The world’s top two chess stars go head-to-head in the Chessable Masters next week – the fourth leg of the $1.6 million Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The eight-day Chessable Masters starts on May 19. A prize pot of up to $150,000 is up for grabs and two qualifying spots for the next Tour Major.
Norway’s World Champion Magnus Carlsen, the current Tour leader and world No.1 for over a decade, returns hoping to shrug off the disappointment of being pipped at the post in the last event. He will face Ding Liren, China’s No.1, who returns having regained his No.2 world ranking after missing the Oslo Esports Cup. Ding will tell all about his marathon run of games to qualify for the upcoming FIDE Candidates tournament show in an exclusive interview with chess24’s Kaja Snare. Look out for that when the tournament starts.
Two of the world’s top teenage talents, India’s boy wonder Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and the world’s youngest Grandmaster Abhimanyu Mishra, from New Jersey, will also grace the 16-player line-up. Three-time Chinese Champion Wei Yi makes his debut. The 22-year-old was once considered one of the most exciting talents in chess history. India will have three players at the Chessable Masters. The new chess superpower is represented by three grandmasters with Pragg joined by India’s national No.2 and 3 Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna, respectively.
Tour Director Arne Horvei said: “This event, the third edition of the Chessable Masters, promises to be a real blockbuster. Among others, we have the two best players by ranking in the world up against each other, a newcomer in Wei Yi who is a dynamic attacking threat, the world’s youngest grandmaster and 16-year-old Pragg who came so close last time to winning his first Tour event. Can Pragg do it this time? After what happened at the end of the last Meltwater Champions Chess Tour event, anything is possible.”.
For the first stage of the event, all 16 players will compete in a round-robin with the top 8 progressing to a knockout. The final will be staged on May 25 and 26. The Chessable Masters is leg 4 of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour. The overall Tour winner in November will be crowned the world’s best online chess player.
The full line-up is as follows:
- Magnus Carlsen – #1 Tour
- Praggnanandhaa R – #4 Tour
- Jorden van Foreest – #5 Tour
- Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – #6 Tour
- Anish Giri – #7 Tour
- Ding Liren – Tied #9 Tour
- Eric Hansen – Tied #9 Tour
- David Anton – #14 Tour
- Vidit Gujrathi – #19 Tour
- Pentala Harikrishna – #21 Tour
- Gawain Jones – #22 Tour
- Abhimanyu Mishra – Newcomer 2022 Season
- Sam Shankland – Newcomer 2022 Season
- Nils Grandelius – Newcomer 2022 Season
- Wei Yi – Invite
- Aryan Tari – Invite
