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 tournament, London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard ...

s, which was the eighth edition of the

Grand Chess Tour The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments in which players compete for multiple prize pools. The tournaments, which vary from year to year, have included Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic. Histo ...

. 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 was a chess match between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren to determine the new World Chess Champion. The match took place in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 9 April to 30 April 2023, and was a best of 14 games, plus t ...

, eventual winner

Ding Liren Ding Liren ( zh, c=丁立人; born 24October 1992) is a Chinese chess grandmaster who was the 17th World Chess Champion from 2023–24. He is also a three-time Chinese Chess Champion, was a member of the Chinese chess teams that won the Chess ...

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 (, ; born 18 June 2003) is an Iranian and French Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Firouzja is the youngest player to have surpassed a FIDE Elo rating system, rating of 2800, beating the previous record set by Magnus Carls ...

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 ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

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

Fabiano Caruana Fabiano Luigi Caruana (born July 30, 1992) is an Italian and American chess grandmaster who is the reigning four-time United States Chess Champion. With a peak rating of 2844, Caruana is the third-highest-rated player in history. Born in Mia ...

. :

Superbet Rapid and Blitz Poland

The second leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland from May 19 to 26, 2023.

Jan-Krzysztof Duda Jan-Krzysztof Duda (; born 26 April 1998) is a Polish Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. A Chess prodigy, prodigy, he achieved the grandmaster title in 2013 at the age of 15 years and . he is ranked No. 1 in Poland and No. 17 in the FIDE w ...

was the winner of the rapid portion, while

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, 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 (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') 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 border ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...