Grand Chess Tour 2026

The Grand Chess Tour 2026 is a series of chess tournaments, which is the eleventh edition of the Grand Chess Tour. It consists 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]

Dates5 May–28 August

Host(s)Warsaw, Poland
Bucharest, Romania
Zagreb, Croatia
St. Louis, United States

Defending champions

Fabiano Caruana

Most tournament titles

Hans Niemann (1)

Vincent Keymer (1)

Alireza Firouzja (1)

Quick facts Tournament information, Dates ...

2026 Grand Chess Tour
Tournament information
2026
Fabiano Caruana, current GCT points leader
Dates	5 May–28 August
Host(s)	Warsaw, Poland Bucharest, Romania Zagreb, Croatia St. Louis, United States
Defending champions	Fabiano Caruana
Tournament statistics
Most tournament titles	Hans Niemann (1) Vincent Keymer (1) Alireza Firouzja (1)
Prize money leader	Vincent Keymer ($146,250)
Points leader	Fabiano Caruana (20)
← GCT 2025 GCT 2027 →

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Format

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.^[2]

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.^[2]

The tour points will be awarded as follows:

More information Place, Tour Points ...

Place	Tour Points	Classical prize money	Rapid & Blitz prize money	GCT Finals prize money	Decisive Games Bonuses^[a]
1st	12/13*	$100,000	$50,000	$200,000	$125,000
2nd	10	$65,000	$40,000	$125,000
3rd	8	$50,000	$30,000	$75,000
4th	7	$35,000	$20,000	$50,000
5th	6	$25,000	$15,000
6th	5	$20,000	$11,000
7th	4	$18,000	$10,000
8th	3	$15,000	$9,000
9th	2	$12,000	$8,000
10th	1	$10,000	$7,000

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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.
Players receive a Decisive Games Bonus for each win scored in regular-season classical tournaments, calculated by multiplying the player's total number of wins by the total bonus prize pool divided by the total number of decisive games.

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".^[3]

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 only a wildcard in Poland and Croatia. As a result, Javokhir Sindarov, who had previously been a wildcard, replaced him as a full-tour member.^[4]

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 the Saint Louis events as a wildcard. Jorden van Foreest replaced him in the full-tour lineup.^[5]

More information Player, Country ...

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

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Scheduling conflict with the Esports World Cup

On February 10, seven full tour members signed an open letter addressed to the Grand Chess Tour, requesting to adjust the dates of the Sinquefield Cup due to conflict with the chess tournament at the Esports World Cup.^[6] On the following day, the Grand Chess Tour declined to reschedule, stating that its schedule had been announced well before that of the Esports World Cup and they were not willing to break their longstanding scheduling commitments.^[7]

On July 27, Alireza Firouzja was announced to have withdrawn from the Sinquefield Cup (and thus the overall tour with accordance to the player agreement) due to the unresolved schedule conflict. Samuel Sevian replaced him as a wildcard.^[8]

Results

Tournament results

More information Dates, Tournament Name ...

Dates	Tournament Name	Format	Host city	Winner	Runner-Up	Third Place
May 5–9, 2026	Super Rapid & Blitz Poland	Rapid & blitz	Warsaw	Hans Niemann (WC)	Fabiano Caruana	Wesley So
May 14–23, 2026	Super Chess Classic Romania	Classical	Bucharest	Vincent Keymer	Fabiano Caruana	Javokhir Sindarov Wesley So
July 1–5, 2026	Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia	Rapid & blitz	Zagreb	Alireza Firouzja	Nodirbek Abdusattorov (WC)	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave R Praggnanandhaa
August 2–6, 2026	Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz	Rapid & blitz	St. Louis
August 10–20, 2026	Sinquefield Cup	Classical
August 22–27, 2026	GCT Finals	Classical, Rapid & Blitz

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Tour rankings

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

More information Player, POL ...

