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Breaking: FIDE announces an additional qualification path to Candidates 2020 - FIDE Grand Swiss!

by Sagar Shah - 11/01/2019

Recently in a video published on ChessBase India entitled "Fireside chat with Vishy Anand", Vishy was asked - "What would be your strategy for the coming qualification cycle?" To which Anand replied, "My route is fairly narrow in the sense that I have to play the World Cup and qualify. The second route is narrower and that is via rating. I would have to gain at least 30 points and that too pretty fast, because it is based on monthly averages!" What Anand didn't know at that point is that FIDE would come up with another way of qualifying for the Candidates 2020 and it released this on the 10th of January 2019. One spot of qualification to the Candidates 2020 will be reduced via Rating criteria and the new FIDE Grand Swiss is announced. What is this about? Get to know all about it in the article below.

Currently the way to become a World Champion is simple. Qualify for the Candidates 2020, win the Candidates tournament, you get a right to play a match with Magnus Carlsen, beat him and become the World Champion. But how does one qualify for the Candidates 2020? Until 10th of January 2019, these were the ways in which you could qualify for the Candidates:

1. One spot via Runner-up at the Previous World Championship (Fabiano Caruana)

2. Two spots via FIDE Grand Prix

3. Two spots via FIDE World Cup to be held in 2019

4. Two spots via Rating (two highest rated players, who have not qualified through other means)

5. One spot via FIDE President's wild card

 

Post 10th of January 2019, there is one major change in the qualification channels. One spot via Rating criteria (point 4) is reduced and FIDE has come up with FIDE Grand Swiss - a swiss tournament with 105 players in the world and the winner of that event will qualify for the Candidates 2020!

Who qualifies for the FIDE Grand Swiss?

Average FIDE Rating of the 12 monthly lists starting from July 1st 2018 to June 1st 2019.

One hundred (100) players qualify by their average rating. For the purpose of deciding the 100 qualifiers by rating, the average ELO from the twelve (12) standard FIDE rating lists from July 1st 2018 to June 1st 2019 is used. In addition, the following players get a direct entry:

• Women’s World Champion as of June 1st 2019.

• Junior U20 World Champion as of June 1st 2019.

• World Senior 50+ Champion as of June 1st 2019.

• World Senior 65+ Champion as of June 1st 2019.

• One qualifier from the ACP Tour based on standings as of June 1st 2019.

Who are the Indians who can qualify for this event?

 1 Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2835 0 1990
 2 Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2828 4 1992
 3 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2817 0 1985
 4 Ding, Liren g CHN 2813 0 1992
 5 Giri, Anish g NED 2783 0 1994
 6 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2780 4 1990
 7 Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2777 0 1975
 8 Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2773 0 1969
 9 Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2771 0 1983
 10 Aronian, Levon g ARM 2767 4 1982
 11 So, Wesley g USA 2765 0 1993
 12 Yu, Yangyi g CHN 2764 4 1994
 13 Nepomniachtchi, Ian g RUS 2763 0 1990
 14 Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2757 0 1987
 15 Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2753 0 1990
 16 Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2749 4 1987
 17 Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2740 0 1975
 18 Navara, David g CZE 2738 3 1985
 19 Duda, Jan-Krzysztof g POL 2738 0 1998
 20 Svidler, Peter g RUS 2737 0 1976
 21 Naiditsch, Arkadij g AZE 2734 2 1985
 22 Wei, Yi g CHN 2733 9 1999
 23 Rapport, Richard g HUN 2731 2 1996
 24 Harikrishna, Pentala g IND 2730 6 1986
 25 Andreikin, Dmitry g RUS 2725 14 1990
 26 Bu, Xiangzhi g CHN 2725 4 1985
 27 Shankland, Samuel g USA 2725 2 1991
 28 Fedoseev, Vladimir g RUS 2724 2 1995
 29 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2722 2 1987
 30 Vitiugov, Nikita g RUS 2720 4 1987
 31 Jakovenko, Dmitry g RUS 2719 6 1983
 32 Le, Quang Liem g VIE 2714 9 1991
 33 Wang, Hao g CHN 2714 9 1989
 34 Ivanchuk, Vassily g UKR 2713 10 1969
 35 Amin, Bassem g EGY 2712 3 1988
 36 Artemiev, Vladislav g RUS 2709 0 1998
 37 Tomashevsky, Evgeny g RUS 2705 0 1987
 38 Dubov, Daniil g RUS 2703 0 1996
 39 Mamedov, Rauf g AZE 2703 0 1988
 40 Adams, Michael g ENG 2701 6 1971
 41 Matlakov, Maxim g RUS 2700 0 1991
 42 Korobov, Anton g UKR 2699 11 1985
 43 Li, Chao b g CHN 2699 4 1989
 44 Vallejo Pons, Francisco g ESP 2698 6 1982
 45 Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi g IND 2695 9 1994
 46 Sadler, Matthew D g ENG 2693 0 1974
 47 Inarkiev, Ernesto g RUS 2692 14 1985
 48 Cheparinov, Ivan g GEO 2691 6 1986
 49 Jones, Gawain C B g ENG 2691 6 1987
 50 Saric, Ivan g CRO 2690 2 1990
 51 Adhiban, B. g IND 2689 9 1992
 52 Cori, Jorge g PER 2689 0 1995
 53 Sargissian, Gabriel g ARM 2689 0 1983
 54 Kovalev, Vladislav g BLR 2687 10 1994
 55 Ragger, Markus g AUT 2687 3 1988
 56 Howell, David W L g ENG 2685 6 1990
 57 Wang, Yue g CHN 2684 4 1987
 58 Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2684 2 1983
 59 Ni, Hua g CHN 2683 12 1983
 60 Kryvoruchko, Yuriy g UKR 2683 2 1986
 61 Grandelius, Nils g SWE 2682 1 1993
 62 Safarli, Eltaj g AZE 2681 19 1992
 63 Almasi, Zoltan g HUN 2680 7 1976
 64 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter g GER 2680 2 1976
 65 Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2680 0 1983
 66 Maghsoodloo, Parham g IRI 2679 13 2000
 67 Demchenko, Anton g RUS 2679 0 1987
 68 Sasikiran, Krishnan g IND 2678 12 1981
 69 Laznicka, Viktor g CZE 2674 2 1988
 70 Salem, A.R. Saleh g UAE 2672 10 1993
 71 Xiong, Jeffery g USA 2672 4 2000
 72 Dreev, Aleksey g RUS 2670 0 1969
 73 Gelfand, Boris g ISR 2669 4 1968
 74 Nabaty, Tamir g ISR 2669 2 1991
 75 Rodshtein, Maxim g ISR 2668 2 1989
 76 Berkes, Ferenc g HUN 2667 17 1985
 77 Robson, Ray g USA 2667 0 1994
 78 Kamsky, Gata g USA 2666 0 1974
 79 Sethuraman, S.P. g IND 2665 9 1993
 80 Ponomariov, Ruslan g UKR 2664 11 1983
 81 Guseinov, Gadir g AZE 2664 9 1986
 82 Bruzon Batista, Lazaro g CUB 2664 0 1982
 83 McShane, Luke J g ENG 2663 6 1984
 84 Kovalenko, Igor g LAT 2663 2 1988
 85 Sjugirov, Sanan g RUS 2663 0 1993
 86 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2662 0 1994
 87 Mareco, Sandro g ARG 2661 11 1987
 88 Areshchenko, Alexander g UKR 2661 2 1986
 89 Malakhov, Vladimir g RUS 2661 2 1980
 90 Melkumyan, Hrant g ARM 2660 9 1989
 91 Leko, Peter g HUN 2660 4 1979
 92 Kasimdzhanov, Rustam g UZB 2659 0 1979
 93 Shirov, Alexei g ESP 2658 10 1972
 94 Najer, Evgeniy g RUS 2658 6 1977
 95 Van Kampen, Robin g NED 2658 0 1994
 96 Morozevich, Alexander g RUS 2656 0 1977
 97 Fressinet, Laurent g FRA 2655 2 1981
 98 Rausis, Igors g CZE 2653 16 1961
 99 Hammer, Jon Ludvig g NOR 2652 0 1990
 100 Rublevsky, Sergei g RUS 2652 0 1974


