The second leg of the FIDE Grand Prix is around the corner. The competition hosted by Belgrade (Serbia) runs from February 28 to March 14 and features 16 elite chess grandmasters vying for a prize fund of €150,000 and the last two spots in the Candidates Tournament. Previously the capital of the mighty chess nation, it has been decades since the region has been home to major chess events involving many of the world’s strongest players.

The leaders after the first leg, Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian are not playing in Belgrade; on the other hand, several top grandmasters start their Grand Prix campaign in the capital of Serbia.

GP points after the first leg:

1. Hikaru Nakamura, (USA), 2736 — 13 points
2. Levon Aronian (USA), 2772 — 10 points
3. Leinier Dominguez (USA), 2752 — 7 points
4. Richard Rapport (Hungary), 2763 — 7 points
5. Wesley So (USA), 2772 — 4 points
6. Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Poland), 2686 — 4 points
7. Andrey Esipenko (Russia), 2714 — 4 points
8. Vidit Gujrathi (India), 2727 — 3 points
9. Daniil Dubov (Russia), 2720 — 3 points
10. Alexander Grischuk (Russia), 2764 — 2 points
11. Vladimir Fedoseev (Russia), 2704 — 2 points
12. Pentala Harikrishna (India), 2717 — 2 points

Just like in the first leg, sixteen players were allocated to four different pools through a randomized selection, 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. All 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.