	Player	POL	ROU	CRO	STL	SIN	Total points	Finals	Prize money
1	Fabiano Caruana (United States)	10	10	N/a			20		$125,833
2	Vincent Keymer (Germany)	N/a	13	6			19		$146,250
3	Wesley So (United States)	8	7.5	N/a			15.5		$72,500
4	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	3	4	7.5	N/a		14.5		$62,416
5	R Praggnanandhaa (India)	N/a	4	7.5			11.5		$53,416
6	Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan)	3	7.5	N/a			10.5		$72,333
7	Anish Giri (Netherlands)	N/a	4	4			8		$38,416
8	Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands)	N/a	4	2			6		$36,416
–^[b]	Alireza Firouzja (France)	6	1	11	N/a	N/a	–	N/a	$72,500
	Hans Niemann (United States)	13	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	13	N/a	$50,000
	Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan)	N/a	N/a	11	N/a	N/a	11	N/a	$42,500
	Gukesh Dommaraju (India)	5	N/a	5	N/a	N/a	10	N/a	$22,000
	Vladimir Fedoseev (Slovenia)	7	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	7	N/a	$20,000
	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (Romania)	N/a	4	3	N/a	N/a	7	N/a	$37,416
	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland)	3	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	3	N/a	$9,000
	Radosław Wojtaszek (Poland)	1	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a	1	N/a	$7,000
	Ivan Šarić (Croatia)	N/a	N/a	1	N/a	N/a	1	N/a	$7,000
	Levon Aronian (United States)	N/a	N/a	N/a				N/a
	Leinier Dominguez (United States)	N/a	N/a	N/a		N/a		N/a
	Awonder Liang (United States)	N/a	N/a	N/a		N/a		N/a
	Samuel Sevian (United States)	N/a	N/a	N/a	N/a			N/a

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Tournaments

Super Rapid & Blitz Poland

The first leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Warsaw, Poland from May 5–9.

More information Player, Rapid ...

2026 GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, May 5–9 Warsaw, Poland
	Player	Rapid	Blitz	Total	Tour Points	Prize money	Circuit
1	Hans Niemann (USA)	13	9½	22½	WC (13)	$50,000	12.96
2	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	9	13	22	10	$40,000	9.43
3	Wesley So (USA)	12	9	21	8	$30,000	8.25
4	Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO)	11	7	18	WC (7)	$20,000
5	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	6	11½	17½	6	$15,000
6	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	9	8	17	WC (5)	$11,000
T–7	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	8	8½	16½	3	$9,000
T–7	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	8	8½	16½	3	$9,000
T–7	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	9	7½	16½	WC (3)	$9,000
10	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	5	7½	12½	WC (1)	$7,000

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More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland – Rapid, May 5–7 Warsaw, Poland
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Hans Niemann (USA)	2646	Does not appear	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	2	1	13
2	Wesley So (USA)	2705	1	Does not appear	2	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	12
3	Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO)	2690	1	0	Does not appear	2	1	1	2	0	2	2	11
T–4	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2727	0	2	0	Does not appear	1	0	2	1	1	2	9
T–4	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	2683	0	1	1	1	Does not appear	0	1	1	2	2	9
T–4	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	2682	0	1	1	2	2	Does not appear	0	2	1	0	9
T–7	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2735	1	1	0	0	1	2	Does not appear	2	0	1	8
T–7	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	2727	1	0	2	1	1	0	0	Does not appear	1	2	8
9	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2755	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	1	Does not appear	1	6
10	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	2612	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	1	Does not appear	5

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More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland – Blitz, May 8–9 Warsaw, Poland
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2749	Does not appear	1 ½	0 1	½ 0	1 ½	1 1	1 1	0 1	1 1	½ 1	13
2	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2796	0 ½	Does not appear	1 0	1 1	½ 0	1 1	1 1	1 0	½ 1	½ ½	11½
3	Hans Niemann (USA)	2699	1 0	0 1	Does not appear	0 ½	½ ½	1 1	0 0	0 1	0 1	1 1	9½
4	Wesley So (USA)	2798	½ 1	0 0	1 ½	Does not appear	½ 1	½ ½	0 0	½ 1	1 ½	0 ½	9
T–5	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	2662	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	0 ½	1 1	½ 1	½ 0	½ 0	8½
T–5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2761	0 0	0 0	0 0	½ ½	1 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	1 1	½ ½	1 1	8½
7	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	2646	0 0	0 0	1 1	1 1	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	0 ½	1 1	½ 0	8
T–8	Radosław Wojtaszek (POL)	2558	1 0	0 1	1 0	½ 0	½ 0	0 0	1 ½	Does not appear	0 0	1 1	7½
T–8	Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL)	2743	0 0	½ 0	1 0	0 ½	½ 1	½ ½	0 0	1 1	Does not appear	0 1	7½
10	Vladimir Fedoseev (SLO)	2756	½ 0	½ ½	0 0	1 ½	½ 1	0 0	½ 1	0 0	1 0	Does not appear	7

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Super Chess Classic Romania

The second leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour was held in Bucharest, Romania from May 14–23.

