The Grand Chess Tour 2023 was a series of

chess tournament A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition amo ...

s, which was the eighth edition of the

Grand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments where players compete for multiple prize pools. Major tournaments that have been featured in the Grand Chess Tour include Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. ...

. It consisted of five tournaments with a total prize pool of US$1.4 million, including two tournaments with classical time control and three tournaments with faster time controls.

Format

The tour consisted of five tournaments, two classicals and three rapid & blitz, respectively. Rapid & Blitz tournaments consisted of 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 were awarded as follows: : * If a player wins 1st place outright (without the need for a playoff), they are awarded 13 points instead of 12. * Tour points and prize money are shared equally between tied players.

Lineup

The field was announced on February 22, 2023. It consisted of nine players, including both participants of

World Chess Championship 2023 The World Chess Championship 2023 is an upcoming chess match, taking place from 7 April to 30 April 2023 to determine the new world chess champion. The incumbent champion Magnus Carlsen decided not to defend his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi, t ...

, eventual winner

Ding Liren Ding Liren (; born 24 October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. He is the highest rated Chinese chess player in history and is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion. He was the winner of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour, beating Maxime Vachi ...

and runner-up

Ian Nepomniachtchi Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi ( rus, Ян Алекса́ндрович Непо́мнящий, r=Yan Aleksandrovich Nepomnyashchiy, p=ˈjan ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈpomnʲɪɕːɪj, a=Ru-Ian Alexandrovich Nepomnyashchij.ogg; born 14 J ...

, as well as defending Grand Chess Tour champion

Alireza Firouzja Alireza Firouzja ( fa, علی‌رضا فیروزجا, ; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest ever 2800- rated player, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carlsen by more than five months ...

Schedule

The events in St. Louis took place during the months of November and December, compared to the previous editions where they took place during the months of August and September. The change was implemented to avoid scheduling clashes with the 2023 Chess World Cup and the 2023 FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament.

Results

Tournament results

Tour rankings

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

Tournaments

Superbet Chess Classic

The first leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, Romania from May 4–16, 2023. The winner of the tournament was

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an American chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, Caruana became a grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 20 days—the youngest grandmaster in the history of both Italy and the United Sta ...

. :

Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland

The second leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland from May 19 to 26, 2023.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda (; born 26 April 1998) is a Polish chess grandmaster. A prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and 21 days. he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 18 in the world. His personal best rating ...

was the winner of the rapid portion, while

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian chess grandmaster who is the reigning five-time World Chess Champion. He is also a three-time World Rapid Chess Champion and five-time World Blitz Chess Champion. Carlsen has h ...

won the blitz portion, and won the overall tournament. : : :

SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz Croatia

The third leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Croatia from July 5 to 9, 2023.

and

were the joint winners of the rapid portion, while

won the blitz portion, and won the overall tournament. : : :

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz

The fourth leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Saint Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...