If you have a look at the top 100 players list as on 1st of January 2019, you will see that six Indians - Anand, Harikrishna, Vidit, Adhiban, Sasikiran and Sethuraman have excellent chances of qualifying for the FIDE Swiss Grand. Parimarjan Negi could also make it to the list, if he wishes to participate. The only other Indian who has a decent chance if he pumps up his rating quickly, is Surya Sekhar Ganguly, who is on 2638. But as already six months have passed by, his chances seem quite difficult.

 

How does the FIDE Grand Swiss work?

1. Swiss system, 11 rounds.

2. As a minimum, the winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss qualifies for the FIDE Candidates Tournament 2020. If the winner of the FIDE Grand Swiss qualifies to Candidates 2020 via a different qualification path or does not need to qualify, the qualification spot goes to the highest-placed player in the tournament who did not or will not qualify by other means.

Schedule of the event:

Arrivals: 1 day
Opening Ceremony, Players Meeting: 1 day
Round 1: 1 day
Round 2: 1 day
Round 3: 1 day
Round 4: 1 day
Round 5: 1 day
Round 6: 1 day
Free day: 1 day
Round 7: 1 day
Round 8: 1 day
Round 9: 1 day
Round 10: 1 day
Round 11 and Closing ceremony: 1 day
Departures: 1 day
TOTAL: 15 days (14 nights)

Tiebreaks:

If the top two (2) or more players score the same points, the tie is to be decided by the following criteria, in order of priority:

a) Tournament performance rating - TPR
b) Median Buchholz (cut 1)
c) Buchholz
d) Rapid play-off. The format is decided by the Chief Arbiter.

Prizes:

The total minimum prize fund amounts to four hundred thousand (400,000) US dollars. The amount is net and cleared of any local taxes. The money prizes shall be allocated as follows (in US dollars):

1st place: 70,000
2nd place: 50,000
3rd place: 40,000
4th place: 35,000
5th place: 30,000
6th place: 25,000
7th place: 20,000
8th place: 16,000
9th place: 13,000
10th place: 11,000
11th - 15th places: 8,000 each
16th - 20th places: 5,000 each
21st - 25th places: 3,000 each
26th-30th places: 2,000 each

Where will the FIDE Grand Swiss be held?

All those who are interested to organize the FIDE Grand Swiss should send their bids to office@fide.com before February 9, 2019.

More details:

FIDE announcement of the FIDE Grand Swiss


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