World’s Best Chess Players Return To Saint Louis For The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz And Sinquefield Cup Tournaments August 25 – September 12

SAINT LOUIS, Thursday, August 4th – The seventh edition of the Grand Chess Tour (GCT), a series of five elite chess tournaments held across the globe, will return to America’s Chess Capital at the Saint Louis Chess Club from August 25 – 30, 2022. The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will kick off the festivities with 10 of the world’s best chess players competing for $175,000 in prize money. The 2022 Grand Chess Tour will conclude with the prestigious Sinquefield Cup from September 1 – 12, 2022; it will be the second classical tournament on the tour, bookending the three rapid & blitz events. The reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen will headline the Sinquefield Cup as the wildcard player, where he will be joined by the nine full tour GCT players competing for the $350,000 total prize fund. The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz and Sinquefield Cup tournaments are sponsored by the Saint Louis Chess Club.

 

“The Sinquefield Cup is one of the longest running international chess tournaments to be held in the United States,” said Tony Rich, Executive Director of Saint Louis Chess Club. “We are proud to once again host the final leg of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour at the Saint Louis Chess Club. Our fans are sure to be thrilled to watch their favorite chess grandmasters compete in over 14 days of exhilirating rapid, blitz and classical chess.”

 

The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will host 10 of the top players from around the world including World Number 3, Alireza Firouzja and the 2022 Superbet Chess Classic winner, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The tournament will showcase eight GCT full tour players and two wildcards, American favorites Hikaru Nakamura and Sam Shankland. The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will be played as a rapid round robin and blitz double round robin format. This will be the fourth stop on the 2022 Grand Chess Tour.

2022 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Field Ratings as of August 1, 2022
Title	Player Name	Residence	Player Type	FIDE Rapid Rating	FIDE Blitz Rating	URS Rating
GM	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	Wildcard	2837	2850	2819
GM	Richard Rapport	HUN	Full Tour	2802	2613	2774
GM	Ian Nepomniachtchi	FID	Full Tour	2795	2791	2783
GM	Fabiano Caruana	USA	Full Tour	2766	2847	2791
GM	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	FRA	Full Tour	2763	2812	2784
GM	Levon Aronian	USA	Full Tour	2728	2850	2781
GM	Leinier Dominguez	USA	Full Tour	2705	2708	2753
GM	Alireza Firouzja	FRA	Full Tour	2704	2795	2773
GM	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	AZE	Full Tour	2695	2710	2759
GM	Sam Shankland	USA	Wildcard	2616	2645	2714
*GM	Jeffery Xiong	USA	Wildcard	2725	2714	2697

*Due to the continuing US travel restrictions related to Covid 19, Richard Rapport will not be able to play the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.

The Sinquefield Cup will be the last event played on the Grand Chess Tour this season. The nine full-tour players will be joined by World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a 10-player classical round robin. The top three finishers in this year’s Tour automatically qualify to play in the 2023 Grand Chess Tour. If a playoff is required to determine 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places of the 2022 Grand Chess Tour, it will occur on Monday, September 12th at 1:00pm CT. The top three finishers are also competing for the $150,000 in GCT bonus prizes.

 

This year, the Sinquefield Cup Opening ceremony date also falls on the 50th anniversary of the American Bobby Fischer’s historic win over the Russian Boris Spassky in the legendary 1972 World Chess Championship, ending 24 years of Soviet dominance in the sport. The Sinquefield Cup Opening Ceremony will be held on September 1st from 5:30pm – 7:30pm at World’s Fair Pavilion in Forest Park and will be open to the public. Learn more and purchase tickets.

 

*Due to the continuing US travel restrictions related to Covid 19, Richard Rapport will not be able to play the Sinquefield Cup.

Due to local COVID-19 restrictions live spectators will not be allowed in the tournament hall but fans can watch the full broadcast online or at the Saint Louis Chess Club featuring a Grandmaster commentary team of Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila and Peter Svidler for the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz and Yasswer Seirawan, Alejandro Ramirez and Peter Svidler for the Sinquefield Cup. Watch all the rounds daily at 12:50 p.m. CT exclusively on grandchesstour.org and on the Saint Louis Chess Club’s YouTube and Twitch.tv channels.

 

2022 Grand Chess Tour Major Sponsors

About the 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.
About the Saint Louis Chess Club

The 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.

 

About the 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.

 

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