Grand Chess Tour 2026

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dates5 May–28 August
Host(s)Warsaw, Poland
Bucharest, Romania
Zagreb, Croatia
St. Louis, United States
Defending championsUnited States Fabiano Caruana
2026 Grand Chess Tour
2026
Tournament information
Dates5 May–28 August
Host(s)Warsaw, Poland
Bucharest, Romania
Zagreb, Croatia
St. Louis, United States
Defending championsUnited States Fabiano Caruana
← GCT 2025
GCT 2027 →

The Grand Chess Tour 2026 is a series of chess tournaments, which will be the eleventh edition of the Grand Chess Tour. It will consist of six tournaments with a total prize pool of US$2 million, including two tournaments with classical time control and three tournaments with faster time controls, as well as the GCT Finals in St. Louis.[1]

The tour consists of six tournaments. Rapid & Blitz tournaments consist 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 will count in overall standings. Top four after 5 tournaments will qualify to the tour finals in St. Louis.

In the finals, players will play matches consisting of 2 classical games, 2 rapid games and 4 blitz games. 6 points will be awarded for a win, 3 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss in classical play. In the rapid games, 4 points will be awarded for a win, 2 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss. In the blitz games, 2 points will be awarded for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

The tour points will be awarded as follows:

PlaceTour PointsClassical
prize money		Rapid & Blitz
prize money		GCT Finals
prize money		GCT Tour
Bonuses
1st12/13*$100,000$200,000$450,000$125,000
2nd10$65,000
3rd8$48,000
4th7$32,000
5th6$26,000
6th5$21,000
7th4$18,500
8th3$16,000
9th2$13,000
10th1$10,500
  • 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 lineup for the tour was announced on January 27, 2026. It consists of nine players, including the top-three finishers of the previous edition. The remaining six players were selected based on several factors, including URS rating, FIDE rating, "fighting spirit and sportsmanship".[2] On March 31, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju withdrew from the full-tour lineup following a series of poor results, opting to reduce his playing schedule and compete as a wildcard in Poland and Croatia. As a result, Javokhir Sindarov, who had previously been a wildcard, replaced him as a full-tour member.[3] On April 23, Levon Aronian withdrew from GCT Romania, as well as from the full-tour lineup due to health reasons, and opted to participate in Saint Louis events as a wildcard. Jorden van Foreest replaced him in the full-tour lineup.[4]

Player Country FIDE rating
(Jan 2026)
Fabiano Caruana  United States 2795
Vincent Keymer  Germany 2776
Anish Giri  Netherlands 2760
Alireza Firouzja  France 2759
R Praggnanandhaa  India 2758
Wesley So  United States 2743
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave  France 2734
Javokhir Sindarov  Uzbekistan 2726
Jorden van Foreest  Netherlands 2703

Results

Tournament results

Dates Tournament Name Format Host city Winner Runner-Up Third Place
May 5–9, 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Poland Rapid & blitz Warsaw
May 14–23, 2026 Super Chess Classic Romania Classical Bucharest
July 1–5, 2026 Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia Rapid & blitz Zagreb
August 2–6, 2026 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Rapid & blitz St. Louis
August 10–20, 2026 Sinquefield Cup Classical
August 24–28, 2026 GCT Finals Classical, Rapid & Blitz

Tour rankings

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

Player POL ROU CRO STL SIN Total
points		 Finals Prize
money
– Fabiano Caruana (United States) N/a
– Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) N/a
– Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands) N/a
– Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) N/a
– Vincent Keymer (Germany) N/a
– Anish Giri (Netherlands) N/a
– Alireza Firouzja (France) N/a
– R Praggnanandhaa (India) N/a
– Wesley So (United States) N/a
 Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) N/aN/aN/aN/a
 Gukesh Dommaraju (India) N/aN/aN/a
 Hans Niemann (United States) N/aN/aN/aN/a
 Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia) N/aN/aN/aN/a
 Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland) N/aN/aN/aN/a
 Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania) N/aN/aN/a
 Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) N/aN/aN/aN/a
 Ivan Šarić (Croatia) N/aN/aN/aN/a
 Levon Aronian (United States) N/aN/aN/a

Tournaments

See also

References

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