2022 FIDE Grand Prix

The 2022 FIDE Grand Prix(GP) series will kick off in Berlin, Germany tomorrow. The GP is the final qualifier to the 2022 Candidates Tournament, the winner of which will challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen’s crown. Our ambassador super Grandmaster Levon Aronian is one of the participants.

The World Chess Federation has been experimenting with the GP format over the years and has landed on an interesting one this year. The event consists of three legs stretching from February until April and twenty four participants with each participant playing in two of the three legs. Each leg will consist of sixteen players, broken into 4 pools of 4 players. The format is a double round robin, meaning everyone plays everyone twice, with a classical time control. The winners of each pool will face off in a knock-out format, with the winner earning 13 GP points and the runner-up collecting 7 GP points. At the end of the cycle, the two players with the most GP points will qualify to the Candidates Tournament. 

GM Levon Aronian

Unfortunately, due to health and visa issues two of the players will not be able to participate in Berlin. One of those players is World Number 3 player Ding Liren of China, who certainly deserves an opportunity to fight for the World Championship crown. 

Levon’s bracket includes GMs Vidit Gujrathi of India, Daniil Dubov of Russia and the 17-year-old local talent Vincent Keymer of Germany. Levon is the highest rated and the most experienced player in the group. Both Vidit and Dubov are coming off fresh from an event in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands where Vidit had a tough finish and Dubov had to drop out due to testing positive for COVID. Keymer earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 14 and was called a “truly extraordinary talent” by legendary former World Champion Garry Kasparov. 

The field of the Berlin leg is quite impressive and challenging. Here at Bryght Labs we will be rooting for our ambassador. Go, Levon!