The Your Next Move Grand Chess Tour is being held in the historic Town Hall of Leuven, Belgium from 12-16 June.
The first stage of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour sees Caruana, Nakamura, So, MVL, Anand, Aronian, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Karjakin and wild card Giri compete for a $150,000 prize fund.
2017 saw World Champion Magnus Carlsen ease to a comfortable victory but there will definitely be a new champion this year as Magnus is not returning to defend his title.
9 rounds of rapid chess (25 minutes with a 10-second delay) are played on the first 3 days, with wins worth 2 points. 18 rounds of blitz (5 minutes with a 3-second delay) follow on the final 2 days, with wins worth 1 point.
The event is sponsored by Your Next Move, a non-profit organisation promoting chess as an educational tool.
Live games with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess software competing in the Top Chess Engine Championship – Komodo, Houdini, and Stockfish.
More live chess Forni Di Sopra 2018 /Schaakweek Apeldoorn GM tournament
Schedule CET
Rapid (12– 14 June)
Time 12 June 13 June 14 June
14.00 Round 1 Round 4 Round 7
15.30 Round 2 Round 5 Round 8
17.00 Round 3 Round 6 Round 9
Blitz (15 – 16 June)
Time 15 June Time 16 June
14.00 Round 1 12:00 Round 10
14.30 Round 2 12:30 Round 11
15.00 Round 3 13:00 Round 12
15.30 Round 4 13:30 Round 13
16.00 Round 5 14:00 Round 14
16.30 Round 6 14:30 Round 15
17.00 Round 7 15:00 Round 16
17.30 Round 8 15:30 Round 17
18.00 Round 9 16:00 Round 18
16:30 Playoffs
18:30 Prizegiving