More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Super Chess Classic, May 14–23 Bucharest, Romania, Category XX (2743.8)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points	Tour Points	Prize Money	Decisive Games Bonus	Circuit
1	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2759	Does not appear	½	0	½	½	1	1	½	1	+^[c]	6	13	$100,000	$31,250	26.82
2	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2788	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	1	5.5	10	$65,000	$20,833	19.50
T–3	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	2776	1	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	5	7.5	$42,500	$20,833	8.53
T–3	Wesley So (USA)	2754	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	½	½	+^[c]	5	7.5	$42,500	$0	8.53
T–5	Anish Giri (NED)	2767	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	0	1	4.5	4	$18,000	$10,416
T–5	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2717	0	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	½	1	4.5	4	$18,000	$10,417
T–5	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2735	0	½	0	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	1	+^[c]	4.5	4	$18,000	$10,416
T–5	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	2733	½	0	1	½	½	½	½	Does not appear	½	½	4.5	4	$18,000	$10,416
T–5	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU)	2650	0	½	½	½	1	½	0	½	Does not appear	+^[c]	4.5	WC (4)	$18,000	$10,416
10	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2759	-^[c]	0	½	-^[c]	0	0	-^[c]	½	-^[c]	Does not appear	1	1	$10,000	$0

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Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia

The third leg of the Grand Chess Tour was held in Zagreb, Croatia from July 1–5.^[10]

More information Player, Rapid ...

2026 GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia, July 1–5 Zagreb, Croatia
	Player	Rapid	Blitz	Total	TB	Tour Points	Prize money	Circuit
1	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	12	11½	23½	2	11	$47,500	10.58
2	Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB)	11	12½	23½	1	WC (11)	$42,500	9.47
T–3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	11	10½	21½		7.5	$25,000	3.90
T–3	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	12	9½	21½		7.5	$25,000	3.90
5	Vincent Keymer (GER)	10	10	20		6	$15,000
6	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	10	8½	18½		WC (5)	$11,000
7	Anish Giri (NED)	8	9	17		4	$10,000
8	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROM)	7	8	15		WC (3)	$9,000
9	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	7	5½	12½		2	$8,000
10	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	2	5	7		WC (1)	$7,000

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More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia – Rapid, July 1–3 Zagreb, Croatia
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2748	Does not appear	2	1	0	1	2	1	2	1	2	12
2	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	2690	0	Does not appear	1	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	12
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2701	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	11
4	Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB)	2686	2	2	1	Does not appear	1	0	1	1	1	2	11
5	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	2684	1	1	0	1	Does not appear	1	2	0	2	2	10
6	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2627	0	0	1	2	1	Does not appear	1	1	2	2	10
7	Anish Giri (NED)	2664	1	0	1	1	0	1	Does not appear	1	2	1	8
8	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROM)	2613	0	0	0	1	2	1	1	Does not appear	0	2	7
9	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2597	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	Does not appear	2	7
10	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	2595	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	Does not appear	2

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More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia – Blitz, July 4–5 Zagreb, Croatia
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB)	2820	Does not appear	0 ½	1 ½	1 ½	0 ½	1 1	1 1	1 ½	½ 1	½ 1	12½
2	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2791	1 ½	Does not appear	½ 0	1 0	1 0	½ ½	1 1	1 ½	1 0	1 1	11½
3	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2730	0 ½	½ 1	Does not appear	1 0	1 0	½ ½	1 0	1 ½	½ 1	½ 1	10½
4	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2621	0 ½	0 1	0 1	Does not appear	0 1	0 ½	1 ½	0 ½	1 1	1 1	10
5	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	2712	1 ½	0 1	0 1	1 0	Does not appear	½ ½	0 0	0 1	0 1	1 1	9½
6	Anish Giri (NED)	2642	0 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 0	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	9
7	Gukesh Dommaraju (IND)	2655	0 0	0 0	0 1	0 ½	1 1	½ 1	Does not appear	½ 1	1 0	1 0	8½
8	Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROM)	2649	0 ½	0 ½	0 ½	1 ½	1 0	½ ½	½ 0	Does not appear	1 ½	½ ½	8
9	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2687	½ 0	0 1	½ 0	0 0	1 0	½ 0	0 1	0 ½	Does not appear	0 ½	5½
10	Ivan Šarić (CRO)	2600	½ 0	0 0	½ 0	0 0	0 0	½ 0	0 1	½ ½	1 ½	Does not appear	5

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More information Player, Rapid rating ...

