FIDE Grand Prix 2014-2015

[Chris Rice]

Some exciting news from FIDE here but I'm guessing the third event in the series is going to cause much gnashing of teeth. ChessBase already speculating on whether Gelfand will participate in that one. http://en.chessbase.com/post/fide-annou ... -2014-2015 Also only four events instead of six this time. As an added attraction three of the venues sit snugly between three war zones in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. http://www.chess.com/news/fide-publishe ... ities-3023

FIDE Grand-Prix 2014-2015 Announcement

Wednesday, 20 August 2014 08:03

FIDE announces the full details of the Grand-Prix 2014-2015, from which the first two (2) winners will qualify to the Candidates Tournament of the World Chess Championship Cycle 2014-2016. The schedule of the four events is the following:

a.) 1 - 15 October 2014: Baku, Azerbaijan

b.) 20 October - 3 November 2014: Tashkent, Uzbekistan

c.) 14 - 28 February 2015: Tehran, Iran

d.) 13 - 27 May 2015: Moscow, Russia

In total 16 players will participate, 11 qualifiers as per regulations (listed below) plus 4 nominees from the organisers (to be announced) plus 1 nominee of the FIDE President (to be announced).

The 11 original qualifiers who have to confirm their participation by 27 August 2014 are:

01. Carlsen, Magnus (World Champion)
02. Anand, Wiswanathan (World Ch. match 2013)
03. Kramnik, Vladimir (World Cup winner 2013)
04. Andreikin, Dmitry (World Cup runner-up 2013)
05. Tomashevsky, Evgeny (World Cup semi-finalist 2013)
06. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime (World Cup semi-finalist 2013)
07. Aronian, Levon (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)
08. Caruana, Fabiano (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)
09. Grischuk, Alexander (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)
10. Nakamura, Hikaru (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)
11. Topalov, Veselin (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)

The first reserves for any replacement needed are:

1. Karjakin, Sergey (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)
2. Gelfand, Boris (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014)
3. Mamedyarov, S (Average Rating List 5/2013 to 4/2014).

Each player will play in 3 tournaments and all his results will be taken into account for the overall final standings of the Grand-Prix.

The full regulations of the Grand-Prix 2014-2015 can be downloaded from the FIDE website here: http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... ew=article

The qualified players mentioned above shall download their participation contract from here and return it signed to the FIDE Secretariat, as scanned email or fax, by the deadline of 27 August 2014.

[Mick Norris]

Carlsen and Anand won't play, as they qualify for the Candidates even if they lose their world championship match (preparation for which is scheduled to clash with the Grand Prix)

So, that puts Karjakin and Gelfand in, plus I would expect if necessary Mamedyarov to be nominated by Baku to take part

[Roger de Coverly]

Agon is still involved, but appears to have been sold or given to an unknown buyer, possibly Russian.
http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6801

[Reg Clucas]

Carlsen and Anand won't play, as they qualify for the Candidates even if they lose their world championship match

That's what I thought, so why are they included in this list at all?

[Mick Norris]

Carlsen and Anand won't play, as they qualify for the Candidates even if they lose their world championship match

That's what I thought, so why are they included in this list at all?

I think it is just the regulations - I suppose if either/both refuse to play in Sochi this November, then they could play in the GP, although they wouldn't in practice

[NickFaulks]

That's what I thought, so why are they included in this list at all?

The prize fund is worthwhile, it would be wrong to exclude them.

[Lewis Martin]

That's what I thought, so why are they included in this list at all?

The prize fund is worthwhile, it would be wrong to exclude them.

Or - it might surprise you to hear - they like playing chess that it doesn't matter what event it is!

[LawrenceCooper]

