Praggnanandhaa, MVL, Caruana and Aronian to battle at Grand Chess Tour 2025 Finals
The Grand Chess Tour 2025 Finals starts today at World Trade Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil. R Praggnanandhaa will face Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Fabiano Caruana (USA) will be up against Levon Aronian (USA). Praggnanandhaa and Caruana will get the white pieces in the first Classical game. They will have reversed colors in Rapid and Blitz matches. Each Semifinal consists of two Classical, two Rapid and four Blitz games. All matches will be played to completion, even if the match is already decided. Each match will have a maximum of 28 points. Semifinal Game 1 starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Semifinal: Praggnanandhaa vs MVL, Caruana vs Aronian
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Schedule and Format
The GCT Final will take place from 28th September to 3rd October. There is no rest day. Each round starts at 3 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. The last day on 3rd October games will start at 1 p.m. local time, 9:30 p.m. IST. Each match will have two Classical, two Rapid and four Blitz games, irrespective of the results, all games will be played. Check the image below for a detailed schedule.
Time control
Classical: 40 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes for the remainder + 30-second increment from move no.1
Rapid: 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment
Blitz: 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment
Scoring
● Classical Games: 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss
● Rapid Games: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss
● Blitz Games: 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss
Each match will therefore be scored out of a total of 28 possible points, with a total of at least 15 points being required to win each match.
Prize
The total prize fund for the Grand Finals is US$ 350000. The prizes are US$ 150000, $100000, $60000 and $40000.
