Grand Chess Tour Names 2024 Field of Elite Players to Compete for $1.5 Million Purse

Tour Features One of the Strongest Fields of All-Time including

Reigning Grand Chess Tour Winner and 2024 World Championship Contenders

SAINT LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grand Chess Tour (GCT), a leading global circuit of international chess tournaments featuring the world’s best players, announced today the players selected to compete in the full 2024 tour:

Player Name	Highlights	Country	URS Rating	FIDE Standard Rating
GM Fabiano Caruana	Ranked No. 2, World Championship Candidates 2024 contender, 2023 GCT Overall Winner, 2023 Sinquefield Cup and Rapid & Blitz Winner; 2023 FIDE Circuit	USA	2789	2804
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	Ranked No. 19, 2023 GCT runner-up winner	FRA	2766	2732
GM Wesley So	Ranked No. 8, 2022 GCT runner-up winner, 2021 Grand Chess Tour winner and 2021 Paris Rapid & Blitz winner	USA	2765	2757
GM Gukesh Dommaraju	Ranked No. 16, second youngest grandmaster in history, 2023 FIDE Circuit runner up; World Championship Candidates 2024 contender	IND	2719	2743
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi	Ranked No. 7, World Championship Candidates 2024 contender, 2021 World Championship Challenger, 2022 Candidates Tournament winner, 2023 World Championship Runner-up	FIDE	2774	2758
GM Alireza Firouzja	Ranked No. 6, World Championship Candidates 2024 contender, 2022 GCT overall winner and 2022 Sinquefield Cup winner	FRA	2743	2760
GM Anish Giri	Ranked No. 5, four time Dutch champion and 2023 Tata Steel Masters winner	NED	2758	2762
GM Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa	Ranked No. 13, one of the youngest grandmasters and world championship candidates of all time	IND	2759	2747
GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov	Ranked No. 15, 2021 World Rapid Championship winner	UZB	2759	2744

* Ratings as of February 2024

Full tour player invitations for the 2024 GCTs edition were extended to nine players. Three players qualified by finishing 1st through 3rd in the 2022 Grand Chess Tour. The remaining 6 were invited based on a number of factors, including URS rating, FIDE rating, fighting spirit and sportsmanship.

The full tour participants will play in both classical events as well as in two of the three rapid and blitz tournaments.The wildcard participants for the three rapid and blitz events scheduled to take place in Warsaw, Zagreb and Saint Louis will be announced as they become available.

The 2024 tour schedule consists of five tournaments as follows:

• Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz: May 6-13, 2024 in Warsaw, Poland
• Superbet Romania Classic: June 24-July 6, 2024 in Bucharest, Romania
• SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz: July 8-15, 2024 in Zagreb, Croatia
• Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 10-17, 2024 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
• Sinquefield Cup: August 17-31, 2024 in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA

Tour participants will compete for a recently increased prize purse of $1.5 million over the course of the 2024 season. The prize fund for each of the two classical tournaments will be $350,000 and $175,000 per event for rapid and blitz. In addition, a bonus prize fund totalling $275,000 will be awarded.

The prize fund is provided by the 2024 Grand Chess Tour major sponsors Superbet Foundation and The Saint Louis Chess Club, both non-profit organizations that support chess education and the mission to expand the game of chess to a worldwide audience.

Visit more information, visit grandchesstour.org.

Grand Chess Tour

Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world's best players. The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world's greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. All Grand Chess Tour 2022 events will comply with local and regional COVID-19 restrictions. For more information about the tour, please visit grandchesstour.org.

Superbet Foundation

The Superbet Foundation, a non-profit organization, is responsible for coordinating the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives of the Superbet Group. Our goal is to support the advancement of health, education, and sports initiatives, with a special emphasis on promoting the game of chess and its myriad benefits within all the communities we serve.

Saint Louis Chess Club

The Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures.

Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit saintlouischessclub.org.