The gala opening of the third stage of the FIDE World Chess Grand Prix was held tonight at the Four Seasons Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland.
On behalf of FIDE the tournament was officially opened by prof. dr. Adrian Siegel, FIDE Treasurer and member of the Presidential Board.
President of World Chess, Mr Ilya Merenzon, and CEO of EG Capital Advisors London, Mr Michael Kasumov, also welcomed the players and guests.
Adrian Siegel
Next, the match-ups of the first round were presented. And concluding the official part of the ceremony, top seed Levon Aronian performed the drawing of lots in the presence of chief arbiter Werner Stubenvoll.
Aronian picked the white piece and thus the pairing were formalised as below.
Drawing of lots
Round 1 on 2017/07/06 at 14:00 (local):
GM Aronian Levon 2809 – GM Li Chao B 2735
GM Gelfand Boris 2728 – GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2800
GM Giri Anish 2775 – GM Radjabov Teimour 2724
GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2707 – GM Grischuk Alexander 2761
GM Svidler Peter 2749 – GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2703
GM Rapport Richard 2694 – GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2742
GM Eljanov Pavel 2739 – GM Hou Yifan 2666
GM Riazantsev Alexander 2654 – GM Harikrishna Pentala 2737
GM Adams Michael 2736 – GM Salem A.R. Saleh 2638
GM Eljanov Pavel 2739 – GM Hou Yifan 2666
The third leg of the 2017 FIDE World Chess Grand Prix is taking place from 5-16th July at the famous Hotel Le Richemond, in the heart of Geneva, Switzerland.
Top seed is Levon Aronian, who is in excellent form this year, having convincingly won the Grenke Classic and the Altibox Norway Chess to jump over 2800 elo again.
Also in the 2800+ club is Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who has reached a career-high rating after winning the Gashimov Memorial and coming second in the Moscow Grand Prix.
GM Gelfand Boris 2728 – GM Mamedyarov Shakhriyar 2800
Twenty-four of the world’s top players are competing in the Grand Prix, with 18 playing in each tournament. (Each player competes in three of the four competitions.) Each stage has a prize fund of 130,000 euros.
The top two finishers will qualify for the Candidates tournament next year to select a challenger to the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen.
The Geneva Grand Prix follows the events that were previously held in Sharjah, UAE, and Moscow, Russia.
GM Inarkiev Ernesto 2707 – GM Grischuk Alexander 2761
After two stages of Grand Prix Shakhriyar Mamedyarov is leading in overall Grand Prix Series with 280 points, Ding Liren is on the second place with 240 points. Alexander Grischuk and Maxime Vachire-Lagrave share the third place with 211,4 points.
The series is organized by Agon Limited, the commercial partner of the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body. All the games are broadcast on WorldChess.com, the official site of the World Championship cycle.
Ilya Merenzon
Michael Kasumov
GM Aronian Levon 2809 – GM Li Chao B 2735
GM Giri Anish 2775 – GM Radjabov Teimour 2724
GM Svidler Peter 2749 – GM Jakovenko Dmitry 2703
GM Rapport Richard 2694 – GM Nepomniachtchi Ian 2742
GM Riazantsev Alexander 2654 – GM Harikrishna Pentala 2737
GM Adams Michael – GM Salem A.R. Saleh
