)	7	8½	15½	WC (3)	$8,000
9	Ivan Šarić (CRO)  Garry Kasparov (RUS/CRO)[b]	10	2½	12½	WC (2)	$7,000
10	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	6	4½	10½	WC (1)	$6,000

2021 Croatia GCT Rapid & Blitz – Rapid, 7–9 July 2021, Zagreb, Croatia

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	2791	Does not appear	0	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	1	11
2	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	2650	2	Does not appear	1	1	2	1	1	1	0	1	10
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2831	1	1	Does not appear	2	1	0	2	1	1	1	10
4	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	2774	1	1	0	Does not appear	1	2	1	1	2	1	10
5	Anish Giri (NED)	2731	1	0	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	1	2	1	10
6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2761	0	1	2	0	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	2	9
7	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	2753	1	1	0	1	0	1	Does not appear	1	2	2	9
8	Alexander Grischuk (RUS)	2784	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	8
9	Anton Korobov (UKR)	2781	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	Does not appear	2	7
10	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2543	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	Does not appear	6

2021 Croatia GCT Rapid & Blitz – Blitz, 10–11 July 2021, Zagreb, Croatia

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2794		½ ½	0 1	1 ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	1 1	13
2	Viswanathan Anand (IND)	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 (NED)	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 (RUS)	2765	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	1 0	½ 1	½ ½	1 0	½ 1	½ 1	10
5	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2716	0 ½	½ ½	½ 0	0 1	Does not appear	0 1	1 1	0 0	1 1	1 1	10
6	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	2799	½ 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ 0	1 0	Does not appear	0 1	1 1	0 1	1 1	10
7	Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS)	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 (UKR)	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 (NED)	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 (RUS/CRO)	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

2021 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, 12–16 August 2021, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

	Player	Rapid	Blitz	Total	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	12	12	24	WC (13)	$37,500
2	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	11	10	21	10	$25,000
3	Richard Rapport (HUN)	11	8½	19½	8	$20,000
4	Wesley So (USA)	9	9½	18½	7	$15,000
5	Lê Quang Liêm (VIE)	6	11½	17½	WC (6)	$12,500
T-6	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	8	9	17	4.5	$9,500
T-6	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	7	10	17	WC (4.5)	$9,500
8	Peter Svidler (RUS)	9	7	16	WC (3)	$8,000
9	Jeffery Xiong (USA)	8	7	15	WC (2)	$7,000
10	Sam Shankland (USA)	9	5½	14½	WC (1)	$6,000

2021 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Rapid, 12–14 August 2021, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2829	Does not appear	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	12
2	Richard Rapport (HUN)	2724	1	Does not appear	2	1	1	2	1	2	0	1	11
3	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2758	0	0	Does not appear	2	1	0	2	2	2	2	11
4	Wesley So (USA)	2774	1	1	0	Does not appear	1	2	1	1	1	1	9
5	Peter Svidler (RUS)	2745	0	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	0	1	2	2	9
6	Sam Shankland (USA)	2609	1	0	2	0	1	Does not appear	2	0	1	2	9
7	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2756	1	1	0	1	2	0	Does not appear	1	2	0	8
8	Jeffery Xiong (USA)	2730	1	0	0	1	1	2	1	Does not appear	0	2	8
9	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2786	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	2	Does not appear	1	7
10	Lê Quang Liêm (VIE)	2744	1	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	1	Does not appear	6

2021 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Blitz, 15–16 August 2021, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Hikaru Nakamura (USA)	2900	Does not appear	1 ½	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	½ 1	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	1 ½	12
2	Lê Quang Liêm (VIE)	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 (USA)	2654	½ ½	0 1	Does not appear	½ 1	½ 0	1 0	0 1	1 ½	½ 1	½ ½	10
4	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2734	½ 0	1 1	½ 0	Does not appear	1 1	0 ½	½ ½	0 ½	0 1	1 1	10
5	Wesley So (USA)	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 (AZE)	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 (HUN)	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 (USA)	2724	0 0	0 0	0 ½	1 0	0 ½	½ 0	1 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	1 0	7
9	Peter Svidler (RUS)	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 (USA)	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

2021 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	TPR	Tour Points	Prize money
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2751	Does not appear	½	0	½	½	1	1	½	1	1	6	2919	13	$90,000
2	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2806	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	0	1	½	1	5½	2824	8.3	$45,000
3	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2758	1	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	5½	2829	WC (8.3)	$45,000
4	Wesley So (USA)	2772	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	1	1	5½	2828	8.3	$45,000
5	Richard Rapport (HUN)	2763	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	0	1	½	4½	2740	6	$25,000
6	Sam Shankland (USA)	2709	0	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	1	½	½	4	2701	WC (4)	$17,500
7	Jeffery Xiong (USA)	2710	0	1	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	0	4	2701	WC (4)	$17,500
8	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (AZE)	2782	½	0	½	½	1	0	½	Does not appear	½	½	4	2693	4	$17,500
9	Peter Svidler (RUS)	2714	0	½	½	0	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	1	3½	2656	WC (2)	$12,500
10	Dariusz Świercz (USA)	2655	0	0	0	0	½	½	1	½	0	Does not appear	2½	2574	WC (1)	$10,000

Standings

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

	Player	ROU	PAR	CRO	STL	SIN	Total points	Prize money
1	Wesley So (United States)	8.3	13	—	7	8.3	36.6	$242,500
2	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	1.5	7.5	13	—	13	35	$206,250
3	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	13	—	5	4.5	4	26.5	$152,000
4	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	3.5	3	—	10	8.3	24.8	$94,250
5	Richárd Rapport (Hungary)	—	5.5	—	8	6	19.5	$42,500
6	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	8.3	5.5	—	—	—	13.8	$56,250
7	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	5.5	—	8	—	—	13.5	$42,500
8	Alexander Grischuk (Russia)	8.3	—	4	—	—	12.3	$54,000
9	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	5.5	1	—	—	—	6.5	$28,500
	Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia)	—	10	6.5	—	—	16.5	$36,750
	Hikaru Nakamura (United States)	—	—	—	13	—	13	$37,500
	Leinier Domínguez Pérez (United States)	—	—	—	4.5	8.3	12.8	$54,500
	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
	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 (RUS/CRO)[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

1. Bacrot and Kramnik competed as a team, with Bacrot playing the Rapid portion and Kramnik playing the Blitz portion.
2. Šarić and Kasparov competed as a team, with Šarić playing the Rapid portion and Kasparov playing the Blitz portion.