The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) has confirmed the seven wildcard players for the Grand Chess Tour Chess Classic Romania and the Grand Chess Tour Rapid & Blitz Poland. The first leg of the GCT, the 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 and First Bank and features a 10 player round-robin battle for a total of $350,000 in prize money. More: Grand Chess Tour 2022 preview Another strong event in Romania: Romanian Chess Grand Prix 2022
The GCT 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 GCT Foundation. The first rapid and blitz leg of the tour will feature a 10 player round-robin battle for a $175,000 prize fund.
“We are thrilled to partner once again with The Grand Chess Tour,” said Augusta Dragic. “This year, the Foundation has expanded their role and become the Grand Chess Tour’s strategic global partner in its worldwide endeavor to popularize the game of chess. We are pleased that the two of the best Romanian Grandmasters Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Constantin Lupulescu will join the other Grandmaster wildcards in these two upcoming tournaments and we look forward to presenting a show of bright minds within the elite chess world for the third consecutive year to Romania and for the first time to Poland.”
The field for the two upcoming international events are finalized and are as follows:
Superbet Chess Classic Romania May 4 – May 14, 2022
| # | Player Name | Player Type | Country | FIDE Rating | URS Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alireza Firouzja | Full Tour Player | FRA | 2804 | 2781 |
| 2 | Levon Aronian | Full Tour Player | USA | 2785 | 2776 |
| 3 | Fabiano Caruana | Full Tour Player | USA | 2781 | 2793 |
| 4 | Wesley So | Full Tour Player | USA | 2778 | 2797 |
| 5 | Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Full Tour Player | AZE | 2776 | 2768 |
| 6 | Ian Nepomniachtchi | Full Tour Player | FIDE | 2773 | 2792 |
| 7 | Richard Rapport | Full Tour Player | HUN | 2762 | 2775 |
| 8 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Full Tour Player | FRA | 2761 | 2751 |
| 9 | Leinier Dominguez | Full Tour Player | USA | 2756 | 2748 |
| 10 | Bogdan-Daniel Deac | Wildcard | ROU | 2656 | 2652 |
Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland May 18 – May 23, 2022
| # | Player Name | Player Type | Country | FIDE Rating | URS Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Levon Aronian | Full Tour Player | USA | 2785 | 2776 |
| 2 | Fabiano Caruana | Full Tour Player | USA | 2781 | 2793 |
| 3 | Wesley So | Full Tour Player | USA | 2778 | 2797 |
| 4 | Richard Rapport | Full Tour Player | HUN | 2762 | 2775 |
| 5 | Viswanathan Anand | Wildcard | IND | 2751 | 2751 |
| 6 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | Wildcard | POL | 2750 | 2870 |
| 7 | Anton Korobov | Wildcard | UKR | 2695 | 2722 |
| 8 | Radoslaw Wojtaszek | Wildcard | POL | 2694 | 2710 |
| 9 | Kirill Shevchenko | Wildcard | UKR | 2652 | 2673 |
| 10 | Constantin Lupulescu | Wildcard | ROU | 2622 | 2638 |
The confirmed fields for the Superbet Rapid & Blitz Croatia, Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, and the Sinquefield Cup will be announced when they become available.