First place play-off
	Player	Rapid rating	1	2	Armageddon	Score
1	Alireza Firouzja (FRA)	2748	½	½	Win	2
2	Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB)	2686	½	½	Loss	1

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Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz

The fourth leg of the Grand Chess Tour is being held in St. Louis, United States from August 2–6.^[10]

More information Player, Rapid ...

2026 GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, August 2–6 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
	Player	Rapid	Total
1	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	12	12
2	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	11	11
3	Wesley So (USA)	10	10
T–4	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	9	9
T–4	Anish Giri (NED)	9	9
T–4	Vincent Keymer (GER)	9	9
T–4	Levon Aronian (USA)	9	9
T–8	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	8	8
T–8	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	8	8
10	Awonder Liang (USA)	5	5

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More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Rapid, August 2–4 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Points
1	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	2701	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	0	2	12
2	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	2730	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	11
3	Wesley So (USA)	2700	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	2	0	2	10
4	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2655	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	1	1	9
5	Anish Giri (NED)	2659	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	1	1	1	9
6	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2637	0	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	1	2	1	9
7	Levon Aronian (USA)	2750	0	1	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	1	9
8	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2701	0	1	0	1	1	1	1	Does not appear	1	2	8
9	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2596	2	0	2	1	1	0	0	1	Does not appear	1	8
10	Awonder Liang (USA)	2549	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	1	Does not appear	5

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More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz – Blitz, August 5–6 St. Louis, Missouri, United States
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	Wesley So (USA)	2764	Does not appear
2	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2741		Does not appear
3	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	2716			Does not appear
4	Levon Aronian (USA)	2715				Does not appear
5	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	2707					Does not appear
6	Anish Giri (NED)	2655						Does not appear
7	Jorden van Foreest (NED)	2653							Does not appear
8	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2650								Does not appear
9	Leinier Domínguez (USA)	2591									Does not appear
10	Awonder Liang (USA)	2565										Does not appear

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Sinquefield Cup

The fifth leg of the Grand Chess Tour will be held in St. Louis, United States from August 10–20.^[10]

More information Player, Rating ...

2026 GCT Sinquefield Cup, August 10–20 St. Louis, Missouri, United States, Category XX (2747.8)
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	Fabiano Caruana (USA)	2792	Does not appear
2	Javokhir Sindarov (UZB)	2777		Does not appear
3	Vincent Keymer (GER)	2767			Does not appear
4	Wesley So (USA)	2765				Does not appear
5	Anish Giri (NED)	2764					Does not appear
6	R Praggnanandhaa (IND)	2750						Does not appear
7	Jorden Van Foreest (NED)	2728							Does not appear
8	Levon Aronian (USA)	2721								Does not appear
9	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA)	2713									Does not appear
10	Samuel Sevian (USA)	2701										Does not appear

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Grand Finals

The GCT Finals will be held in St. Louis, United States from August 22–27.^[10]

	Semifinals					Finals

	1

	4



	2

	3

Notes

[a]
Only for regular-season Classical tournaments
[b]
Firouzja withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup after choosing to compete in the Esports World Cup. In accordance with his player agreement, he was also deemed to have withdrawn from the whole tour, and all the tour points earned by him were nullified.^[8]
[c]
Firouzja suffered an ankle injury after Round 3 and eventually withdrew after having played five out of nine games, thereby his remaining games against Keymer, van Foreest, So and Deac resulting in forfeit losses^[9]

Grand Chess Tour 2026

Format

Lineup

Scheduling conflict with the Esports World Cup

Results

Tournament results

Tour rankings

Tournaments

Super Rapid & Blitz Poland

Super Chess Classic Romania

Super Rapid & Blitz Croatia

Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz

Sinquefield Cup

Grand Finals

Notes

See also

References

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