2022 Grand Chess Tour Returns With $1.4 Million Prize Fund Across Five Tournaments In Europe and the United States

ST. LOUIS, May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Grand Chess Tour returns in 2022 in magnificent fashion with $1.4 million total prize fund allocated between five events across Europe and the United States, where the world's most elite chess players will face off in two classical chess tournaments and three rapid and blitz tournaments.

The 2022 tour schedule consists of five tournaments:

1. Superbet Chess Classic Romania: May 3 - May 15, 2022, Bucharest, Romania
2. Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland: May 17 - May 24, 2022, Warsaw, Poland
3. SuperUnited Rapid & Blitz Croatia: July 18 - July 25, 2021, Zagreb, Croatia
4. Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: August 24 - August 31, 2022, Saint Louis, Missouri USA
5. Sinquefield Cup: August 31 - September 13, 2022 Saint Louis, Missouri USA

The Superbet Foundation and the Saint Louis Chess Club, both non-profit organizations that support chess education and the mission to expand the game of chess to a worldwide audience, return as leading sponsors of the Grand Chess Tour.

"This year's tour has been strengthened further thanks to the strategic partnerships with our two major sponsors, the Superbet Foundation and the Saint Louis Chess Club. Their sponsorship and support is integral to the Grand Chess Tour's mission," said Grand Chess Tour Executive Director, Michael Khodarkovsky. "We are looking forward to working with our sponsors and organizers as well as continuing the growth and expansion of the Grand Chess Tour to popularize chess around the world."

The full tour participants for the 2022 season include:

1. GM Wesley So (USA), winner of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour and winner of the 2021 Paris Rapid & Blitz.
2. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), runner-up winner of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour, 2021 Sinquefield Cup winner, and 2021 Croatia Grand Chess Tour winner.
3. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), third place winner of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour and 2021 Superbet Chess Classic Romania winner.
4. GM Alireza Firouzja (France), first year as a GCT full tour player, ranked number 2 in the world, and among one of the 2022 World Championship Candidates.
5. GM Fabiano Caruana (USA), ranked number 4 in the world and among one of the 2022 World Championship Candidates.
6. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (Russia), ranked number 5 in the world, the 2021 World Championship Challenger, and among one of the 2022 World Championship Candidates.
7. GM Levon Aronian (USA), contender for the 2022 World Championship Candidates.
8. GM Richard Rapport (Hungary), contender for the 2022 World Championship Candidates.
9. GM Leinier Dominguez (USA), first year as a GCT full tour player and contender for the 2022 World Championship Candidates.

The first leg of the Grand Chess Tour, the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, will include all nine full tour players and one wildcard player, Romanian Grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac. The Superbet Chess Classic Romania is sponsored by Superbet Foundation, One United Properties and First Bank and features a 10 player round-robin battle for a total of $350,000 in prize money and will feature will feature a commentary team composed of Grandmasters Yasser Seirawan, Peter Svidler, Alejandro Ramirez and Cristian Chirila and Woman Grandmaster Anastasia Karlovich.

The Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland, the newest stop on the Tour, will feature four full-tour players and six wildcard players. This will be the first time for Grandmasters Kirill Shevchenko from Ukraine and Radoslaw Wojtaszek from Poland. Rounding out the wildcards will be former World Champion Viswanathan Anand from India, 2021 World Cup winner, Grandmaster Jan-Krzysztof Duda from Poland, Grandmasters Anton Korobov from Ukraine, and Constantin Lupulescu from Romania. The tournament is sponsored by the Superbet Foundation. The first rapid and blitz leg of the tour will feature a 10 player round-robin battle for a $175,000 prize fund.

Additionally, International Arbiter David Sedgwick from England has been reappointed as the Grand Chess Tour Chief Arbiter and International Arbiter Chris Bird from the United States as the Deputy Chief Arbiter for 2022.

For more information, visit grandchesstour.org.

Grand Chess Tour 
The Grand Chess Tour is a circuit of international events, each demonstrating the highest level of organization for the world's best players. The legendary Garry Kasparov, one of the world's greatest ambassadors for chess, inspired the Grand Chess Tour and helped solidify the partnership between the organizers. All Grand Chess Tour 2022 events will comply with local and regional COVID-19 restrictions. For more information about the tour, please visit grandchesstour.org.

Superbet Foundation 
Founded in 2019, Superbet Foundation is a nonprofit organization. Its role is to coordinate Superbet Group's CSR activities and to connect with civil society organizations and the general public. Through its activity, the Foundation strives for a better world, with healthy and educated people and by supporting various projects it wants to inspire people to hold unbreakable moral values. It supports projects in domains like education, health, culture, performance in sport and, most notably, in chess. Since 2019, chess has become one of the backbones of Superbet Foundation by organizing its first tournament of the Grand Chess Tour in Bucharest. The Foundation is committed to turning GCT tournaments into a tradition for the Romanian and Polish chess communities. For more information, visit superchess.ro.

Saint Louis Chess Club
he Saint Louis Chess Club is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization that is committed to making chess an important part of our community. In addition to providing a forum for the community to play tournaments and casual games, the club also offers chess improvement classes, beginner lessons and special lectures.

Recognizing the cognitive and behavioral benefits of chess, the Saint Louis Chess Club is committed to supporting those chess programs that already exist in area schools while encouraging the development of new in-school and after-school programs. For more information, visit saintlouischessclub.org.

SOURCE Saint Louis Chess Club