The top two finishers here formed two of the eight players who played in the 2012 Candidates Tournament to determine the challenger for the world champion. After Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Candidates, Grischuk took his place, due to his third place in the Grand Prix.
The winner of the Grand Prix was originally scheduled to play a match in 2010 against the winner of the Chess World Cup 2009, with the winner of that match becoming the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2012.[1] On November 25, 2008, FIDE announced major changes, with the winner and runner-up qualifying instead for an eight-player Candidates Tournament. This caused a number of protests, with Magnus Carlsen and Michael Adams withdrawing, and two other players being replaced. (For details, see World Chess Championship 2012.)
A number of host cities withdrew, causing all the tournaments except the first two to be rescheduled.
Format
There were six tournaments spread over 2008, 2009 and 2010. Each of the 21 participating players was originally scheduled to play in exactly four of the six tournaments; though this was complicated when some players withdrew partway through.
Each tournament is a 14 player, single round-robin tournament. In each round players scored 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 for a loss. Grand prix points were then allocated according to each player's standing in the tournament: 180 grand prix points for first place, 150 for second place, 130 for third place, and then 110 down to 10 points for places four to fourteen (decreasing by 10 points for each place). (Grand Prix points were split between players on equal tournament points).
Players only counted their best three tournament results. The player with the most grand prix points was the winner.
If a tie-break was needed for the overall grand prix winner, the system was:[2]
The fourth result not already in the top three performances
The number of actual game points scored in the four tournaments
The number of first-place finishes
The number of second-place finishes
The number of won games
Drawing of lots
Tournament dates
The tournament dates and locations were as follows:[3]
A variation from normal chess rules was that the players were not allowed to talk to each other during the game and a draw by agreement was not allowed. A draw has to be claimed with the arbiter, who was assisted by an active grandmaster who had the title for at least ten years. The only draws allowed (except for stalemate) were:[9]
Of the original 14 players who qualified, Anand, Kramnik and Topalov (2008/2010 contenders), Shirov (World Cup 2007) and Morozevich (ratings list) were all not taking part. One of the first four nominated reserves, Judit Polgár was also not participating. The lineup for the Grand Prix included 13 of the 20 top-rated Grandmasters at the time it was announced, though none of the top four.[12]
The only one to publicly give a reason was Alexander Morozevich, who announced that he was boycotting the Grand Prix, saying the process was too long, unwieldy and disorganised. He claimed that Anand, Kramnik and Topalov were also boycotting.[13]The Week in Chess reported that Kramnik and Topalov were not participating because the event had insufficient prize money.[14]
Josef Resch of Universal Event Promotion (organizer of 2008 World Championship) also spoke about the difficulties in organizational details with FIDE in the totality of the World Chess Championship cycle.[15]
Original participants
On March 5, 2008, FIDE released the list of participants, along with their world rankings according to the January 2008 ratings list (shown here in brackets).[12][16]
After Doha and Montreux refused to host tournaments, their nominees Al-Modiahki and Pelletier were removed from the series. Carlsen and Adams withdrew from the Grand Prix. These players were replaced by Evgeny Alekseev, Pavel Eljanov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov (from the rating list) and Vladimir Akopian (Jermuk nominee) from the third tournament onwards.[17]
After Karlovy Vary withdrew in January 2009 (after the third tournament), the Karlovy Vary nominee David Navara was also excluded from the Grand Prix, and was not replaced.
Prize money
The Regulations indicate the following disbursement of prize monies.[18]
Place
Single Grand Prix event
Overall standings
Grand Prix points
1
€30,000
€75,000
180
2
€22,500
€50,000
150
3
€20,000
€40,000
130
4
€15,000
€30,000
110
5
€12,500
€25,000
100
6
€11,000
€20,000
90
7
€10,000
€18,000
80
8
€8,500
€16,000
70
9
€7,500
€14,000
60
10
€6,000
€12,000
50
11
€5,500
–
40
12
€5,000
–
30
13
€4,500
–
20
14
€4,000
–
10
For each event there was 162000 euros available (for 14 players), and 300000 euros in the overall standings (top 10).
Events crosstables
Baku, April–May 2008
The first Grand Prix event began on April 20, 2008 and concluded on May 5, 2008 (Elo average 2717, Cat. XIX).
Grand Prix points in bold indicate a tournament win. A number in brackets is a player's worst result of four and doesn't add to the total.
Aronian scored enough points to win the Grand Prix before the last event took place.[20] Hence he decided not to play the last tournament of the Grand Prix.[21][22]