Open Letter to FIDE President Mr.Kirsan Ilyumzhinov
Dear Mr. President,
The most recent developments around the World Championship Cycle (men and women) that concern all the top players and global chess community leave me no other choice but to address you publicly with this open letter. There are several issues that require an urgent action - I will present them one by one.
1. World Championship Match.
We all know, that it took a lot of time and effort to find a venue and funding for the World Championship Match. Finally it was announced that the Match will be staged in Sochi, Russia. In the absence of other bids, the prize fund was decreased almost by 50% , compared to the last World Championship Match, but, no less importantly, there are still quite a few uncertainties regarding the Match, that led to a deadlock - as a result, the contracts have not been signed so far. Unfortunately, I have to admit, that even being a member of the Commission for World Championships and Olympiads of FIDE (hereinafter referred as WCOC), yours truly is not updated with the real situation, and greatly concerned about the lack of transparency and the possible consequences.
Mr. President, I call you to make everything possible in order to resolve all the disagreements, and not to let the chess world divide, as it happened in the recent past.
2. Grand Prix series.
The FIDE Grand Prix series that serve as a qualifier for the FIDE Candidates Tournament also raise a lot of concern. While here the prize fund was also decreased by about 50%, there are other issues to be resolved as well. The whole Grand Prix cycle that was supposed to be confirmed by the end of 2013 was only confirmed in August, and the players have just one week to confirm on their participation. That is especially disturbing, given that the time control stipulated in the contract differs from the one supported by the players (see the ACP poll: http://www.chessprofessionals.org/conte ... me-control ). It doesn't make major difference for the organizers (after all, the game would last the same number of hours), but it is disturbing that top players' opinion is ignored again and again. I have raised this issue in WCOC several times, but got no satisfying reply. There is a hope that after this letter the things might change.
3. Women's World Championship
It is shocking to see no official news for the Women's World Championship scheduled to start in 1.5 months. Sixty four ladies are supposed to take part in this most prestigious competition, and they can neither prepare for the event, nor to accept invitations to other tournaments in September - November period. Having no official news about World Championship tournament just a few weeks prior to its commencement is unheard of, and I ask you, Mr.President, to confirm or postpone it officially without further delay.
Dear Mr. President, as you see, there are several urgent issues, and on behalf of the ACP and the global chess community, I ask you to take all the necessary steps in order to restore the order in the chess Kingdom.
Sincerely yours,
Emil Sutovsky
The ACP President

[Mick Norris]

http://www.chess.com/news/all-draws-in- ... louis-3024
from which

The "mini decision" will be several players' participation in the Grand Prix events, scheduled for Tashkent, Moscow, Baku and Tehran. FIDE does not guarantee players get to chose which three events they'll get to play.
Neither Caruana nor Nakamura, both American citizens, are keen to play in Iran. The U.S. has severed diplomatic relations with Iran after the American Embassy was overrun in 1979.
"I don't think I'll play in Iran," Caruana said. "It's not entirely safe to go there."

If players don't get to choose which event to avoid, then Gelfand couldn't play in Iran and Aronian might not play in Baku, so there could be problems ahead

[NickFaulks]

If players don't get to choose which event to avoid, then Gelfand couldn't play in Iran and Aronian might not play in Baku, so there could be problems ahead

I think we can assume that in those cases the player will get his first choice!

[Roger de Coverly]

The line up and who plays where have now been announced.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... -2015.html

There are 16 players in total, of whom 12 play in each event.
From the Rating List
Caruana, Fabiano
Grischuk, Alexander
Nakamura, Hikaru
Karjakin, Sergey
Dominguez, Leinier
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
Gelfand, Boris
Svidler, Peter

From the World Cup
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Andreikin, Dmitry
Tomashevsky, Evgeny

President's nominee
Giri, Anish

Agon nominees (seems a proxy for host Federations)
Jakovenko, Dmitri RUS
Radjabov, Teimour AZE
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB
Ghaem Maghami, Ehsan IRN

Unsurprisingly Caruana, Nakamura and Gelfand aren't playing in Tehran. The fourth player not scheduled to play there is Karyakin which makes that leg look a little lightweight at the top.

[Mick Norris]

Are we still assuming top 2 qualify for Candidates? And 2 by rating?

Aronian, Kramnik and Topalov aren't playing, and you wouldn't necessarily expect them to get the 2 rating spots (even if Caruana qualifies via the GP), particularly Kramnik

That would leave reaching the World Cup final

I had read something that implied that Topalov doesn't think he can win the Candidates so wouldn't be attempting to qualify

Is Kramnik relying on Russia hosting the Candidates, or has he given up too?

[Graham Borrowdale]

It does seem rather a long-winded method to choose candidates. The old interzonal(s) seemed much more efficient, so players had to play in a single tournament rather than 3 separate grand prix or whatever. It also increases the value (to their own player) of federations hosting events if they get a spot just for that, at the expense of players from federations not hosting. Imagine, England hosting the football World Cup if their team failed to qualify, just to get a host spot. I would not be at all surprised if Topalov, Kramnik, etc, could not really be bothered.

[Mick Norris]

a.) 1 - 15 October 2014: Baku, Azerbaijan

b.) 20 October - 3 November 2014: Tashkent, Uzbekistan

c.) 14 - 28 February 2015: Tehran, Iran

d.) 13 - 27 May 2015: Moscow, Russia

d) has been moved from Moscow to Khanty-Mansiysk according to this
http://www.fide.com/component/content/a ... -2015.html

[Mick Norris]

Unsurprisingly Caruana, Nakamura and Gelfand aren't playing in Tehran. The fourth player not scheduled to play there is Karyakin which makes that leg look a little lightweight at the top.

Karjakin, Caruana & Nakamura are playing in Zurich 13-19 Feb 2015 with Kramnik, Aronian, Anand