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The first event of the 2018 GCT is played in Leuven, Belgium from June 12th to 16th. Unlike in previous years, the players will then move on to Paris for the second leg of the tour the following week.
The first three days are dedicated to rapid chess with rounds beginning at 14:00, 15:30 and 17:00 CEST (UTC+2), followed by blitz rounds on June 15th and 16th starting at 14:00 the first day and 12 Noon the second with rounds every half hour — 18 rounds in all.
The time control uses the US-standard delay, rather than increment, and players receive 25 minutes plus a 10-second delay per move for rapid, and then 5 minutes plus 3-second delay for blitz.
ChessBase Account Premium annual subscription
At the airport, in the hotel or at home on your couch: with the new ChessBase you always have access to the whole ChessBase world: the new ChessBase video library, tactics server, opening training App, the live database with eight million games, Let’s Check and web access to playchess.com
Commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jovanka Houska, Alejandro Ramirez (St. Louis)
Maurice Ashley and Nigel Short (Leuven)
IM Robert Ris presents the highlights from the final day of blitz in Leuven.
| Name | Federation | Age |
| Wesley So | USA | 24 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | USA | 30 |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | France | 27 |
| Viswanathan Anand | India | 48 |
| Levon Aronian | Armenia | 35 |
| Fabiano Caruana | USA | 25 |
| Sergey Karjakin | Russia | 28 |
| Alexander Grischuk | Russia | 34 |
| Shakhriyar Mamedyarov | Azerbaijan | 33 |
| Anish Giri (Wildcard) | Netherlands | 23 |
Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik were initially invited, but both opted to decline their spots this year due to heavy scheduling commitments and the requirement that players be available to compete in all tour events throughout the year. Consequently, Sergey Karjakin was invited as a replacement and each tournament will also include a single "wildcard" player, who will not compete for overall tour points. (Kramnik will be the wild card in Paris.)
Aside from Giri, Alexander Grischuk is the only player in Leuven who did not fly in from Stavanger after competing in Norway Chess. So, he should be well rested — provided he doesn't tire himself out first:
То чем занимаются шахматисты пока ожидают заселение в отель!😁
— Sergey Karjakin (@SergeyKaryakin) June 9, 2018
This is what chess players doing while waiting for the check-in in the hotel!😁 pic.twitter.com/W4qVDXSV5g
In addition to Karjakin, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave will be keen to right the ship, following his disappointing joint-last-place finish (with Karjakin) in Norway. 'MVL' has formally adopted the short-hand moniker on his recently reinvigorated personal web site, where he commented:
"This 2018 Norway Chess tournament was no picnic at all. For sure, it is not a glorious result for what was meant to be my first major goal of the year…
Now, I have to quickly move on to something else, and get back into the swing of things."
"Out on a walk after the tournament, with a wink at the animated series Rick & Morty" | Photo: MVLchess.com
| Tournament | Format | Place | Dates | Prize fund |
| Your Next Move | Rapid and Blitz | Leuven | June 12-16 | $ 150,000 |
| Paris | Rapid and Blitz | Paris | June 20-24 | $ 150,000 |
| Saint Louis | Rapid and Blitz | St. Louis | August 10-16 | $ 150,000 |
| Sinquefield Cup | Classical | St. Louis | August 17-28 | $ 300,000 |
| London Chess Classic | Classical | London | December (TBD) | $ 300,000 |
| GCT winner prizer | $ 150,000 | |||
| Total prize fund | $ 1,200,000 |
In the first three events, rapid and blitz scores are combined, with two points for a win in rapid. New this year, if there is a tie for first place, the top two (determined by mathematical tiebreaks if more than two players tie) will play two 10+5 rapid games and then, if necessary, a single 5 vs. 4 minute sudden-death 'Armageddon' game, where the black player has draw odds.
For the overall standings, points will be awarded in the individual tournaments according to the standings. However, the same points will be awarded if there is a tie. The tiebreak mini-match will be to determine the winner of the individual tournament. If a player wins the tournament alone, he will receive two (Sinquefield Cup) or one (Rapid and Blitz Events) extra point in the Grand Chess Tour
| Place | Sinquefield Cup | Rapid & Blitz Events Combined points |
| 1 | 18/20 | 12/13 |
| 2 | 15 | 10 |
| 3 | 12 | 8 |
| 4 | 10 | 7 |
| 5 | 8 | 6 |
| 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 7 | 4 | 4 |
| 8 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | 1 | 1 |
The Chief Arbiter is Luc Cornet.
Correction June 13: The ages of the players were not exact.
Correction June 16: David Sedgwick is the Chief Arbiter of the GCT as a whole, but he's not present in Leuven.
