The pools for the second leg of FIDE Grand Prix 2022 are determined. The Belgrade leg runs from February 28 to March 14 and features 16 elite chess players vying for a prize fund of €150,000 and the last two spots in the Candidates Tournament scheduled to take place in Madrid this summer. 

The drawing ceremony, held over Zoom and chaired by the Chief Arbiter, identified the pools of players for the second leg of the Series. As before the first leg, for the drawing of lots, the players were divided into four baskets according to February standard rating:

Basket 1:

1. Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2772
2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2767
3. Alexander Grischuk (Russia), 2764 
4. Richard Rapport (Hungary), 2763

Basket 2:

1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761
2. Vidit Gujrathi (India), 2727
3. Nikita Vitiugov, (Russia), 2726
4. Dmitry Andreikin (Russia), 2724

Basket 3: 

1. Pentala Harikrishna (India), 2719
2. Yangyi Yu (China), 2713
3. Sam Shankland (USA), 2708
4. Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), 2704

Basket 4: 

1. Alexei Shirov (Spain), 2704
2. Alexandr Predke (Russia), 2682
3. Etienne Bacrot (France), 2642
4. Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623

The players were allocated by the Chief Arbiter through a randomized selection programme to four different pools, with the final pairings to be determined at the opening ceremony:

Pool A:

Alexander Grischuk (Russia), 2764
Dmitry Andreikin (Russia), 2724
Sam Shankland (USA), 2708
Etienne Bacrot (France), 2642

Pool B:

Anish Giri (Netherlands), 2772
Nikita Vitiugov, (Russia), 2726
Pentala Harikrishna (India), 2719
Amin Tabatabaei (Iran), 2623

Pool C:

Richard Rapport (Hungary), 2763
Vidit Gujrathi (India), 2727
Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), 2704
Alexei Shirov (Spain), 2704

Pool D:

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), 2767
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), 2761
Yu Yangyi (China), 2713
Alexandr Predke (Russia), 2682

Photo: ihg.com

The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix will take place in Belgrade’s Crowne Plaza Hotel From February 28 to March 14. The rounds start at 3 PM CET. 

The games will be broadcast live at worldchess.com: 
https://chessarena.com/broadcasts/13605

For further questions, please contact media@worldchess.com. 

About FIDE Grand Prix 2022: 

The competition consists of three legs that span over three months and two cities:

First leg: February 3 — 17, Berlin, Germany
Second leg: February 28 — March 14, Belgrade, Serbia
Third leg: March 21 — April 4, Berlin, Germany

The FIDE Grand Prix will feature 24 players, with each player competing in two out of three events.

Each 16-player event will consist of a group stage followed by a knockout semi-final and final. At the group stage, the participants will compete in four double-round-robin tournaments, with only the winners of each pool advancing. Both the semi-finals and final will consist of 2 regular time limit games, plus tiebreaks if needed.

Players receive Grand Prix points according to their finishing position in each tournament:

Two winners of the Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament that will take place later in 2022.

Regulations for the FIDE Grand Prix Series 2022 (pdf)

About World Chess:

World Chess is a London-based chess gaming and entertainment group and FIDE’ official broadcaster and commercial partner. World Chess organized the FIDE Championship Matches in Russia, the USA, and the UK, and revolutionized the sport by signing the biggest media partnerships in history. World Chess develops Armageddon, the chess league for prime-time television. World Chess also runs FIDE Online Arena, the exclusive official chess gaming platform. More at worldchess.com.